{"id":810,"date":"2014-04-29T14:51:25","date_gmt":"2014-04-29T14:51:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lamp1.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/?p=810"},"modified":"2019-06-12T10:22:14","modified_gmt":"2019-06-12T15:22:14","slug":"no-shortage-of-nurses-in-this-family","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/2014\/04\/29\/no-shortage-of-nurses-in-this-family\/","title":{"rendered":"No shortage of nurses in this family"},"content":{"rendered":"

They say it all started with Helen Koch\u2019s great grandmother. In 1905, when Olive Cady enrolled at the St. Joseph Hospital for Educating Nurses in St. Joseph, Mo. as a nontraditional student, she began a legacy of nurses that continues today. And in recent history, many have earned their degrees from Missouri Western.<\/p>\n

In December 2013, Ashley Nichols \u201913 earned a Bachelor of Science in Nursing, joining her mother, grandmother, brother, sister-in-law and a host of cousins in the field. Nichols\u2019 mother, Leslie Nichols \u201977 & \u201981, her grandmother, Helen Koch \u201984, and her aunt and uncle, Teri \u201980 and Bob \u201974 Koch, all credit Missouri Western for their education and careers.<\/p>\n

\"Nichols,<\/a>\u201cNursing is a disease in our family,\u201d Helen says with a laugh. \u201cWe all just want to help people and serve.\u201d<\/p>\n

Helen started in a nursing program right out of high school but had to quit when she got married, because married women were not allowed in the program. So she always planned to go back and get her degree when her children were grown, and that is exactly what she did.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was her lifelong dream,\u201d Leslie says of her mother. \u201cShe was my influence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Helen, who worked for a surgeon for several years before she earned her associate\u2019s degree in nursing, said she was often accused of brainwashing her children into going into nursing, and she doesn\u2019t deny it. \u201cI\u2019m very proud. I feel they have chosen a profession that will serve them well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bob is a certified registered nurse anesthetist at a hospital in Carthage, Mo. and Teri is the director of quality management and infection control at a hospital in Joplin, Mo. \u201cIt\u2019s been a good career,\u201d Bob said.<\/p>\n

Teri agreed. \u201cYou learn something new every day, and you feel like you make a difference.\u201d<\/p>\n

By the time Ashley graduated with a bachelor\u2019s degree in health science from University of Missouri-Columbia in 2011, she had already decided to pursue a nursing degree at Missouri Western.<\/p>\n

Both her mother and grandmother are pleased with Ashley\u2019s career choice. \u201cAt first I was shocked and amazed,\u201d Leslie said. \u201cBut she will be a very caring, wonderful nurse. She has the intelligence and the heart for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ashley said working one summer in a hospital convinced her that she would enjoy a nursing career. \u201cNursing is hands-on and you develop relationships with the patients.\u201d<\/p>\n

All the family members agreed that their education at Missouri Western prepared them well for their careers. Helen, Bob, Teri and Leslie all received associate degrees because Missouri Western didn\u2019t begin offering bachelor\u2019s degrees in nursing until 1986.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe professors were great,\u201d Teri said. \u201cThey were very supportive, but they had high expectations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ashley praised her preparation for her career, as well. \u201cMy professors were wonderful. They did a great job of finding clinical sites that supported learning.\u201d<\/p>\n

And the legacy continues. Two of Ashley\u2019s cousins, Claire Brockett and Cole Brockett are both currently attending Missouri Western and plan to major in nursing.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy great grandmother is an inspiration to all of us,\u201d Helen said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

They say it all started with Helen Koch\u2019s great grandmother. In 1905, when Olive Cady enrolled at the St. Joseph Hospital for Educating Nurses in St. Joseph, Mo. as a nontraditional student, she began a legacy of nurses that continues today. And in recent history, many have earned their degrees […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[23,19],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/810"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=810"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/810\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4113,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/810\/revisions\/4113"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=810"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=810"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}