Keeping
Mercy Motion
A Foundation for Innovation
“ Probably the two most important things in life: show up and say yes”
Those words have served Donna Gentile O’ Donnell,
PhD’ 84 well in her accomplished career. Starting with being the youngest person in Father Guido’ s choir to being one of the first women in her neighborhood to go to college to earning her PhD, Donna has chased her goals with persistence.
Path to GMercyU Donna started her nursing journey at The Community College of Rhode Island and passed her licensure exam on the first try. She launched her nursing career in Florida before moving to Pennsylvania and accepting a job in Obstetrics, where she was encouraged to earn her Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree.
Donna’ s mentor in Obstetrics recommended then Gwynedd-Mercy College.
Donna attended an Open House, applied, and was accepted early. Ever persistent, Donna wanted to start right away, so she gave Sister Anne Donofry a call.
“ I called the nursing program. Sister Anne answered the phone and I said,‘ I would like to get some of the books for the fall early.’ She said,‘ Well, you can go to the bookstore. Some books they’ ll know ahead of time. Others they won’ t because they have to wait for the syllabi to come out.’ So, I said,‘ Thank you Sister, I’ ll go to the bookstore’.”
“ I learned many years later that she hung up the phone and turned to Sister Mary Esmond and said,‘ We got a live one coming’.”
Laying the Foundation As a student, Donna hit the ground running. In addition to working in CCU on
4-12 or overnight doing her clinical rotations, Donna established what is considered the predecessor to Sigma Theta Tau; a Brown Bag Lunch club; on-campus babysitting for classmates with kids; worked in the campus Health Center as part of her Financial Aid package; and wrote for the school paper, The Griffin. By her second year, Donna was elected President of the Senior Class.
During this time, Donna invited Mary Ann Arty, a nurse and PA State Representative to campus to speak. Donna was fascinated by her career and after speaking with her, Representative Arty invited Donna to Harrisburg.
So, Donna said yes.
It’ s not a leap to say that Donna’ s brief but impactful visit to Harrisburg laid the foundation for her career after graduating with her BSN.
18 CAMPAIGN IMPACT REPORT