National Nurse’s Day: Dave’s Mom Is a Nurse and Owes Her Life to One

My mother was born on September 13, 1933. And at the risk of sounding gruesome, that might well have been the day she also died.

She was born at six months and tossed into a kick bucket--a wheeled container used to catch afterbirth--as a preemie, given no hope for survival.

Anyway, a young nurse pretty much said, "Not on my watch" and rescued Mom. And, well, the rest is history.

That young nurse, by the way, was someone I called Aunt Allina although we were never related and she was a part of my family's life until the day she died.

Now, despite the fact that a nurse literally saved my mother's life, that's not why she became a nurse.

She was sitting in her first-grade class at Longfellow School (it's where Owensboro High School's gym is now located) and was looking out the window when a nurse walked by wearing a dark blue cape.

Wind blew the cape open to reveal a red lining that, for all intents and purposes, sealed the deal for Mom.

In 1954, she graduated from the University of Louisville's Kentucky Baptist Hospital and then worked briefly at Cincinnati Children's Hospital until returning to Owensboro where she began working at Owensboro/Daviess County Hospital which has evolved over the years into Owensboro Health.

Mom retired from ODCH in 1991 and finished up her career in nursing homes and at McLean County hospital.

The image I used for the blog is the cover of the book she wrote about the phasing out of nurse's caps over the years.

Since today was National Nurse's Day, and I happen to know a certain nurse very, very well, I thought she should be in the spotlight.

Happy National Nurse's Day to Mom and all nurses everywhere.