Nurse Honor Guard of Southwest Kansas and Oklahoma Panhandle. Nancy is in the center back row in the all black cape. Photo courtesy of Nancy Bansemer.

by Jasmin Adous, Laura McMillan

REMARKABLE WOMEN

During our Remarkable Women Contest, we asked our viewers to submit nominations to help honor the incredible women who make a difference in our communities every day!

Nominations were asked to have made a tremendous difference in (1) community contribution, (2) self-achievement, or (3) exhibited innovation, creativity, and an entrepreneurial spirit. Self-nominations were ineligible.

From across the country, 125 extraordinary women were selected as nominees for their selflessness, accomplishments, and community impact.

Hugoton’s own Nancy Bansemer, retired Kansas Nurse, is a nominee!!!

Nancy has made it her life’s work to go above and beyond the call of duty – as a nurse, a teacher, and an almost full-time volunteer.

Nancy has spent decades using her nursing skills to serve patients.

“You are a very important part of that person’s life, and you’re there to help them,” she said.

She also taught at Seward County Community College, where she taught the next generation of nurses that nursing is more than a job.

“If you don’t take the time and the compassion to listen to them, they just are missing out,” Bansemer said. “You gain so much more out of your job and your career if you take the time to listen to your patients.”

Nancy worked at Southwest Medical Center in several roles, including as a manager and a hospice nurse.

When she retired, she felt she was not done serving others. She joined Project Hope, a nonprofit that provides food for Stevens County families in need.

“They were serving, you know, 30 or 40 families a month,” she said. “And then I soon began. I was going to work just a couple of days a month.” But when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Project Hope’s mission grew. It began providing home deliveries to quarantined people, and the volunteers began serving over 200 families a month.

“We have a lot of immigrant families in our area that have nothing, came with nothing,” Bansemer said. “And we don’t question. We just give, and it’s just really rewarding. We don’t care where they’re from or what their needs are.”

Project Hope now has a strong presence in the community, getting help from food drives led by 4-H clubs and the Boy Scouts and donations from local beef and pork producers and companies. All of it benefits those who rely on Project Hope.

“We don’t just give them a sack of groceries, we give them a cart full of groceries,” Bansemer said.

Nancy talks about her serving with the Nurse Honor Guard of Southwest Kansas and Oklahoma Panhandle, “We honor nurses at their memorial services,” she said. “It just talks about honoring nurses and honoring this person and the lives they helped … It’s kind of like the last call that you do for law enforcement.”

After a lifetime of service, Bansemer does not plan to give it up anytime soon. “You can grow old sitting in a chair, bored and lonely, or you can grow old and be out in the community,” she said.

Mrs. Bansemer says she tries to show that leadership is teamwork. She taught this lesson to her nursing students and shares it today with the many volunteers she works with at Project Hope.

“I got a call just a couple of nights ago that somebody had just moved to town and had nothing, and they didn’t have any food and no money,” she said. “So, you know what you do? You go get it. So it’s just part of life-giving. If not, you’re going to lead a sad life.”

Nancy and her husband Ted have been married for 50 years. She is a mother and grandmother and an active member and volunteer in her church.

These 125 nominees celebrated in Los Angeles, Ca. in April 2025, where they experienced:

A trip to the National Celebration Event with VIP treatment, including Round-trip airfare to Los Angeles, Hotel Room, Ground Transportation to and from the airport and hotel.

Special events with their fellow Remarkable Women.

Their stories are highlighted in national and local media as well as their digital and social media platforms.

Their stories may be spotlighted in a national television program on the CW Television Network, on NewsNation, the fastest-growing cable network and on television stations in 116 cities across the United States.

The Nexstar Charitable Foundation will make donations to amplify their community causes, including:

A $1,000 donation for all 125 nominees’ chosen 501(c)(3) nonprofit.

Five Regional Finalists, each receiving an additional $5,000 for their selected 501(c)(3) nonprofit.

One (1) Remarkable Woman of the Year, awarded $25,000 for the 501(c)(3) nonprofit closest to her heart.

All 125 nominees will be honored at a star- studded awards dinner and ceremony in Los Angeles, where one woman will be named Nexstar’s Remarkable Woman of the Year! To learn more about Project Hope and how you can help, call 620-544-2245.

During the months of March and April, KSN shared stories of Remarkable Women. Be sure to stay tuned! To learn more about Nexstar’s Remarkable Women contest, check out ksn.com – Local News – Here For You Copyright 2025

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Retired Kansas nurse dedicates life to helping others; by: Jasmin Adous, Laura McMillan Posted: Mar 13, 2025 / 05:15 PM CDT Updated: Mar 13, 2025 / 06:33 PM CDT