Nursing Station in New Intensive Care Unit Named in Honor of Former Nurse Louise Johnson Spiess
In the eyes of her family, Louise Spiess will always be a woman ahead of her time, ably balancing a busy career as a nurse and educator with the demands of raising four children.As a tribute to her accomplishments and to inspire the next generation of nurses, the nursing station in the new Intensive Care Unit (ICU) on the Salem Campus will bear her name when it opens in the spring of 2009.
The Louise Johnson Spiess Intensive Care Unit Nursing Station was announced at a ceremony held at NSMC Salem Hospital this past December, and made possible by a gift from her husband, Howard, and four adult children:Gary and Paul Spiess, Barbara Miller and Mary Benda. Gary Spiess is currently Chairman of the NSMC Board of Trustees and Barbara Miller, R.N., is a nurse in the NSMC Union Hospital Emergency Department.
“It’s very gratifying to see our Board leadership step forward in support of our inpatient facility improvements and the new Mass General/North Shore Center for Outpatient Care,” says Bob Norton, President and CEO. “NSMC Salem Hospital plays a critically important role in our community, and the ICU serves as the very heart of the hospital,” says Gary Spiess. “Our new ICU represents our promise to provide the most advanced care possible to our most vulnerable patients.”Choosing to support the new ICU seems a fitting tribute to his mother’s long tenure both as an ICU nurse and as a nursing instructor, he adds.
The new 20-bed ICU will be a state-of-the-art patient care unit, says Jane Clarke, R.N., Director of Critical Care/Emergency Services. “The design incorporates light, warmth and space to enhance the patient and family experience, all while providing an optimum environment for medical and nursing care,” she says. The new ICU will offer large private rooms with individual emergency breakaway doors, special infection control features and strategic design with critical care equipment. The unit has a central area for efficient utilization of support functions and increased work space for all members of the health care team, says Clarke. Louise Spiess began her nursing education in 1937 at Ohio University and, later, at Toledo Hospital School of Nursing. When her husband was transferred to the Boston area in 1962, the whole family relocated to Marblehead. Louise, now 88, enrolled at Salem State College when her youngest child, Barbara, was in grade school. She graduated at age 56.
“Mother was well ahead of her time in her desire to finish her education and balance career and family,” says Paul Spiess. “It seemed like we were on the same track. I graduated from high school, mom got her bachelor’s degree. I graduated from college and she earned her R.N. We got our master’s degrees within a year or two of each other. The only problem was, I would get a 3.0 and she never got less than an A!” Louise became an assistant instructor of nursing at the Salem Hospital School of Nursing from 1973 to 1975. From 1976 until her retirement in 1982, she was a nursing instructor at North Shore Community College. Even well into retirement, she continued to volunteer in the emergency room at New Hampshire’s Dartmouth Hitchcock Hospital. “She was a role model for all of us,” says her daughter, Barbara Miller, R.N., herself an emergency room nurse at NSMC Union Hospital. “Mom really loved teaching and working with the students; she was very gentle.”
And while her other daughter didn’t go into nursing, Mary Benda has forged a 22-year career at Salem State College—her mother’s alma mater—where she is the Director of Financial Aid. She remembers her mother bringing students home for dinner and, on occasion, to stay for a while as they sorted out a difficult situation. “Her students loved her,” Benda says, noting that the nursing class of 1976 dedicated its yearbook to her mother. Martha Smith, R.N., an ICU nurse at Salem Hospital, was in that class of ’76, back when nurses were taught on site at the Salem Hospital School of Nursing. “Louise was very calm and knew everything,” says Smith. “We always thought of her as a mother, someone you could talk to not only about nursing, but about life.” Smith has no doubt that many in the community will recall their work with Louise Spiess when they see the new nursing station named in her honor.
Salem Hospital School of Nursing Alumni
Peg Hollihan is the primary contact person for the Salem Hospital Nursing Alumni Association. She will respond to messages regarding the Association and will post updates about events and awards here.
mhollihan@partners.org NEWS: The Salem Hospital School of Nursing Alumni Banquet will be held on Tuesday June 10th at the Danversport Yatch Club.
Cocktails will be a 6, with dinner at 7 p.m. The Class of 1958 will be celebrating their 50th year in nursing this year! And the Class of 1978 willl also be celebrating their 30 years of nursing. We are also looking for feedback: what was your favorite alumni event thus far? Favorite place we have been? Best meal? Note that the Nursing Plaque in the Daverport One Lobby has new pictures and frames around it--have a peek! --Peggy.
Lynn Hospital School of Nursing Alumnae Association
Ann V. McCarthy is the primary contact person for the Lynn Hospital School of Nursing Alumnae Association. She will respond to messages regarding the Association and will post updates about events and awards here. avmccarthy@partners.org
NEWS: The annual Lynn Hospital School of Nursing reunion will take place at the Peabody Marriot on Sunday October 14, 2007. Contact Florence Scribner for further details 978 535 5777.
