Norma Black is a walking healthcare history book. With 62 years of caring under her cap, she ushered in penicillin, CPR and nursed her way through the 1952 polio epidemic. Childbirth and surgery were eased by applying open-drop ether masks. “I’ve had to keep up with my Continuing Education Units,” she reports with a smile.
National Nurses Week, which was celebrated May 6-12, offered Black a platform in which to reminisce about her long and productive career.

A deep respect and belief in the Mission of the Daughters of Charity, who sponsor O’Connor Hospital, has allowed her to practice compassionate care throughout her many years of nursing. Black planned on becoming an accountant, but World War II changed that. With a dire need for medical personnel following the war, the U.S. military offered a free ride on the fast track to a nursing degree at Massillon Nursing School in Massillon, Ohio. Black jumped onboard and never looked back.

“I began my training in 1948 and finished in 1951,” she recalled. “My sister was a nurse so it felt comfortable to follow suit. Pay was good the first year - $15 a month. The main thing I remember during those early years is we worked long hours from 7:30 am to midnight.”

Without the benefit of information and medical technology to assist with patient care, nursing covered a wide range of duties. “Our workload was so different back then,” she said. “We did everything from autoclaving all of the equipment to cleaning the ward and emptying the trash before we went home at night. We were very much a service-oriented group.”

Nursing students lived two in a room and worked together onsite at Massillon Hospital in Ohio. “Since marriage wasn’t allowed, all 30 of us were single women,” she added. The nursing students often covered for the registered nurses who were unable to get to the hospital due to heavy snowfall. “Even though we were students, we staffed the units and covered the floors.” Classes were taught at the convenience of the physicians.

From 1950 to 1951, Black worked in the psychiatric ward, a time she remembers well. “Patients in our wards were very ill and difficult to care for. One patient tried to choke me with a nylon stocking, but I was able to talk her out of it.” While no medications were administered, electric shock therapy was the norm. “Many of our patients suffered from tertiary syphilis, which made them hallucinogenic and violent,” she recalled. Straight jackets served as deterrents to violence against the caregivers.

Black credits her longevity to something she learned during the early years. “You must have the ability to find humor in the tough spots,” she said. “A little humor is a surefire way to take the edge off.”  Along with smiling her way through dark times, Black believes it is her inherent love of caring for others that has kept her going full speed. “I’ve always liked taking care of people,” she said. “I always volunteered to help other groups, too.”

At 81 years old, Black is still putting in the hours. She works as a circulator nurse at O’Connor Hospital, where she started as a part-timer in 1979. Much has changed in the 62 years she has provided care and comfort to those in pain and distress. A consummate professional, she has changed with the times.

O’Connor Hospital Nursing Director Myrna Chang, RN, MA, CNOR, is continually amazed at Black’s motivation, especially when it involves computerized documentation. “Norma was one of our early adaptors,” Chang reports. “She has an impeccable tenacity to learn and the flexibility to adapt to changing nursing practice.”

Retirement isn’t a word in Black’s vocabulary yet. For now, she’s happy, healthy and continually motivated.
“The Daughters of Charity Health System values are in line with my own,” she said. “It’s never been a concern whether patients could pay or not. I just do my best to provide the best care I can.”