Forever changing

Jan Ostransky has a lot of memories at Fremont Area Medical Center.

In fact, the retired nurse remembers that when she first started at FAMC in 1967, hospitals did not perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on patients.

“When I started in 1967, it wasn’t part of the care. If a patient died, they died,” Ostransky said. “Then research showed that we could save them.”

After having her dreams of becoming a flight attendant dashed because of her vision, she decided to become a nurse.

“It was the helping people kind of aspect and trying to find out what’s wrong with them that got me interested,” Ostransky said.

She went to Immanuel Hospital School of Nursing where she graduated in 1966 before working one year at Immanuel in the newborn nursery.

“If you worked for one year, you got your senior year tuition back,” Ostransky said, adding that she married and moved to Fremont with more than three months left on her contract. “I drove back and forth. My dad told me I made an agreement and needed to keep it.”

After that year was up, she went to work for FAMC as a registered nurse in the medical surgical unit. She moved into supervisory work in the mid-’70s.

“I was the nursing supervisor for the whole place from 3-11 p.m.,” Ostransky said. “We went out to Merrick Manor and we oversaw the emergency department before we had physicians in the emergency department.”

Physicians would be called in as needed during that time, she said.

Even the way patients were brought into the hospital was different.

“The police used to call to the switchboard to tell us of a squad run,” Ostransky said. “Initially we had to answer the switchboard after 11.”

The hospital had just a few private rooms at that time and instead had multiple patient wards for most patients.

Nurses passed their own food trays and there also was a difference in dress.

“We wore hats then,” Ostransky said. “It was very ceremonious even when we were capped. That really set us apart as a nurse.”

Back when she started, there wasn’t a pharmacist on duty full time, so nurses often had to go to the pharmacy themselves and get their own bottles of medication at night and on weekends. Now all patient medication is filled by a pharmacist in unit dose bubble packs.

“We were very simple back in the ’60s,” Ostransky said. “Care is more complex now. There are many more procedures. Now the procedures are very strict. Now nurses are taught to do a whole body assessment.”

Ostransky moved from her supervisory position to working in education at FAMC in the 1990s. She wrote programs for patients dealing with newly diagnosed illnesses and prevention programs as well.

“Diabetes is a real big one,” Ostransky said. “Along with patient education, I also did community health education.”

She would go out into clubs in the community and put on preventative health programs.

“I don’t recall that we looked at prevention as much,” Ostransky said.

She said both prevention and hands-on nursing were rewarding.

“When you’re working with an ill patient and seeing them getting better, it’s very rewarding,” Ostransky said. “A lot now is being pro-active versus being reactive. If we can help people to learn how to exercise and live better, that’s rewarding, too.”

In 1992, she became a certified diabetes educator and even in retirement, comes to FAMC once a week to educate the public about diabetes.

“It became a passion for me,” she said. “Diabetes is in epic proportions everywhere. It’s our food and lack of exercise.”

She is enjoying the other six days a week and being retired.

“I get to become friends with my home again,” Ostransky said.

Her time is spent with archiving family pictures and genealogy work, quilting, needlecraft and other things around her home.

“I’m more available for family needs,” she said. “I have more time for me.”

When she’s not taking part in any of those activities, she can often be found in downtown Fremont meeting her husband for coffee.

Just don’t try and wake her up too early.

“It’s very easy not to set the alarm in the morning,” she said.