One Day Too I Will Join the Ranks

A fellow nurse with whom I worked at Frick Hospital in Mt. Pleasant, Pennsylvania just shared that a fellow nursing supervisor has died. Most of the nursing supervisors with whom I worked are walking the streets of gold. Because of having management positions, my fellow supervisors were a bit older than most of the nursing staff.

One died suffering the effects from cancer of the spleen. She was admitted to our hospital and watching her waste away was difficult. Her family tried everything they knew to try to save her, using all sorts of remedies, but to no avail. She continued her downhill slide, finally becoming a skin stretched skeleton. I will continue to remember her as the vibrant banty-rooster wearing a nursing cap.

Another supervisor had the annoying habit of writing noted to herself on the back of her hand, although she carried a sheaf of papers listing each paper in the hospital with diagnoses and room numbers. It may have been a left-over from her days as a floor nurse. Although she seemed like a flighty person, she knew more than appeared on first meeting.

One supervisor was a strict disciplinarian with a gruff, often harsh and abrasive manner, but she had a soft soul. Unless you worked closely with her, you could very easily miss that side of her. She would gather baby clothing for nurses who were pregnant on a very tight budget and were struggling to make ends meet. She did the scheduling for her night shift nurses and made every attempt to juggle days so nurses could have the days needed for their needs. I had just started working as a floor nurse when I got married. I had earned no vacation days yet, but she managed to arrange for me to have four days in a row for my honeymoon.

This last supervisor was the most recent to pass. She worked mostly the 3-11 shift and liked it. I didn’t really care for that shift. I was shiftless at that time, working all three shifts. She smiled a lot, only surpassed by her knowledge and by her smoking cigarettes. She had a harsh cough and had to often clear her throat.

Many of my fellow employees have gone to the great beyond. There would be too many to list here now, but one day I shall join their ranks and I hope someone will write about me too.