Nurse retires after 45 years in cardiac care
Speck will miss seeing 'good outcomes'
By Joanne Fox, Journal staff writer | Posted: Monday, June 02, 2008
Mary Ellen Speck and Kristin Grunig share memories of their personal and working relationship at Mercy Medical Center -- Sioux City with cardiac care. Speck retired last week after a 45-year nursing career. (Staff photo by Tim Hynds)
The "heart" of the cardiology center has been transplanted.
After 45 years, registered nurse Mary Ellen Speck has retired from the cardiac and rehab unit at Mercy Medical Center -- Sioux City and will spend much of her time on gardening.
Reluctantly, Speck admitted she wasn't sure about this interview.
"If I made a difference in any way," she said, "it would be because I was part of the cardiac care unit and part of the lives of patients to help them recover."
It was never really a question of pursuing a field other than nursing after Speck graduated from Graettinger High School 48 years ago.
"It's what my mother said I should do," she said, and then laughed. "Back in 1960, women didn't have many options besides the field of nursing or teaching."
But Speck said, intuitively, she knew she wanted to pursue a career in the field of health care. She started out in the pediatrics ward, eager to work with children, until an opportunity came up to join the intensive care unit in 1965.
"About that same time, the administration wanted to start a 10-bed CICC (Coronary Intensive Care Center)," she recalled. "I thought I'd give it a try."
One of the appeals of joining the new center -- which later in 1977 became Sioux City's first cardiac catheterization laboratory -- was to be on the "cutting edge" of cardiac care, Speck said, smiling at the pun.
"It was a very exciting field to be a part of and after a year, I become head nurse and stayed on in that capacity until 1998," she said.
The changes in cardiac care evolved over the years dramatically, Speck said.
"It was more complex than the other fields and I liked the opportunity to have more bedside contact with the patients and their families," she said. "The new field took a lot of education as well, and I was learning like everybody else was."
While Speck was learning, she was also training new nurses and working with doctors on new medications and new procedures, some of which had never been tried.
"We went from having patients lying in bed and feeding them for days to doing cardiac catheterizations, balloon angioplasties and stents," she said. "Now it's nothing to do heart bypass surgery and implant heart defibrillators and have patients on their feet walking out the door within days."
Speck remained during the merger of St. Vincent Hospital and St. Joseph Hospital, working on the St. Joe campus until Marian Health Center completed its cardiology unit in 1982 and moved it downtown.
"At one time, all the Sioux City hospitals, St. Joe, St. Vincent, Lutheran and Methodist, had a cardiac intensive care unit," Speck remembered. "As critical care providers, we all knew each other and were taking many of the same education classes. I can still tell you who was associated with St. Joe and St. Vincent, all these years later."
Speck ended her time with Mercy Heart Center May 30 as a cardiology case manager, focusing on the hospital's Congestive Heart Failure program.
"I tend to 70 patients for educational purposes and evaluate the data they provide daily through our Telemedicine program," she said. "I assess the information for variances and compare that with doctors' orders."
Actually, Speck said, it's not all that different from when she stepped on the hospital floor 45 years ago.
"Our responsibility as nurses has always been to teach the patient about what is wrong," she said. "It's just that years ago, there wasn't as much detail involved in health care."
The reason for that is due to the Internet, Speck pointed out.
"The patients' sons and daughters will go online and research heart problems and want very much to be part of their parents' care," she said. "I honestly like that, and talking to families about the care, because that way, we are all hearing the same thing."
What Speck will miss is seeing "good outcomes" and "working with a talented group of people." Among those is registered nurse Kristin Grunig, with whom Speck has worked "on and off since 1973.
"Mary Ellen is very smart and brings a great sense of humor to work with her," said Grunig, as the two exchanged hospital stories at the cardiac nurses' station. "I would consider her a true friend."
When Grunig came on staff at then-Marian Health Center, Speck was her boss.
"She was a bit intense," Grunig said hesitantly, but with a huge grin. "Mary Ellen was knowledgeable and wouldn't let you get away with not doing your work."
Teary-eyed, Speck confessed she couldn't imagine leaving, but at age 65, she acknowledged it was time to retire.
"After all, I might not be good and healthy forever," she said. "And I've got a vegetable garden to get in and then get to work on my flower gardens.
Reception
A retirement and farewell reception for registered nurse Mary Ellen Speck will be held from 2 to 4 p.m., Wednesday at the Mercy Medical Center's Leiter Room.
