When Carol Mefford began her nursing career 58 years ago, nurses didn’t use gloves at patients’ bedsides. It was considered rude.
She graduated from college the same time Lyndon B. Johnson passed Medicare. She worked as an oncology nurse at the beginning of the field’s development. She used to have patients in her care for two weeks after they received total joint replacement surgeries.
She’s now 78, and she believes she’s the oldest bedside nurse in the regional area. She’s spent nearly six decades witnessing medical advancements and, as she describes it, “performing miracles.” She sees no reason to stop anytime soon.
“It’s a joy to me, and that’s why I’m still here. When it’s not a joy, or my back goes, or health-wise I can’t do it anymore, then I won’t,” Mefford said. “But I still can, and that’s a blessing to me.”
Fired up to help
After graduating from the University of Iowa in 1968, Mefford began her career as a public health nurse in Des Moines. She worked with vulnerable populations and cared for patients with transmittable diseases. She helped women who had received illegal abortions get evaluated at Broadlawns Medical Center.
She cared deeply about helping the underserved and underprivileged, a passion that she still lives with today. She holds strong convictions that she’s unafraid to express.
“I was on fire then — hell on fire — to help the world,” Mefford said.
She spent time teaching nursing students, then moved to oncology as the field was developing. She won Nurse of the Year at Iowa Lutheran Hospital in 1983 for her work in the specialty. She remembers mixing oncology drugs at the bedside with no protection while pregnant, back when pain management for cancer patients was virtually nonexistent.
Today, she works on a floor at Lutheran, where patients are seen for various illnesses and surgeries; she cares mostly for orthopedic patients. After working through the COVID-19 pandemic and having the illness four times, patients with the virus are the only ones she won’t take.
The impact she’s able to have on each patient’s life has fueled her through 58 years of nursing.
“Nursing can be a calling,” she said. “And I was called.”
Running the floor
Mefford didn’t feel the need to move into nursing management or administrative roles. She believes her decades of knowledge and experience are best used by serving her patients and fellow nurses.
“We look at advancement in nursing as going up the ladder. I don’t see it that way. Be a clinical specialist. Lead the others so that they, too, are specialists on the floor. Because knowledge is power, and we need to reward those that stay at the bedside,” she said.
She’s naturally a leader on her floor. She loves teaching newer nurses and encouraging them to find what fits them best in nursing. She feels a responsibility to support them as they explore the beginning of the profession that she loves so dearly.
She’s also witnessed firsthand how changes in staffing and nurse shortages have increased the workload for everyone. With increased patient-to-staff ratios, the stress is higher and there’s less time to teach. She feels nurses are overworked. But, she explained, if your heart’s in it, it’s worth it.
“What I say to young nurses is, ‘We have an opportunity to make a difference in the life of someone every single day,’” she said.
Not slowing down
Mefford’s energy doesn’t wane outside of the hospital either.
She enjoys cross-country skiing and has even taught her co-workers. She and her husband love to travel, swimming with sharks off the coast of Mexico and whitewater rafting in North Carolina. She’s also an Audubon Woman and spends time caring for birds at county parks.
“If I’m not at work, I’m at my health club. And that’s one of the reasons I can still run that hallway,” she said. “Keep moving. Use it or lose it.”
Her passion for her family and community keeps her going, as well. She and her husband have two grandchildren. They spend time at Ankeny sporting events. They sponsor Japanese exchange students attending DMACC and support them in acclimating to their new home.
She’s thinking of moving to an active senior center with her husband when she turns 80, but there are no plans for her to leave nursing at this time. Her two 12-hour shifts a week bring her joy, and that’s what matters the most to her.
“Have I had some personal tragedies in my life? Yes, I have. But the joy of nursing is when you walk in there, I don’t care what my challenges are. It’s so rewarding to me. I can leave anytime I want. That changes one’s attitude. I still love it. I go in by choice,” she said.
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