Talk about dedication! http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.ssf/2010/10/genesee_countys_matriarch_of_n.html
While other nurses started wearing rainbow-colored scrubs, Josephine Goss continued to don her crisp, all-white uniform — just like the one she started in nearly 60 years ago.
The grandmother is a witness to advancements in science and medicine.
She was there when IVs became routine and when bedside oxygen was an innovation. She trained nurses on how to read electrocardiogram heart monitors when they arrived in Flint. She lived through the evolution of treating women after childbirth.
And she is known for her key role in starting an intensive care unit at Genesee Memorial Hospital in 1972.
But after more than half a century in the profession, the woman who has been called Genesee County’s “matriarch of nursing” is leaving the medical world, albeit reluctantly.
“I want to come back to work,” said Goss, 81, a week after retirement while recently visiting with former colleagues at Ciena Healthcare’s Willowbrook Manor in Flint Township. “My doctor told me I had to retire.”
Longtime Willowbrook colleague Sally Petropoulos agrees Goss has a hard time slowing down. It was hard enough to get Goss to go home for even one day.
Petropoulos, a registered nurse and assistant director of nursing at the facility, remembered the day residents were getting flu shots and Goss showed up to work looking pale and feeling ill.
“I told her to leave, but she was saying, ‘How will all these people get their flu shots?’ ” Petropoulos recalled. “I told her ‘you are more critical than they are.’ I had to call 9-1-1 for her.”
And it was a good thing because Goss was diagnosed with internal bleeding.
But Goss’ dedication to care inspired others, Petropoulos said.
“You never wanted to let Jo down. She was the drill sergeant. You always did it right the first time for her,” she said. “She found her true calling in life and has done so much in this community. She is the nurse you want to be, an inspiration, a mentor.
“She is the matriarch of nursing in Genesee County.”
Goss, a mother of two daughters and grandmother to one grandson, first declared she wanted to be a nurse at age 4 and became one in her early 20s.
And she has seen it all since graduating from the Hurley School of Nursing in 1950.
She has been a nurse, a director, a teacher and an administrator for long-term care.
But some things never changed for the 13-year director of nursing at Kith Haven in Flint and 14-year Willowbrook nurse.
She wore all white from the day she graduated to the day she retired.
“I just think it shows cleanliness and it identifies you,” Goss said. “Once when a patient saw me walk by, he said ‘Oh, that must be the nurse there.’ I’d wear the nurse cap, too, if they still did that.”
Her level of care also never waned.
“Every human being we work with has the right to the best care we can give them,” she said. “Our role is to help them heal so they can go home healthy and safely.”
But there is one thing Goss has never been good at, friends and family say — being on the other side of care.
“She is the worst patient,” daughter Beth Goss-Robbins said with a laugh.
There was the nearly yearlong stretch of recovery after a head-on car collision almost killed Goss in Flint Township in 1987.
She was flown to the University of Michigan hospital, where she required emergency brain surgery from a hemorrhage and stayed five months, followed by another eight-month stint at Kith Haven.
Goss-Robbins said her mom had a 50/50 chance of coming out of surgery with normal brain activity.
But Goss got antsy lying around, returning to work the minute the doctor gave her the OK.
“I always said she was born with a RN pin on her chest,” Goss-Robbins said.
While other nurses started wearing rainbow-colored scrubs, Josephine Goss continued to don her crisp, all-white uniform — just like the one she started in nearly 60 years ago.
The grandmother is a witness to advancements in science and medicine.
She was there when IVs became routine and when bedside oxygen was an innovation. She trained nurses on how to read electrocardiogram heart monitors when they arrived in Flint. She lived through the evolution of treating women after childbirth.
And she is known for her key role in starting an intensive care unit at Genesee Memorial Hospital in 1972.
But after more than half a century in the profession, the woman who has been called Genesee County’s “matriarch of nursing” is leaving the medical world, albeit reluctantly.
“I want to come back to work,” said Goss, 81, a week after retirement while recently visiting with former colleagues at Ciena Healthcare’s Willowbrook Manor in Flint Township. “My doctor told me I had to retire.”
Longtime Willowbrook colleague Sally Petropoulos agrees Goss has a hard time slowing down. It was hard enough to get Goss to go home for even one day.
Petropoulos, a registered nurse and assistant director of nursing at the facility, remembered the day residents were getting flu shots and Goss showed up to work looking pale and feeling ill.
“I told her to leave, but she was saying, ‘How will all these people get their flu shots?’ ” Petropoulos recalled. “I told her ‘you are more critical than they are.’ I had to call 9-1-1 for her.”
And it was a good thing because Goss was diagnosed with internal bleeding.
But Goss’ dedication to care inspired others, Petropoulos said.
“You never wanted to let Jo down. She was the drill sergeant. You always did it right the first time for her,” she said. “She found her true calling in life and has done so much in this community. She is the nurse you want to be, an inspiration, a mentor.
“She is the matriarch of nursing in Genesee County.”
Goss, a mother of two daughters and grandmother to one grandson, first declared she wanted to be a nurse at age 4 and became one in her early 20s.
And she has seen it all since graduating from the Hurley School of Nursing in 1950.
She has been a nurse, a director, a teacher and an administrator for long-term care.
But some things never changed for the 13-year director of nursing at Kith Haven in Flint and 14-year Willowbrook nurse.
She wore all white from the day she graduated to the day she retired.
“I just think it shows cleanliness and it identifies you,” Goss said. “Once when a patient saw me walk by, he said ‘Oh, that must be the nurse there.’ I’d wear the nurse cap, too, if they still did that.”
Her level of care also never waned.
“Every human being we work with has the right to the best care we can give them,” she said. “Our role is to help them heal so they can go home healthy and safely.”
But there is one thing Goss has never been good at, friends and family say — being on the other side of care.
“She is the worst patient,” daughter Beth Goss-Robbins said with a laugh.
There was the nearly yearlong stretch of recovery after a head-on car collision almost killed Goss in Flint Township in 1987.
She was flown to the University of Michigan hospital, where she required emergency brain surgery from a hemorrhage and stayed five months, followed by another eight-month stint at Kith Haven.
Goss-Robbins said her mom had a 50/50 chance of coming out of surgery with normal brain activity.
But Goss got antsy lying around, returning to work the minute the doctor gave her the OK.
“I always said she was born with a RN pin on her chest,” Goss-Robbins said.