Kelly Litterst has been a registered nurse for over 20 years.  She graduated from a community college in Moline, Illinois, with her associate in nursing in 2001.  After graduating, she began her career at a small community hospital in Silvis, IL.  During her career in the emergency room in Silvis, she cared for many patients involved in vehicular traumas, as the hospital lay between I-80 and I-88.  This is where she started to really enjoy being a trauma nurse.

In 2006, Kelly took a full-time position in the emergency department at Edward Hospital in Naperville, IL.  In 2011, she graduated from Benedictine University with a Bachelor of Science in nursing.  In 2013, Kelly became evening shift clinical leader in the emergency department.  There she managed approximately 60 staff members. 

In the fall of 2018, Kelly took on a new role as system clinical coordinator of immediate care and walk-in clinics.  There she managed three immediate cares and seven walk-in clinics. Kelly brought positivity to the staff during the Covid pandemic.  She was a major player in customer service improvement plan at one of her immediate cares, Bolingbrook.  She also was instrumental in a nurse triage line and rolling out monoclonal antibody infusions in the immediate cares.

In August 2022, Kelly moved back to the emergency department, her home.  She became the Trauma Coordinator at Elmhurst Hospital, a level II trauma center. Elmhurst sees approximately 86,000 patients annually, 1400 of those patients annually have significant traumatic injury.  Kelly audits trauma charts, educates staff on trauma topics, collaborates with Elmhurst’s trauma surgeons, meets monthly with the regional trauma coordinators, just to name a few.  She is also a TNCC course director, a Certified Emergency Nurse (CEN) and a Trauma Nurse Specialist (TNS).

In Kelly’s free time, she loves hanging out with her husband Dave, three growing boys and five stepchildren (Clearly, she enjoys chaos).