Mary Lou Lubbers realized she made the right choice one month into her training at St. Elizabeth school of nursing ““ back in 1961.
“From then on, I knew I had made the right decision,” Lubbers said. “It just felt right.”
Growing up, she had watched her mother work as a nurse’s aide for the American Red Cross. Then, immediately after high school, she applied and got into St. Elizabeth Hospital’s nursing school and eventually became a nurse at St. Elizabeth Hospital in Covington in 1967.
Sometimes, she says, she can’t imagine it’s been 50 years.
And, she’s not the only one celebrating this milestone.
“Let me just say: I’m a proud St. Elizabeth employee,” said Jane Ledbetter, a Patient Account Specialist at St. Elizabeth Edgewood.
The two, along with one other employee, were honored at St. Elizabeth’s Annual Service Awards Banquet on May 3, for having worked 50 years at St. Elizabeth.
Ledbetter remembers her first job at the hospital. She was a Nurse’s Aide and made 75 cents per hour. Since then, “I’ve had just about every job you could possibly have at this hospital,” she laughed.
Ledbetter worked as a Mail Messenger at the hospital, picking up and delivering mail ““ and sometimes lab specimens ““ throughout all departments. Through the years, she also did office work in the Patient Accounts office, was Mailroom Supervisor and Supervisor of Outpatient Billing. She “retired” briefly in the late 1990s, but soon returned to work on a range of special projects for the hospital.
Lubbers started as a part-time nurse, working when she was needed in the hospital’s medical and surgical units. In 1977, she became a St. Elizabeth Home Health and Hospice Nurse and has worked in the Hospice unit since, even managing the unit for eight years.
“Hospice nursing has been just a wonderful experience and I can’t even imagine what my life would have been without it ““ because you’re rewarded in so many ways,” Lubbers said. “It’s hard, but it’s so rewarding. People appreciate every thing that you can do for them.”
Ledbetter says she’s proud that she could continue at St. Elizabeth for so long, and proud of the work she’s done. “You know, I came up through the ranks. And I think I’ve always given it 100 percent.”
Lubbers added, “I really am proud that I’ve been able to be here 50 years. It’s been a wonderful career.”
