The need to assist others started early for Kathy Evans, BSN, RN. As a toddler, she realized firsthand the influence nurses present–and felt a calling to at some point change into a caregiver herself.
“I used to be 16 months previous and needed to present 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 exterior, and Evans made her means by means of a barricaded toilet 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 previous.
“Despite the fact that I used to be very younger, I used to be so enamored by the nurses and the way caring they have been. They left an indelible impression on me, and I knew from that second on I’d change into a nurse sometime,” Evans mentioned.
From Grey Girl to expert nurse
When Evans was 14, she volunteered with the American Purple 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 … that they had 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 offered the chance to find if nursing was actually what she needed 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 in search of somebody to do clerical work, ideally somebody with a CNA background who knew medical terminology.
The trainer put a couple of college students ahead for an interview, together with Evans.
“Sally Jones, director of nursing, she had the most effective chortle,” Evans mentioned. “She led me to imagine the job was mine, however by no means actually advised me by some means. Come to seek 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 chortle 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 College of Nursing and started 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 needed to be nearer to household. This meant both shifting to Miami, Florida, or the a lot smaller Fremont, Michigan.
They finally selected Fremont to lift their future household.
A stroll down reminiscence lane
“It was so good to come back again, not solely to Gerber hospital, however dwelling to Fremont,” Evans mentioned.
Her household lived on Oak Avenue, three homes down from the hospital, when she was 5 years previous.
“We used to sled on the county choose’s home the place the car parking zone is now subsequent to the Skilled Workplace Constructing. And, the car parking zone subsequent to the place Gerber’s digital companies group is situated, that was once our ball diamond the place we’d play as children.”
Evans additionally fondly remembers a number of girls who have been function fashions whereas she attended college and labored as a nurse’s aide at Gerber hospital.
“Once I got here again in 1991, I used to be so excited to study that a few of the individuals who took me underneath their wings nonetheless labored right here in spite of everything these years,” Evans mentioned.
“They have been capable of see me now, all grown up. I secretly hoped they have been happy with me for all I had realized and the nurse I had change into.”
She recollects a type of girls–Mary Jane Pendergast.
“She got here throughout as stern at instances, however whenever you bought 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 completed.’ That was within the period when nurses charted and handed meds, and rounded with the physicians. I realized from her that it doesn’t matter what schooling stage you might be at, if it’s the proper 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 variety,” Evans mentioned. “She had this particular means about her … she might simply join along with her sufferers on this magical and significant means. And I distinctly keep in mind her carrying White Shoulders fragrance.”
Evans reconnected along 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 members of the family consolation when a beloved one has handed.
And he or she helped Gerber hospital and the Fremont group navigate their means by means of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“When the pandemic hit in 2020, it was exceptional to witness our group rally collectively to help well being care employees,” Evans mentioned. “Some nights the hospital car parking zone could be stuffed with supporters who got here to indicate their gratitude. It gave us all hope.”
For the final eight years she has labored as a top quality enchancment specialist.
As she realized 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 wherever she might.
“Despite the fact 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 completed to assist our nurses, suppliers and group 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 along with her first grandchild final 12 months.
And her youngest little one, Jake, is a satan doc, an elite Navy corpsman assigned to a Marine unit. In August, he’ll graduate from Auburn College together with his Bachelor of Science in nursing.
“It’s bittersweet,” Evans mentioned. “As I look towards retirement in a couple of years, he’s simply starting his profession. It’s sort of like passing the baton.”
Recommendation for future nurses
She admits that whereas her recommendation has modified over time, one factor has remained the identical.
“It must be a ardour,” she mentioned.
“It could actually’t be simply ‘a job.’ It really must be your ardour. You need to be prepared to work arduous 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 adore 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 couple of years.
“I by no means really 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 locally.
Michelle Rasmussen joined Corewell Well being in 2022 as a senior communications specialist, bringing along with her greater than 20 years of expertise throughout the well being care, larger schooling, workforce improvement and non-profit sectors. She enjoys spending time along with her household, volunteering locally, studying thriller novels and antiquing. Michelle graduated from Grand Valley State College in 1998 along with her bachelor’s diploma in well being communications and an MBA from Ferris State College in 2011.
