Joey Wahler (Host): It's a great way to stay connected with fellow graduates. So we're discussing the Mount Carmel Alumni Association. Our guests, two such grads. Pat Skunda, President of the Mount Carmel Alumni Association, as well as Suzanne Martin, who's the Association's Treasurer. This is Careers in Care, a Mount Carmel College of Nursing podcast. Thanks so much for joining us. I am Joey Wahler.

Hi there, Pat, Suzanne. Welcome.

Suzanne Martin, JD, RN: Good morning.

Pat Skunda, MS, RN: Thank you. Morning.

Host: Appreciate the time. Great to have you with us. So let's start with you, Pat. What would you say in a nutshell initially drew you to healthcare and nursing in particular, and when did you attend Mount Carmel College of Nursing yourself?

Pat Skunda, MS, RN: I grew up with a mother who was a nurse. So I've always had her in mind and I wanted to emulate what she did because I was always proud of that. And she worked with babies, which was not my field, but that was her field. I started Mount Carmel in 1969 as a freshman, and I graduated in 1972 with my diploma.

I also waited another 36 years and went back to school to Mount Carmel when it was a college now, and got my RN to BSN and then wasn't just satisfied with that. I went and got my master's as well. And that was seven years between my RN to BSN and my masters.

Host: How impressive, so you like to hit the books, don't you?

Pat Skunda, MS, RN: I actually did. I never thought I would go back and get my degree, but then, you had to have a degree to be in nursing at that point. So I thought, well, I'm going to do that on my own. And I did.

Host: And how great that along the way, you were never satisfied with having enough knowledge in this field. Right?

Pat Skunda, MS, RN: I enjoyed the learning. I really did. So, and my kids were, they're outta school and that, and I had the time and I worked full time and went to school, and I loved it.

Host: That's terrific. And Suzanne, what would you say first drew you to the profession and when did you attend the school?

Suzanne Martin, JD, RN: Well, when I was transitioning from junior high school into high school, the summer between, my grandmother had a very serious surgery. And I was asked to take care of her, and I was with her all summer long. And I loved my grandmother very much, number one. And number two, I found that I enjoyed taking care of her.

So that sort of planted the seed, if you will. I actually, in high school, had thought about the possibility of becoming a doctor. I loved science. Still do. But at that time, women were very much discouraged from thinking about those kind of professions. So I didn't have a lot of support for thinking about being a doctor.

 Had a friend who was a nurse who had just graduated from Mount Carmel. And I had known her through church and she encouraged me to come down to the college, take a look and see if I was interested. And that's pretty much all it took, and I absolutely do not regret that decision. I attended Mount Carmel between the years of 1963, graduated in 1966. I went on for additional education, but not through Mount Carmel.

Host: Gotcha. And so it's interesting you both had that family connection that drew you to healthcare in a little bit of a different way in each of your cases, but I find that often that's the case that healthcare and this type of work is a family affair, right?

Suzanne Martin, JD, RN: Yes.

Pat Skunda, MS, RN: Yes.

Host: So what are some of your most vivid memories from your time as students at Mount Carmel College of Nursing? Let's start with you, Pat.

Pat Skunda, MS, RN: I think the biggest thing I got from it was the feeling of a family. We lived at the dorm. Your classmates lived at the dorm. You spent three years practically with them all the time. And we developed bonds. And these bonds were forever. I still see, and our class still gets together every couple months, the ones who live in Columbus and we go out to lunch. I mean, we have stayed, this is 53 years now that we have been meeting and it's made a big difference. Because there's a cohesiveness, you became a family and I think that the instructors are very good at trying to help you succeed. They wanted you to be successful and I just like, I liked that. I did, so.

Host: And it's great and oftentimes so rare, isn't it, to have those, in your case, nearly lifelong friends. Nobody knows us better than those people from back in college, right?

Pat Skunda, MS, RN: Well, we laughed. We cried together. I mean, we studied together. It was a family, it was our family for three years.

Host: Absolutely. How about you, Suzanne? What are your fondest memories?

Suzanne Martin, JD, RN: Well, I have to echo what Pat said. The notion of living together, learning together, crying together, having fun together is just irreplaceable and as Pat said, it creates bonds that are with you for a lifetime. Sadly, I lost one of my very best friends from nursing school earlier this summer, and it just made me again reflect on what a wonderful opportunity I had when I was at Mount Carmel to know those women and to have them as part of my life, and they helped me learn tremendously. The value of group learning, I think is not always recognized at the time. I didn't recognize it, but I think it made a huge difference for me academically as well as socially to have those wonderful women surround me as we sort of grew up together.

