My Grandma, Edna Hill, was a Registered Nurse for over 40 years and taught vocational LPN nursing training for 13 years at a school at Memorial Hospital which later moved to the Great Plains Vocational Center. She retired from there when she was 66 then worked part time at the nursing program at Cameron University in the skills lab for another 10 years. She received many honors during her career, including nominated for nurse of the year and was always described as an excellent nurse and teacher. While going through some of her papers, I came across this beautiful tribute to her by one of her former students. Mrs. Brodhead's description of Grandma was so accurate that it brought tears to my eyes and memories overwhelmed me including her attention to proper bed making even at home. This was such a special find that I wanted to share it with everyone.
Enjoy,
Bamah
Mrs. Hill R. N. - The Pride of L. P. N. ' s
by Gayla Brodhead L P N
Presently 2nd Year AON Student
It was a bitterly cold morning that embraced me as I walked into the small vocational school in January 1975. My heart raced with anticipation and fear, since my knowledge of nursing was nil. Soon after sitting in one of the desks, I gazed at all the strange models, adult size dolls, graphs, hospital beds and a skeleton, until my brain seemed overwhelmed by all the sights.
The sound of the office door closing brought me to an erect posture and a straight head position. In the corner of my eye I saw the flash of white and heard the '' swish'' of the freshly starched uniform. Her fast paced walk quickly brought her to the front of the thirty students. Her posture was as erect as the tone of her voice as she began; not a nursing lecture, but she gently opened her Bible to Genesis and began to read. Grey hair flashed above her twinkling hazel eyes and flushed cheeks. She closed her Bible, adjusted her small silver frame glasses and looked directly into each student's eyes as though our flaws were as transparent as the glass windows on one side of the room. I felt as though I wanted to shrink out of sight or somehow become invisible but after our eyes met, I suddenly felt reassured.
"So you all want to become nurses," she remarked with a smile. "Remember you have to treat not only the physical but mental and spiritual needs of your patients," she said. "The next year will be hard and you will be required to learn a lot but you are entering one of the most respected professions. Nursing will give you pride and confidence in yourself," she said as her face lit up with the eagerness of a proud mother. Throughout the next few months we wrestled with the array of linen trying to demonstrate our bed making ability with the same ease and grace as shown by Mrs. Hill. She once stopped the bed making and remarked, "Your patient has about three feet by eight feet in which to find comfort, safety, and for you as a nurse to perform your functions. If you never do anything right, you learn to make that bed the best one. The patient pays a high price for it." I assumed bed making was just a pet peeve but she tackled each skill from tubes, injections, or sterile procedures with the same zeal, always adding the importance of common sense and the ability to think while on your feet. I watched as she stood beside first one then another student, carefully showing or guiding their movements. Repeatedly she demonstrated until each student had developed skill and ease in the procedure.
Like any nursing school our training was directed toward the disease processes, however, Mrs. Hill always mentioned not to neglect simplicity in the complex. Her main focus was always the patient. She repeated many times during the year, "always look at your patient and not the machines to do the work for you, use lots of soap and water, be gentle, exercise those limbs, help them to eat and drink, and give a kind word."
In March we were given three hospital days a week, which at first seemed overwhelming in addition to all of our written work. The days at the hospitals were busy, often frantic at first as students were looking for needed articles, needing questions answered, or just need reassurance. After the first week most of the students developed a calm, relaxed, attitude which seemed at the time to be an adjustment to the setting but now I see the real force was Mrs. Hill. There she was, walking the halls, helping patients or finding new experiences for the students. Some in the class remarked about her extra sense for knowing everything that went on or was about to happen in the hospital. It wasn't unusual for her to gather students and usher them in to see a specific procedure, and of course giving the doctor a reassuring smile.
Often a disappointed student usually with family or financial problems would begin to cry or withdraw from the group. Mrs. Hill would be the first to spot the student and often without any foreknowledge from the class, have the student in her office. It wasn't long before the student would be responding as though a flash of enthusiasm was injected. No one could ever really found out what went on in the office visits but one could assume that an understanding and compassionate person was the source of the change.
Actually, Mrs. Hill's ability to help the students with personal problems came as no surprise to me because her own life had been touched with sorrow, pain and death. She became a widow in her thirties and with one daughter, she made the decision to enter Wesley College Nursing Program in Oklahoma City. This was a major sacrifice in that she would be separated from her only child for nearly three years. The adjustment may not have been so difficult for her because of her ability to give of herself so freely, which is still true today.
If Mrs. Hill had only taught in the class and instructed in the hospital, it would be safe to say that she was adequate. but the unique feature is her total devotion to nursing and her beliefs. Often Mrs. Hill would be seen driving her plain white car, without radio or air conditioner, to attend a lecture or sing gospels at the nursing homes. Her blowing hair and flushed cheeks were the certifiable evidence that something was going on somewhere. Again and again she spoke out for nurse's integrity, striving for acceptance of her students into the specialized areas of the hospital, asking for much needed practice articles, or just devoting her time to many of the non profit organizations. Between lectures, skill practice, counseling, meetings, coordinating the nursing curriculum at the vocational center, personal visits to the sick, and attending every church service; she spent the rest of her time caring for her daughter who was ill at the time, and her grandchildren. Mrs. Hill, well into her fifties, made even the athletic school girl exhausted by just watching her pace.
She was often found surrounded by eager students in the skills lab with both sleeves of her uniform rolled up for practice injections, blood pressure, hunting for pulses or listening to her heartbeat with a stethoscope. She practiced her motto of learning by doing even if she was often found to be the victim. If anyone happened to pass her skills lab in the afternoon, one would find Mrs. Hill sorting laundry from bed making practice, cleaning instruments or searching in her office files for a philosophical quote. In the mornings she carried packages into the building that almost equaled herself and on weekends carrying laundry out to be taken home and washed.
In April we received our nursing caps in one of the most beautiful but simple ceremonies. A simple bouquet of flowers, lighted candles and Mrs. Hill speaking on the origin of the cap before placing each cap with pride on the student. Her speech was always eloquent as she often spoke of Florence Nightingale, and of enriching tales of her own nursing experience.
Before graduation, she approached the lectern with her usual calm, but she had a sorrowful look in her eyes. The students felt the same sadness of parting with Mrs. Hill mixed with the anticipation of starting our new career. It was like hearing and ancient poet when she said, "accept your fellow man, understand his flaws, accept other personalities different from your own, take pride in your abilities, strive for knowledge and accept your own limitations and imperfections. This will give you a healthy mental attitude in life." Needless to say there was not a dry eye in the class.
After graduation I heard of the vocational school's requirement of enforcing mandatory retirement. Many nurses, including myself, sensed a deep loss to the nursing profession. However, in 1980 I decided to attend the Associate Degree Nursing Program at a local university. I was in the Nursing Department when from behind a partially closed door, I heard the infamous voice and words of Mrs. Hill, "The bed is the most important asset a patient has so make it the very best one..."
Now I walk the halls of another nursing school with books loaded in my arms, tired burning eyes, and slow dragging gait but it takes only the "swish" of the uniform and the twinkling eyes of Mrs. Hill to remember the devotion and time given to so many. It does not take long for that extra boost of energy to surge through and an uplifting appearance begin to take hold.
Mrs. Hill, a star in the classroom, a professional in the hospital, a servant of God and the infirmed, a compassionate friend, forever giving and encouraging for so many. The Licensed Practical Nurses' Pride of Oklahoma and also the Pride of the Registered Nurses of District 11, Lawton, OK.
