26 D'MENSIONS MAGAZINE D'YOUVILLE UNIVERSITY 27 While the war greased the wheels in getting D’Youville’s program — and several other programs throughout the country — off the ground in the fall of 1942, the idea to introduce a health science curriculum at what had been a predominantly liberal arts school was first born in 1934 with a letter written by two chaplains from E.J. Meyer Memorial Hospital (now Erie County Medical Center) in Buffalo. The two men reached out to the superintendent of that hospital, because they felt “young Catholic women” in the area should be “provided with an opportunity to carry on their non-profession studies surrounded by every approved Catholic influence, if they so desire.” D’Youville and Canisius College were the only two Catholic higher ed institutions in Buffalo at the time, and neither had the programs (or facilities) to make it happen. D’Youville President Sister Grace Wechter was intrigued by the idea, and in 1936, she reached out to the Association of Collegiate Schools of Nursing, which invited her to attend a state conference in Albany that spring. Wechter and D’Youville continued to pursue the program heading into December of 1941, when President Franklin Roosevelt declared war on Germany and Japan. Suddenly, federal aid became ALUMNIMAGAZINE.OSU.EDU | 29 support, resources and funding they need to gain independence and fulfillment in their daily lives. “It’s unfortunate what happened to me. Sometimes I get sad or frustrated,” says Ryan, a team captain, all-Big Ten and All-America player during the final two seasons of his Ohio State football career that spanned 2010 through 2014. “It hurts that I can’t play football anymore, but it has been a blessing that I was able to recover and can now help other people.” A first-round draft pick of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Ryan was a two-time All-Pro linebacker when he was injured December 4, 2017, while making a tackle during a Monday night game in Cincinnati. He sustained a spinal contusion, or a crushing of the spinal cord, which paralyzed his lower body and led to two surgeries and three months in the hospital. Feeling eventually returned to Ryan’s legs, and he regained the strength to not only walk, but dance with his bride, Michelle Rodriguez, at their wedding in May 2019. His new life came with a fresh perspective. “My injury definitely allowed me to be more relatable and allowed me to see through other people’s eyes,” Ryan says. “As an athlete, I was kind of just focused on how I see things and trying to get better at my craft every single day. Well, since I’ve been injured, I see what other people go through — what their lives are like and how tough things can be. It’s allowed me more empathy and understanding.” Curiosity led to that broadening of his view during his intensive rehabilitation at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Rehabilitation Institute. Ryan befriended fellow patients and wondered why some weren’t at rehab sessions five days a week, as he was. They told him about systemic barriers, such as a lack of transportation to appointments and insurance coverage limiting them to 20 or 30 rehab sessions. “It wasn’t fair for those individuals to not get the same opportunities as me,” says Ryan, who had 130 rehab sessions while covered by NFL insurance. Moved to action by those patients and their caregivers and families, Ryan created his foundation, which has grown to serve Pittsburgh, western Pennsylvania and, most recently, eastern Ohio and Columbus. Photos, Jodi Miller (left), Corey Wilson (From top left) Patricia Burns, Margaret Curry, Esther Fischle, Alice Greene, Beatrice Koch, Valeri Sauk and Annette Smith made up D’Youville College’s first class of nurses in 1942. The group graduated in 1946 after two years of on-campus learning and two years of hands-on clinical practice at a hospital in rural Ogdensburg. part of the picture as the government began to push for more registered nurses — at least 3,000 a month, initially. And while World War II was the catalyst for an increase in programs, more nurses were needed on the homefront, too, due to the rise in industrial accidents, union-backed health insurance plans for workers and the general improvement in the standard of living at the time. Nursing is, in the best sense of the term, a profession, because it constitutes a service indispensable to man and closely bound up with his physical and spiritual welfare. The field of nursing has an educational content of high culture, intellectual and spiritual value and so much be regarded as a fundamental department of learning in any well-rounded education plan. The American Journal of Nursing, 1939 D’Youville’s plan was to create a program that combined two years of pre-clinical coursework on campus, followed by two years of hands-on training. In January of 1942, the school brought in Sister Rosalie Ashline to plan and develop the new Department of Nursing. Ashline had previous experience both in education and nursing before becoming a Grey Nun of the Sacred Heart. She earned a Master of Science in Nursing Education from The Catholic University of America and served on the New York State Board of Nurse Examiners from 1936-38. Her first challenge was finding a hospital to partner with the school for the 10-week summer session after their freshman year and for a full year of rotations during their third year. The school had to agree to only accept D’Youville students, allow D’Youville to control the educational process and had to agree to allow all science courses to be taught on the college campus. Of the seven hospitals on Ashline’s wishlist, A. Barton Hepburn Hospital in Ogdensburg checked the most boxes. The only problem (and a big one) was Ogdensburg being 274 miles away from Buffalo. That fall, D’Youville welcomed eight students into its first class of nurses, seven of whom would graduate four years later — Koch, Patricia Burns, Esther Fischle, Valeri Sauk, Annette Smith, Alice Greene and Margaret Curry. Curry — who would return to the school after graduation to become an assistant professor of nursing and eventually the School of Nursing’s general chairman in the 1960s — recalled that first summer in Ogdensburg, which had just over 16,000 residents during the war. “We went to the country, and none of us had ever been away from home,” she said. “It was exciting, though, because we actually got in and took care of patients. We had a set time to go to bed and to get up. We had to go to Mass every morning, before we went on duty. It was a lot like being in the Army.” While on campus, those students enrolled in a good mix of liberal arts and health science courses. Religion, philosophy, ethics, English and history were joined by nursing history, anatomy and physiology, pathology, psychology, biology and nutrition and diet therapy. The clinical experience featured surgical nursing, care of children, operating room technique, maternity care, psychiatric nursing and — a sign of the times — tuberculosis nursing. Emergency room and public health nursing were added in the 1950s. Prospective nurses at D’Youville had to be at least 16 years old and have “satisfactory references” in regard to their health, character and ability. They had to undergo annual physicals from a doctor (including a chest X-ray) and agree to vaccinations against smallpox, typhoid fever and diphtheria. (Top photo) New D’Youville nursing students stand in line before their capping ceremony in 1966. (Above) Sister Virginia Taylor, director of the School of Nursing in 1956, joins senior nursing students on their graduation day.
