In
The News:In
The News:
Irene Cross Goes Back to Work - To Visit
Retired
Nurse relishes visit to pediatric unit at Riley Children's Hospital
By William J. Booher
william.booher@indystar.com
Friday, July 20, 2007
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Sheila Poland helps Irene Cross put on her old nurse's cap. Cross, 78, who used to work in Riley Hospital for Children's newborn intensive care unit, got her wish to return for a visit. Photo - Danese Kenon / The Star |
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IRENE CROSS |
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Indianapolis, IN: Irene Cross' wish was granted - to visit the place where she used to work.
Cross served 19 years in a job she loved, working as a licensed practical nurse in Riley Hospital for Children's newborn intensive care unit. She retired in December 1991.
"If I ever went back to work, I'd want to work with the babies," said Cross, a resident of University Heights Health and Living Community,
in Perry Township.
Cross, 78, lived on Indianapolis' Near Southside during her career as a nurse and lived in the city of Franklin during her retirement, until moving to University Heights last November.
'I just had a touch for babies and babies seem to like me," she said Tuesday morning as she toured the third-floor unit where 55 babies were receiving intensive care.
The visit by Cross, who has mild dementia, was arranged by Sheila Poland. She is activities director for University Heights' dementia unit.
Cross still shows her nursing traits of loving and caring for others by offering to help other University Heights residents, Poland said. "Her work was her life and is her life," Poland said.
As Cross talked of her interest in returning to Riley for a visit, Poland contacted Never Too Late, an Indianapolis-based organization that grants wishes to the elderly.
Bob Haverstick, the organization's founder and executive director, said Never Too Late coordinated the visit with Jo Ann Klooz, public relations coordinator for Clarian Health, which owns and operates Riley Hospital.
Poland and Cross' son Paul, 57, Greenwood, accompanied her on the visit. "I'd come out here from time to time and see the babies with her while she was working here," he said.
Registered nurse Evelyn Kimble was surprised to see Irene Cross. She welcomed her former co-worker with a hug. "When I heard her voice, I knew who it was. It hasn't changed. She's gotten a little bit smaller but it's still Irene," Kimble said.
A hug also came from registered nurse Debra Hutchison, who also had worked with Cross. "You're looking the same," Hutchison told Cross.
Hutchison wasn't surprised that Cross' wish was to return to Riley for a visit. "It would be mine, too," she said. "It's so much of your life. You don't just work here."
Cross came on the visit complete with her old nursing cap, nametag and newborn intensive care unit pin.
She got the chance to change a diaper and noticed that diapers now are sized for small babies. "We had to take the larger ones and cut them in two," she recalled.
A lot has changed, she said, looking at the newborn unit. "This is totally different from what we had to work with in my day and age," she said, "and they can keep babies warmer longer than we could."
Registered nurse Linda Grande, who has been working at Riley for 31 years, said Cross "just loved taking care of the babies. She was new when we were just starting out with the newborn unit."
Grande, Hutchison and Kimble also had the same memory of Cross coughing and sneezing each time an antibacterial spray was used to clean surfaces. "When she came to work, she would hide it," Hutchison said.
Nothing, however, was bothering Cross on her Tuesday visit.
"Here's where they brought me," she said. "And I'm glad they did."
Call Star reporter William Booher at (317) 444-2706.