The will to assist others started early for Kathy Evans, BSN, RN. As a toddler, she discovered firsthand the affect nurses present–and felt a calling to sooner or later turn out to be a caregiver herself.
“I used to be 16 months outdated and wished to offer my child doll a shower,” Corewell Well being’s Gerber hospital senior high quality enchancment specialist Kathy Evans, BSN, RN, recalled.
Her mom was hanging laundry outdoors, and Evans made her method via a barricaded lavatory door to the bathtub and turned on the new water.
She severely burned her ft, which required a number of pores and skin grafts over a interval of 20 years starting when she was simply 4 years outdated.
“Regardless that I used to be very younger, I used to be so enamored by the nurses and the way caring they had been. They left an indelible impression on me, and I knew from that second on I might turn out to be a nurse sometime,” Evans mentioned.
From Grey Girl to expert nurse
When Evans was 14, she volunteered with the American Crimson Cross. They positioned her at Gerber hospital–the hospital the place she was born.
“Again in these days, the hospital didn’t have sweet stripers … they’d the Grey Women,” Evans mentioned. “I’m sure I used to be the youngest Grey Girl there.”
She delivered mail, watered crops, stuffed water and juice pitchers, and helped wherever she might. This expertise oriented her to the hospital and supplied the chance to find if nursing was actually what she wished to do.
Throughout highschool, she attended the native profession tech middle and earned her certification as a nurse’s aide.
The trainer indicated Gerber hospital was on the lookout for somebody to do clerical work, ideally somebody with a CNA background who knew medical terminology.
The trainer put a number of college students ahead for an interview, together with Evans.
“Sally Jones, director of nursing, she had the most effective snigger,” Evans mentioned. “She led me to consider the job was mine, however by no means actually informed me come what may. Come to search out out, I used to be a no-show for my very first day of labor on the hospital.”
It turned out Jones forgot to let her know she had gotten the job–one thing they’d snigger about collectively later.
Evans continued working at Gerber hospital within the summers and on weekends whereas attending nursing college.
She graduated in 1983 from Bronson Faculty of Nursing and commenced working as an RN on 6 North at what was then Butterworth Hospital in Grand Rapids.
In 1998, she earned her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Ferris State College.
Life then pulled Evans away from Michigan.
Married and on the transfer
She married the love of her life, Jerry, in 1985 and moved to Indianapolis the place he accomplished a 20-year profession with the U.S. Military.
In 1991 it was time for a change. They wished to be nearer to household. This meant both transferring to Miami, Florida, or the a lot smaller Fremont, Michigan.
They in the end selected Fremont to boost their future household.
A stroll down reminiscence lane
“It was so good to come back again, not solely to Gerber hospital, however house to Fremont,” Evans mentioned.
Her household lived on Oak Avenue, three homes down from the hospital, when she was 5 years outdated.
“We used to sled on the county choose’s home the place the parking zone is now subsequent to the Skilled Workplace Constructing. And, the parking zone subsequent to the place Gerber’s digital companies staff is positioned, that was our ball diamond the place we’d play as youngsters.”
Evans additionally fondly remembers a number of ladies who had been position fashions whereas she attended college and labored as a nurse’s aide at Gerber hospital.
“After I got here again in 1991, I used to be so excited to study that among the individuals who took me beneath their wings nonetheless labored right here in spite of everything these years,” Evans mentioned.
“They had been capable of see me now, all grown up. I secretly hoped they had been pleased with me for all I had discovered and the nurse I had turn out to be.”
She recollects a kind of ladies–Mary Jane Pendergast.
“She got here throughout as stern at occasions, however once you received to know her, you couldn’t have discovered a nicer girl. I keep in mind she had this organza hat she would put on excessive on her head. She was the epitome of professionalism,” Evans mentioned.
Then there was Vera Henning.
“Vera labored on 1 East, what’s now Gerber hospital’s outpatient surgical procedure,” Evans mentioned.
Evans described Henning as a hard-working soul who taught her about work ethic.
“She would inform me, ‘I don’t care what my title is, I’m not above doing something if it must be achieved.’ That was within the period when nurses charted and handed meds, and rounded with the physicians. I discovered from her that it doesn’t matter what schooling degree you might be at, if it’s the precise factor to do, and you might be able to doing it, you simply do it,” Evans mentioned.
Lastly, there was Myrtle Ivey.
“Ivey was so laid again and so form,” Evans mentioned. “She had this particular method about her … she might simply join together with her sufferers on this magical and significant method. And I distinctly keep in mind her sporting White Shoulders fragrance.”
Evans reconnected together with her when Ivey was visiting a affected person within the hospital.
“I barely acknowledged her at first. It was so great to reconnect with Ivey in spite of everything these years.
“And sure, she nonetheless wore White Shoulders fragrance.”
A exceptional 40 years
On April 23, 2023, Evans celebrated 40 years as a registered nurse.
All through her profession, she has given relations consolation when a beloved one has handed.
And he or she helped Gerber hospital and the Fremont group navigate their method via the COVID-19 pandemic.
“When the pandemic hit in 2020, it was exceptional to witness our group rally collectively to assist well being care employees,” Evans mentioned. “Some nights the hospital parking zone could be crammed with supporters who got here to point out their gratitude. It gave us all hope.”
For the final eight years she has labored as a top quality enchancment specialist.
As she discovered all these years in the past, it didn’t matter what her title was, or what her place was. When COVID-19 arrived, she rolled up her sleeves and started working, serving to anyplace she might.
“Regardless that I wasn’t working as an RN on the ground, I wasn’t going to let that cease me from doing no matter wanted to be achieved to assist our nurses, suppliers and staff members,” she mentioned.
‘Passing the baton’
Having a ardour for serving to others runs deep in her household.
Evans’s oldest daughter, Liz, is a bodily therapist in Chicago.
Her center daughter, Emily, and her husband, each work for a pharmaceutical firm in Switzerland and blessed Evans together with her first grandchild final 12 months.
And her youngest baby, Jake, is a satan doc, an elite Navy corpsman assigned to a Marine unit. In August, he’ll graduate from Auburn College along with his Bachelor of Science in nursing.
“It’s bittersweet,” Evans mentioned. “As I look towards retirement in a number of years, he’s simply starting his profession. It’s form of like passing the baton.”
Recommendation for future nurses
She admits that whereas her recommendation has modified through the years, one factor has remained the identical.
“It needs to be a ardour,” she mentioned.
“It may well’t be simply ‘a job.’ It actually needs to be your ardour. It’s important to be prepared to work onerous and provides of your self–your bodily, emotional and non secular self. You’ll expertise pleasure, and you’ll expertise heartache. However ultimately, it is likely one of the most rewarding professions on the market.”
“I’ve beloved it … and I nonetheless like it to this very day,” Evans mentioned. “It’s the core of who I’m.”
As for her future, she seems ahead to retirement in a number of years.
“I by no means actually understood individuals who regarded so ahead to retirement,” she mentioned. “However I get nearer to understanding it. I’ve labored for a lot of, a few years, and am now seeing the draw. Your priorities change.”
She hopes to spend extra time with household, learn extra fiction novels and volunteer in the neighborhood.
Michelle Rasmussen joined Corewell Well being in 2022 as a senior communications specialist, bringing together with her greater than 20 years of expertise throughout the well being care, greater schooling, workforce improvement and non-profit sectors. She enjoys spending time together with her household, volunteering in the neighborhood, studying thriller novels and antiquing. Michelle graduated from Grand Valley State College in 1998 together with her bachelor’s diploma in well being communications and an MBA from Ferris State College in 2011.
