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O'Brien retiring from nursing department |
By Beth Kalisiak
Apache Staff
Effective July 13, nursing instructor Francis O’Brien is retiring. At IVCC she has taught basic nursing classes, medical/surgical nursing, clinicals at area hospitals, and summer programs for LPNs. She started teaching part-time in the spring of 1994 and began teaching full-time that fall.
Describing her career before IVCC, O’Brien said, “What didn’t I do.”
She worked at the University of Chicago Hospital. For six months she worked at a nursing home where her job was to modernize the nursing program.
For a year and a half she taught nursing at Augustana College. When the program closed, she worked at the skilled nursing unit there. She also served as a director of nursing/nursing assistant at various nursing homes.
When she came to the Illinois Valley she said she applied at every hospital. She accepted the position at IVCC as soon as she was offered the job.
“When I decided I was coming to this area, I told my husband if he wasn’t coming with me, too bad,” she said. “It has always been my dream to teach nursing.”
O’Brien began studying nursing ten years after graduating from high school. She had spent those ten years raising her children. She first enrolled at the Chicago Public Schools’ Practical Nursing Course. Afterwards, she completed the LPN program at Wright Junior College. She then obtained her BSN and MSN at the University of Illinois, Chicago Medical Center.
During her retirement, she intends to continue to participate in the National Area Guardians and Nature Conservation. She enjoys working in her garden and on a small chapel and pond there. She also plans to do a lot of swimming in her pool and lead a quiet life with her already retired husband.