This year marks 50 dynamic years as a nurse for Joan Kelly, RN, of Cherry Hill.



With National Nurses Week approaching as well as her retirement in the summer, Kelly reflects on her lifetime career in the profession and the fulfillment she has received over the past five decades.



For Kelly, nursing was an obvious career path from a very young age. Finding inspiration from her next door neighbor growing up who was a nurse, she decided before she even reached high school that she wanted to become a pediatric nurse someday.



"I can't remember ever not wanting to be a nurse," she says. "I always liked helping people and I loved kids. Nursing just seemed like the perfect fit."



In 1962, Kelly graduated from Villanova University College of Nursing and in 1965, she received her Masters Degree in Nursing from the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing.



While pursuing her Masters Degree, Kelly worked at West Jersey Hospital in Camden. Post-graduation, she taught pediatric nursing for a year at the University of Delaware in Newark before leaving to teach at the Helene Fuld School of Nursing in 1966.



Kelly went on to join Cooper Hospital in which she spent thirteen years working as a pediatric nurse. Upon leaving Cooper, she decided to further pursue her career as a nursing instructor and began working as an adjunct professor at Rutgers and Neuman College teaching pediatric nursing.



In 1990, Kelly came to Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center. Ironically, she was no stranger to Lourdes. During high school, she and her fellow classmates served tables during the School of Nursing's ground breaking ceremeony and banquet, which was held out on the medical center's front lawn.



Kelly says, "I liked being at Lourdes from the first time I stepped on campus. I remember saying to myself, I am going to work here someday."



When Kelly first applied at Lourdes, she was interviewed by Sister John Francis, the Dean of the School of Nursing at the time. There were two nurses applying for the job, Kelly and another woman. As a graduate of St. Mary of the Angels Academy, a Franciscan high school, she and Sister Francis, a Franciscan nun, had a connection from the start.



"I know that my experience is what ultimately got me the job," she says, "but it didn't hurt that I came from a Franciscan school. I think that helped."



For the last 22 years, Kelly has served as an instructor teaching pediatric nursing and summer medical-surgical nursing classes at Lourdes. As an instructor, she teaches class as well as clinical and is also responsible for developing relationships with outside agencies.



"Lourdes has been the best place I have ever worked," says Kelly. "My ability to teach and work with students has grown tremendously under the Deans that we have had here. They have been excellent mentors and the teamwork is just incredible."



Kelly remembers a time when nursing was very different. "In my first job I used to scrub the walls of isolation rooms. There were no IV pumps, so we had to count each drop! The technological advancements in nursing, along with medicine now being evidence-based instead of just the way things were have been the most significant changes since I started 50 years ago. Nurses are also much more in partnership with physicians now and are given more responsibility as an important member of the medical team."



For men and women considering going into the profession, Kelly offers sound advice. "Make sure you are going into nursing for the right reason. Not just as a job, but as a dedicated career. It is hard and challenging work, and if you don't like what you do, you are not going to be a good nurse. Nursing is more than a job -- it is also the giving of yourself to the patients you serve."



Despite retiring in August, Kelly plans to still work at Lourdes on an adjuct basis. While she will miss the day to day interaction with her students, she looks forward to having more time to spend with her husband, 5 children and 12 grandchilden as well as to traveling. Kelly is also anxiosuly awaiting the status of her patent pending invention related to health maintence and wellness for the handicapped and elderly.



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For media inquiries, please contact Lauren Markin at Markinl@lourdesnet.org or (856) 705-1375.