‘One big family that jelled’

“I just wanted a job,” Susan Dadurka of Swoyersville said, remembering how she applied at the former Nesbitt Hospital in 1976.

In one discouraging part of the process, the woman conducting the job interview told her: “The problem with hiring young nurses it that it costs so much to orient them. We just get them settled in and then they move away, or get married, or have a baby.”

“I promise,” Dadurka remembers saying. “If you hire me, I won’t leave.”

She worked at the hospital for decades, and recalls those Nesbitt years as “the highlight of my career.”

“We were a family, one big family that jelled together,” said Sally Bolesta of Plymouth, who served as head nurse in the pediatric department.

Everybody on the Nesbitt staff knew everybody else … the cafeteria food was “great” … and ground-breaking medical care took place at the former hospital, where Dr. William Hazlett invited fathers into the delivery room in the 1950s and Dr. Harry Reich performed the world’s first laparoscopic hysterectomy in 1988.

Those were a few of the memories committee members shared as they met recently to plan a reunion of Nesbitt Hospital employees. The reunion is set for 1 to 5 p.m. Sept. 21, at Irem Temple Pavilion, and organizers stress it is for all former employees, from all departments.

The Nesbitt group is an inclusive bunch, said Jim Pall of Dallas who at first demurred about joining the committee. “I said, ‘oh, you don’t want me. I only worked there three summers.’ And they said, ‘We do want you. You were part of our family.’ “

Pall, now a retired United Methodist Elder, worked as an orderly at Nesbitt during the summers of 1973, 1974 and 1975, when he was in grad school. “There was a time the Lutheran church not only encouraged but required candidates for ordained ministry to serve as an orderly,” he said, adding he is “so grateful” for the experience.

Some of the committee members are graduates of the Nesbitt Hospital’s School of Nursing, which Barbara Burke of Shavertown remembers as being “like boot camp.”

“We had curfews,” said Lois Reese of Hunlock Creek.

“And if a nurse had a date he had to wait for her” in a reception area, said Pall, whose sister, Connie, was a Nesbitt nurse.

During the ’60s and ’70s nursing school students took classes at Wilkes University, then known as Wilkes College.

“A bus would bring us back from Wilkes,” Burke said. “Some days we’d have four hours of class, come back and change into our uniforms and go to work. Or it was nothing to work 11 to 7, get breakfast and then go to class.”

Dadurka recalls the birth, 34 years ago, of her daughter, who has special needs, and required a great deal of specialized care during her first few years of life.

There were times Dadurka couldn’t come to work, but she said, “I never missed a paycheck.”

That’s because the hospital allowed other employees to donate their days off to a co-worker who needed them. And they did.

Other reunion committee members recall a time a co-worker’s home was destroyed in a fire, and when a co-worker needed $2,000 to pay for a Life Flight for a relative. Fellow employees didn’t hesitate to contribute to collections.

Of course, not every hospital memory can be pleasant. Pall, in particular, remembers the young bicyclist, hit by a drunk driver in a pick-up truck, who died of his injuries as Pall was preparing him for surgery. Reese remembers being a young nurse on duty when victims of an explosion at a local factory were brought in.

Other memories are more upbeat. Maureen Matiska of Kingston Township for example, recalls working the 3 to 11 shift in labor and delivery and being with a maternity patient all evening. When 11 p.m. came, she told the patient, “I’m not leaving you. It would be like watching a movie and missing the end.”

About 10 years later, the patient ran into her and introduced her son to Matiska, jokingly asking if the nurse remembered them.

Boleska remembers the Pink Lady hospital volunteers who made and distributed “pinky puppets” for every child born at the hospital.

And Joan Loch of Wilkes-Barre recalls the “memory meals” of lobster or steak served to new parents before they took their newborn home.

Speaking of meals, Pall said, “In the employee cafeteria, the food was great.”

“The Shop had the best cheeseburgers,” Loch added, referring to a hospitality shop the Pink Ladies ran.

Sharing another memory, Dadurka said that her daughter needed surgery in Philadelphia, where the hospital wanted two pints of B negative blood to be on hand in case her daughter needed a transfusion.

“It’s the second most rare type of blood,” Dadurka said. “Only 2 out of every 100 people have it.”

Dadurka donated 1 pint of B negative for her daughter; she also called a co-worker she knew she could count on. When that woman’s work shift was done, her husband drove her to Philadelphia to donate another pint of B negative.

Fortunately Dadurka’s daughter didn’t need a transfusion. When Dadurka learned the hospital had another B negative patient, she said, “I released the 2 pints of blood” to be available for that person.

No doubt at the Sept. 21 reunion, employees will swap many more stories of sharing and caring and coming through for each other. If you’re interested in making a reservation, here are the details:

The Nesbitt Memorial Hospital’s all-department reunion will be 1 to 5 p.m. Sept. 21 at Irem Temple Pavilion. Cost of $65 per person includes a buffet and open bar serving beer, wine and soda. All former employees are welcome to bring a guest. No money will be collected at the door.

Reservations must be received by Aug. 21 and can be mailed to NMH Reunion c/o 19 Firecut Road, Wyoming PA 18644. Make checks payable to NMH Reunion. More info can be found at the Former NMH Employee page on Facebook or by calling 570-696-1427