Program was revolutionary

The many graduates of the Oregon Health & Science University School of Nursing at EOU include Abby Workman, left, shown here following her June commencement. Abby is next to her mother Erin and sister Ashley, who both have strong ties to the nursing program. Erin earlier served as its clinical instructor in John Day and Ashley is a student in the nursing program and will graduate in June. The Observer/DICK MASON

The office is where the late EOU President Rodney Briggs went for dental work in 1977-’78. Karen Hasel was then a receptionist at the office and a young woman who wanted to earn a nursing degree. But because of her young family she could not leave town to earn it.

Hasel knew that there was a proposal to set up a cooperative nursing degree program between Eastern and OHSU. She often good-naturedly lobbied Briggs about it during his dental visits.

Hasel had many opportunities to ask the question of Briggs.

“He came in frequently because he needed a lot of dental. The poor guy,’’ she said.

Briggs, possibly because of Hasel’s prodding, saw that Eastern followed through on its objective. The OHSU School of Nursing at Eastern was established in 1979. The program’s 30th anniversary was celebrated Thursday. Hasel, who graduated with a nursing degree in 1982, was among those who spoke at Thursday’s celebration.

The cooperative nursing program was revolutionary, said former EOU President David Gilbert, then the university’s provost and dean of academic affairs. Gilbert worked closely with OHSU in helping get the program established, one for which there was no blueprint.

“There was no model of another program like it anywhere,’’ Gilbert said.

The model Eastern came up with on its own proved successful. So successful that Eastern went on to establish similar cooperative academic programs with almost all of the other schools in the Oregon University System.

Jeanne Bowden, EOU’s nursing program director from 1995 to 2006, also spoke at Thursday’s program. Bowden, who was with the program 26 years, credits Marcia Shoup Short, its first director, with playing a large role in setting the foundation for the stature it has achieved.

“She was so good at inspiring us. Whenever there were obstacles she made us see them as opportunities,’’ Bowden said. “She was an incredible role model.’’

The OHSU School of Nursing at EOU extended its reach in the community under the leadership of people like Short, Bowden and others. The program established health clinics in Union, Elgin and North Powder. Bowden noted that the Union clinic once drew the attention of  John Kitzhaber while he was serving as Oregon governor in the 1990s

Kitzhaber, a former emergency room physician, visited the Union clinic in its early years while it was located in an old Forest Service building. The governor came in while Ginny Elder, a nurse and current faculty member, was stitching up a patient’s cut.

“He watched her put every stitch in,’’ Bowden said.

The OHSU School of Nursing at EOU now has 88 students, 18  faculty and is located in Badgley Hall of Eastern’s Science Center — a far cry from its early years when it was based in Eastern’s Hunt Hall.

Hasel, who graduated with a nursing degree in 1982, remembers those years well. The school had just two faculty members and students listened to many lectures from OHSU professors in Portland via speaker phone.

“The phone was on a tall table in a small room. We sat on the floor with our backs against the wall taking notes,’’ said Hasel, a faculty member at the OHSU School of Nursing at EOU since 1987.

Hasel credits Short, who attended Thursday’s celebration, for much of the success the program has experienced.

“She always had a can-do attitude. ... She said it was important to listen and dream. She was always saying ‘What if?’ and not ‘can’t.’”

Hasel credits the program with allowing many people in Eastern Oregon who could not leave the region to attend to school the opportunity to become nurses.

“Hospitals in Eastern Oregon have a much better supply of nurses than they would have if the program had never been here.’’

— Dick Mason