“ We need more nurses . We need more good nurses . We need nurses that are committed to being that compassionate ear for their patients .”
- Kathryn Wynn-Calvin , nurse
forms with a white apron , and a white bib and cap obtained after passing a probationary period . They ’ d then bathe patients , pass out food trays , and study chemistry or psychology .
In 1956 , eight years after Fuller graduated and joined the Jane Lamb Memorial Hospital staff where she ’ d spend the rest of her career , Fuller ’ s daughter , Kay Boka , recalls her mother telling her that the State Board stepped in and denied the school the ability to work students as hard as they were working . The nursing program no longer held the same value thereafter and closed , after graduating about 500 nurses total during its years of existence . A similar diploma program
offered through Mercy Hospital also closed at that time . Clinton was left without any sort of nursing school at all .
That ’ s why , nearly 20 years later , the community worked hard to bring a new type of program to the area that was being offered in eastern parts of America , a two-year , college-based program at the very start of the 1970s that Boka attended as part of the class of 1975 .
Differences between Boka ’ s education and that of the students of the Jane Lamb Nursing School prior elicited skepticism about the new program ’ s effectiveness . With a year less of schooling than the classes before , it was questioned whether the new upcoming nurses
Photos : Top-Right : CCC Nursing Class of 1972 . Above : Verna Fuller while she attended the nursing program at Jane Lamb Memorial . Bottom-Right : Jane Lamb Nursing School in Clinton . Submitted photos
6 Clinton Magazine Fall 2022