After 40 years of service, changes haven’t chased GCH nurse away from career she loves

May 11--When Susie (Karns) Kohman was 15, then-Director of Nursing at Geary Community Hospital Joanne McKenna told Kohman's dad to buy his daughter a secondhand watch for her 16th birthday and let her become a nurse's aid at GCH.

Fast forward about 42 years and the Junction City native is still working at the hospital.

Nursing (and helping people) is in her marrow.

Even before being employed at GCH, Kohman volunteered as a candy striper at the hospital and worked with an organization called Bell Ringers, where she helped out after school once a week at a nursing home called the Good Samaritan.

Since that time, she's seen many changes in her field.

Kohman also didn't have to take classes to become a nurses aid as she would today, she noted.

"Back then, you didn't have nurses aid classes, you just learned on the job and I learned from the best," she said.

Kohman recalls a time when people could come to the hospital for what she calls R and R -- to rest for a few days. People, she said, used to pack their briefcases and come down to GCH for tests as-needed.

"We were able to take care of the patient, whatever their needs were," she said.

But costs have gone up over the years and insurance has become more restrictive so this isn't always possible, according to Kohman. Even people who've had major procedures can only remain in the hospital for a day or two, she said.

Kohman feels insurance, regulations, and a fast-paced world have contributed to the major changes she's seen over her career.

She said she misses the old days.

"I'm old fashioned, I'm old school," Kohman said.

Remembering the uniforms she wore when she started, she still often wears white and said she would wear her cap if she still had it.

She found role models in hospital staff, including former GCH Director of Nursing LaVerne Allen.

"She was the epitome of nurse ... I always looked up to her from when I was very young and wanted to be just like her," she said.

Though nursing and healthcare in general have changed in the past 40 years, Kohman still enjoys her job.

She feels there are still role models at GCH, she said, citing Nurse Practitioner Tiffany Naccarato and Dr. Jimmy Jenkins as being among those she looks up to. She said she feels fortunate to have worked with them.

"Junction City for a small town is fortunate to have the quality doctors that we do and staff," Kohman said.

Kohman now works in Naccarato's office, where she still likes taking care of patients. She values traits such as the ability to listen, sincerity and compassion, Kohman said, and feels all nurses should embody these. Her standards are high, she said.

She has spent most her life being passionate about taking care of others -- has sometimes been told she cared too much, but she doesn't believe that's possible.

"I can't apologize for caring," Kohman said.

She considers herself both a patient advocate and a hospital advocate and has attended many patients' funerals.

"I've gotten attached. It hurts sometimes, but seeing somebody get better, or being able to fix them, hold their hand, cry with them -- that makes me feel good," she said.

Though Kohman sometimes worries the ability to care in this manner will die out, she has passed these traits down to others by training other nurses and through her daughter Shelly who has followed in her footsteps by becoming a nurse and now works in Kansas City.

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