Celebrating My Nursing Career

My nursing career. Where has the time gone? It ended in June and I have been reflecting on it a great deal this summer. My boss and colleagues invited me to a luncheon to celebrate my retirement and for that I am grateful. It was an emotional time, but a necessary step. Since I announced my retirement after school was out, I didn't officially get to say good-bye to my colleagues until now.

As I think back on my nursing career, I remember my graduation photo. It was all so exciting at the time when I wondered where I would work after studying so hard. I didn't know I would have such fabulous opportunities, practicing in many states due to Dan's job relocations. I worked as a hospital staff nurse mostly on medical surgical floors until we moved to our current location where I became a school nurse. Thus, I spent the first half of my career in the hospitals and the second half in schools working with students of all ages. 

I graduated from Bethesda Hospital School of Nursing in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1978 with an RN diploma; on the right was our pinning ceremony - we received our nurse pins in our first year. I finished up my BSN at Indiana University Kokomo in 1999.

Here are some pictures of me in my hospital garb. Those were the days of "big hair".

Ashleigh and I were California girls on the left; on the right I was working in northern Louisiana.

The schools took annual pictures for the yearbook.

Working in the schools brought a great deal of personal satisfaction. It was a fun job helping children who were basically healthy; helping parents who needed to know their children would be in good hands while at school; and helping the staff members feel at ease with health situations. Here are a few of the opportunities that were presented to me along the way.

Extracurricular nurse activities: I coordinated an American Heart Association Go Red for Women event at an elementary school for the staff members, wrote the school newsletter for five years and taught scrapbooking lessons at After School Enrichment classes. Perhaps being the newsletter editor prepared me for being a blogger.

Working in the schools put me in touch with my own school experiences.

me in kindergarten, 8th grade and a senior in high school

One of the great things about working in my children's school district was feeling so much a part of everything. It was very convenient only having to know one school district's policies. A couple of things stand out that helped me help families. Our local community was fairly transient and so was my family, so I could relate with the changes parents and students faced when they started in a new school. Also, as I experienced my own children growing up, I was able to help parents understand how quickly children grow up, and that they would become wonderful adults someday.

Danny was an athlete while Ashleigh expressed herself in her art and music.

The retirement celebration was just fabulous. We had a delightful lunch and then I was presented with this lovely gift.

I was the Nurse Coordinator of the district for the last 5 years (while also working as a school nurse) and it was a pleasure working with such a great group of nurses and a boss who understood school health to its very core. The schools in which I worked were top notch and my ancillary partners couldn't have been more helpful. I feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to serve as a school nurse for so many years. 

My life now is an open door to many exciting opportunities. I have been hiking and getting out seeing the city that I was too busy to see before. I have been meeting with old friends whom I was too busy to visit with before. I have more time to devote to blogging now. But most of all, I have become a grandma for the first time and I have found so much happiness in watching the miracle of his birth while being available to help my own children with things they need from me right now.