After 45 years, registered nurse Mary Ellen Speck has retired from the cardiac and rehab unit at Mercy Medical Center -- Sioux City and will spend much of her time on gardening.
Reluctantly, Speck admitted she wasn't sure about this interview.
"If I made a difference in any way," she said, "it would be because I was part of the cardiac care unit and part of the lives of patients to help them recover."
It was never really a question of pursuing a field other than nursing after Speck graduated from Graettinger High School 48 years ago.
"It's what my mother said I should do," she said, and then laughed. "Back in 1960, women didn't have many options besides the field of nursing or teaching."
But Speck said, intuitively, she knew she wanted to pursue a career in the field of health care. She started out in the pediatrics ward, eager to work with children, until an opportunity came up to join the intensive care unit in 1965.
"About that same time, the administration wanted to start a 10-bed CICC (Coronary Intensive Care Center)," she recalled. "I thought I'd give it a try."
One of the appeals of joining the new center -- which later in 1977 became Sioux City's first cardiac catheterization laboratory -- was to be on the "cutting edge" of cardiac care, Speck said, smiling at the pun.
"It was a very exciting field to be a part of and after a year, I become head nurse and stayed on in that capacity until 1998," she said.
The changes in cardiac care evolved over the years dramatically, Speck said.
"It was more complex than the other fields and I liked the opportunity to have more bedside contact with the patients and their families," she said. "The new field took a lot of education as well, and I was learning like everybody else was."
While Speck was learning, she was also training new nurses and working with doctors on new medications and new procedures, some of which had never been tried.
"We went from having patients lying in bed and feeding them for days to doing cardiac catheterizations, balloon angioplasties and stents," she said. "Now it's nothing to do heart bypass surgery and implant heart defibrillators and have patients on their feet walking out the door within days."
Speck remained during the merger of St. Vincent Hospital and St. Joseph Hospital, working on the St. Joe campus until Marian Health Center completed its cardiology unit in 1982 and moved it downtown.
"At one time, all the Sioux City hospitals, St. Joe, St. Vincent, Lutheran and Methodist, had a cardiac intensive care unit," Speck remembered. "As critical care providers, we all knew each other and were taking many of the same education classes. I can still tell you who was associated with St. Joe and St. Vincent, all these years later."
Speck ended her time with Mercy Heart Center May 30 as a cardiology case manager, focusing on the hospital's Congestive Heart Failure program.
"I tend to 70 patients for educational purposes and evaluate the data they provide daily through our Telemedicine program," she said. "I assess the information for variances and compare that with doctors' orders."
Actually, Speck said, it's not all that different from when she stepped on the hospital floor 45 years ago.
"Our responsibility as nurses has always been to teach the patient about what is wrong," she said. "It's just that years ago, there wasn't as much detail involved in health care."
The reason for that is due to the Internet, Speck pointed out.
"The patients' sons and daughters will go online and research heart problems and want very much to be part of their parents' care," she said. "I honestly like that, and talking to families about the care, because that way, we are all hearing the same thing."
What Speck will miss is seeing "good outcomes" and "working with a talented group of people." Among those is registered nurse Kristin Grunig, with whom Speck has worked "on and off since 1973.
"Mary Ellen is very smart and brings a great sense of humor to work with her," said Grunig, as the two exchanged hospital stories at the cardiac nurses' station. "I would consider her a true friend."
When Grunig came on staff at then-Marian Health Center, Speck was her boss.
"She was a bit intense," Grunig said hesitantly, but with a huge grin. "Mary Ellen was knowledgeable and wouldn't let you get away with not doing your work."
Teary-eyed, Speck confessed she couldn't imagine leaving, but at age 65, she acknowledged it was time to retire.
"After all, I might not be good and healthy forever," she said. "And I've got a vegetable garden to get in and then get to work on my flower gardens.
Reception
A retirement and farewell reception for registered nurse Mary Ellen Speck will be held from 2 to 4 p.m., Wednesday at the Mercy Medical Center's Leiter Room.
Story Comments
Read More and Post Comments 1 comment(s)
Please note: The following are comments from readers. In no way do they represent the views of The Sioux City Journal or Lee Enterprises. We will not edit or alter your comments, but we do reserve the right to not post or to remove comments that violate our code of conduct. No comment may contain potentially libelous statements; obscene, explicit or racist language; personal attacks, insults or threats. Terms of Service
mcoolit wrote on Jun 2, 2008 5:06 AM: