Nurse Kelley

Our community has a rich history and “Nurse Kelley” was part of it.

I want to be like Nurse Kelley.

In spite of everything that was medically wrong with Nurse Kelley, she worked hard taking care of the kids, parents and everyone else who needed help at Hoag Hospital. After her crippling arthritis prevented her from getting around the hospital to calm and comfort everyone, George Hoag bought her an electric cart….and she went on comforting people when she herself was in pain.

This little angel of a woman’s name was known over and above most of the doctors in the hospital with good reason. She loved her job, the kids, the parents and everyone else inside and outside her orbit. When she wasn’t taking care of families in the hospital, she was taking care of them at home. When families of out -of - town children had no place to stay, they stayed with Nurse Kelly. She took them in. Her daughter took care of their pets if they needed her. Nurse Kelley gave her home phone number to patients and took phone calls around the clock.

Employee Number 1042, all of four foot eleven, was described in the fascinating book The First Fifty Years published in 2002, as someone who could have such compassion possibly because of her own “troubled medical history.” She dealt with her own heart attacks, cancer, stroke, diabetes, and partial loss of sight. She and her daughter referred to her body in the third person, “like a car, and it was a lemon.”

It’s not surprising that, as well as being a loving and caring nurse, Marjorie Ludwig was also a disciplinarian. She was not afraid to stand up to doctors or anyone else. Everyone who worked in her Pediatrics Pavilion (which she ran for 20 years) knew that they had to do their best job for children ….all the time and in every way. Presumably that watchful eye on things included doctors, and occasionally parents as well.

Like so many really good people, she insisted that she got more than she could ever give, but her daughter has said “Everybody talks about how remarkable she was, but what they forget is the role they played in helping that happen.” When she needed it, they actually had a club made up of people who were taking care of her. It was called K.K.G.:… Keep Kelley Going.

She worked there until she passed away right at Hoag Hospital June 10, 1993. Possibly because she grew up in an orphanage, she considered Hoag to be her home, and in so many ways, made it a home for everyone.

Her daughter said that she always wanted to die at home and she did.

Why should we all be Nurse Kelly? It’s simple. She cared, she persisted, she loved, she organized, she was brave, she inspired, she understood, and she knew how to accept help. How many of us can say that?

I don’t have to tell you how different and odd these years since Nurse Kelley ran pediatrics have been. How confusing and harsh in many ways, our community seems at times. It can be tough out there.

She left us a template…let’s follow it.

I wish Kelley was still at Hoag to straighten us out and make sure everything was okay.