Host: Pat, how about how the college has changed most since you graduated, and what traditions on the other hand have remained strong and in place?

Pat Skunda, MS, RN: I noticed there was a difference when I went back to school. Like I said, it was 36 years of working before I went back to school. Things were different. You had technology that we didn't have in the late sixties, and I had difficulty with that. Where other students had no problems with computers and that, so I had to relearn a lot.

And I think there was a lot of students who were like commuters that, they would come and go to class and then go home. They were not living at the dorm. So that made a difference. And the age difference, for the most part, I was accepted as the oldest person in the class, that was fine.

 Just some of the priorities were a little bit different. My priority was I want to do a good job. The hospital was paying my tuition. I wanted to respect that and not like, just, well I'll just get a B or C, I wanted to do my best. And that was ingrained way back when I was going for my diploma and that, so, but there's just a difference in the age. There's a multi-generation, there's like three different generations at that time, so you had to learn a little bit about each of them, and that took some time.

Host: Speaking of which, Suzanne, when we talk about younger students, what advice would you give now to students nowadays just beginning their nursing journey?

Suzanne Martin, JD, RN: I think the first thing that comes to mind is to tell them to, number one, try to enjoy the learning. There is a tremendous amount of academic content that they're going to have to learn. When I went back to school, I was part of a study group for three years, and I can't tell you what a huge difference that made in terms of my ability to be academically successful.

And the last piece of advice I would say is just have fun with it too. Know that patients are thrilled to have you there taking care of them and not to be frightened and to enjoy those patients. You can learn a lot from individuals and their life experiences along the way.

Host: And when you talk about the importance of enjoying learning, having fun with it, who better as an example, than Pat who's got her 46 different diplomas? Right?

Pat Skunda, MS, RN: I really think there is something about continuing your education. I was working as a night shift nursing supervisor when I was going back to school and there was a lot of younger nurses. I got to know everybody in the hospital that worked the night shift and I encouraged them, go back to school.

Don't just stop learning. Nursing you have to continue to learn because things change over time. Technology changes. I encouraged them to go on and get their degrees, maybe get their master's degree, but also look at certification of different fields that they're in so that there's a constant learning.

 I think I got bored after all those years and decided, well, I'll go back to school. And I just think that's a very important for nurses to keep on with their education.

Host: Yeah, it's a really great point. How about what first inspired each of you to get involved with the Mount Carmel College of Nursing Alumni Association? How about you Suzanne, what drew you to it?

Suzanne Martin, JD, RN: Well, when I was working, I didn't have really much opportunity or time to be involved with the alumni association. And then once I retired, one of my classmates and lifelong friends had been on the alumni board for several years and she asked me if I would be willing to consider joining the board.

There was a need and I was retired, and honestly, I was eager to get involved. I missed work. I missed being around patients. And so, that's really what got me involved. And that was, gosh, I can't remember how many years ago that is now, Pat. But anyway, I have enjoyed it thoroughly and feel like it's a little way for me to give back to Mount Carmel.

And the nurses that I love so much that I not only went to school with but got to know over the years as I was practicing.

Host: And how about you, Pat? Why did you first get involved?

Pat Skunda, MS, RN: Well, I agree with Suzanne while you're working and raising a family, it wasn't a high priority or a didn't really think about it a whole lot, but a friend of mine was on the board, she was given a job to do and she asked me if it'd be a CO- Chairman with her on the archives removal of the nursing archives.

And so we worked on it. The archives for nursing were in the basement, and Dr. Sheeley at that time, wanted them up in the library. So we, it took us a year. We did a program and we redesigned the library for the archives, for the nursing archives. So what is in the library right now are the original archives, all kinds of mementos through the years of nursing.

All the pictures of the nursing classes back to 1903, everything is in the library now. And we were proud of that. We really did a good job on that. And I was on the board and I just, that was in 2011 and I just kind of stayed on. There for a while I was a secretary. And then since what, 2019, I've been the president.

And I've never got bored with it. And it's my way of giving back too. They paid for my tuition and I wanted to pay it forward. I've enjoyed it. It's had its moments, but it's still very exciting.

Host: And speaking of exciting, Suzanne, how about some of the more exciting initiatives or events the alumni Association is working on as we speak?

Suzanne Martin, JD, RN: Well, one of the things that we have done recently, well, it's been maybe what, three, four years ago now, is we had a very generous alum who donated a fairly significant amount of her estate to the Alumni Association. And as a board, we felt like we wanted to make a meaningful gift during a capital campaign, The Legacy of Learning and the largest part of that gift went to sponsoring a speaker series. We did that in order to engage alumni. Also offer an opportunity for not only students, but other nurses in the area to continue their learning. As Pat mentioned, and one of the themes that runs through nursing education at Mount Carmel is the notion that you never stop learning, that you are a lifelong learner.

Too many things change, new things come along, and you have an obligation and responsibility to continue your learning. So we felt like the Rachel Zook Speaker Series would be a way to engage our alumni and assist in their lifelong learning process. So we're very excited about that and we have a speaker coming up next month, as a matter of fact, as part of that series.

Host: As you're talking about that, I'm thinking what a great idea, a speaker series to get alumni involved. When I was attending college, I was a communication major. Larry King came to speak and we all that wanted to be in broadcasting and journalism, we all went. Right. So, it's really a great idea.

Just a couple other things before we let you go. Pat, how do you see the role of alumni evolving in supporting the college and its students?

Pat Skunda, MS, RN: Well, I think the Alumni Association not only supports the students, but we also have an obligation to support the alumni, and that's important. Trying to think of things for the alumni, the speaker series, offering CCEs, that's helpful to the alumni. We do have a initiative right now we're working on is the Alumni engagement and we did something for the first time that's never been done was we invited and nominated and elected two students to join our board, the Mount Carmel Alumni Association Board as voting members, they have full rights as everyone else. There's a senior and a junior and they have been invaluable with their ideas.

They connect with the students and they know what the students are going through, and we're trying to increase membership. But be meaningful for the alumni and involve alumni in the college into things that we want to try to do with the college. So, we've had alumni who do regularly volunteer to do things for us, and we're just trying to open that up to more people. We're really interested in the alumni engagement. We have faculty and we have board members, non-board members and students on the committee to see what else we can do to serve the alumni and serve the students as well.

Host: Sounds like yet another great idea. And finally here, in summary, for each of you, I'm going to have you both step into a time machine real quick before we let you go. If you could go back and give your younger self just one piece of advice during nursing school, what would it be? How about you, Suzanne?

Suzanne Martin, JD, RN: I've thought about this before. And I think the advice that I would give to myself is seek out as many clinical experiences as you can. I had the opportunity to get extra clinical experience through the student work program. And so for example, when I was a senior student, I worked over the Christmas holidays at night and I helped with the first peritoneal dialysis procedure that was done at Mount Carmel Hospital.

And that was just invaluable in two ways. One, I learned about it. I had to go back and study what it meant. And I was part of an initiative that was something that was a source of pride for the hospital too, that we were now doing peritoneal dialysis, and it was just such a fabulous experience and it really boosted my confidence as well.

So that would be my advice. Get as much clinical experience as you can because it helps prepare you for the day that you actually begin practicing as a registered nurse.

Host: Absolutely. And as you pointed out with that great story, no better example than you and Pat, how about your best advice to your younger self?

Pat Skunda, MS, RN: I felt that student service, like Suzanne said, was extremely important. Actually, Suzanne hired me on her nursing unit as a senior nursing tech. But you see the nursing in action. You can see things in school, but you can see emergencies that occur when you're working as a student tech.

You see how the nurses who are on the floor function and how they function together as a team, and so that gives you that team aspects for when you graduate and you are ready to graduate from Mount Carmel when you graduate. You have the skills, you've got the clinical skills, the critical thinking, all that you've gone through.

Now you're going to be putting in place as the nurses who are watching you grow for those three years working on the unit. You can actually return the favor to them by being a good nurse, but I felt student service was very valuable to me.

Host: Great advice indeed from each of you. It seems nurses are always among the more unsung heroes, if you will, in the healthcare world. Folks, we trust you are now more familiar with the Mount Carmel Alumni Association. Pat, Suzanne, congrats on a great career for each of you and we appreciate you sharing your stories.

Thanks so much again.

Suzanne Martin, JD, RN: You are welcome. Thank you for having us.

Host: My pleasure. And for more information, you can visit mccn.edu/alumni. Now, if you found this podcast helpful, please do share it on your social media. I'm Joey Wahler, and thanks again for being part of Careers in Care Mount Carmel College of Nursing podcast.