1. mchs.edu/vitalpeople 1
Stewards of Our Legacy
SpecialRecipe
by
Josephine
N
orkaitis
Inside
Back
C
over
2014

2. Mercy College of Health Sciences2
FROM THE PUBLISHER
Publisher
Barbara Q. Decker, J.D.
bdecker@mercydesmoines.org
Editor
Brian Tingleff
btingleff@mercydesmoines.org
Associate Editor
Jim Tagye
jtagye@mercydesmoines.org
Graphic Designer
Melissa Miller
Writers
Tamara Rood
Brian Tingleff
Photography
Jim Heemstra
Erik Notz
Cover artwork used with permission.
Phil Colla, Phillip Colla Photography
© Copyright 2014
VitalPeople is published by the Marketing
Department. Submit address changes online at
mchs.edu/update or mail to Mercy College of
Health Sciences, Marketing Department, 928 6th
Avenue, Des Moines, Iowa 50309-1239.
It is the Mercy College policy to conduct academic
programs and business activities in a manner that
is free from discrimination and to provide equal
opportunity for and equal treatment of students
regardless of race, color, national and ethnic
origin, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, reli-
gion, creed, physical or mental disability, status as
a disabled veteran or veteran of war, or any other
factor protected by law.
Mercy College is the only Catholic college in
central Iowa and is accredited by The Higher
Learning Commission (HLC). Specialized
accreditation is also maintained with 11 additional
professional accrediting organizations.
College Board of Directors
Desmund D. Adams, JD
Willard (Bill) L. Boyd III, JD, Chair
Elisabeth C. Buck
Barbara Q. Decker, JD, President (Ex officio)
Diana Deibler, Vice Chair
Jacquie Easley McGhee
Stephen Eckstat, DO, FAAFP
Sr. Jude Fitzpatrick, CHM, Secretary
Jeff Flora
Diane Huber, PhD, RN, FAAN, NEA-BC
Glenn Lyons
Merle T. Pederson, JD, Treasurer
Sharon Phillips, RN
Thomas Reitinger
Bob Ritz (Ex officio)
Mary Sheldahl
Sr. Maurita Soukup, RSM, RN, MSN, PhD
Barbara Q. Decker, JD
President and Publisher
he flowering dogwood on the front cover was the symbol of the 2011-14 strategic
plan for Mercy College of Health Sciences. That plan, entitled “Advancing Our
Legacy of Learning Excellence” has been top of mind for the last four years,
resulting in many accomplishments, as well as ongoing work that will continue to
strengthen the College into the future.
Along the journey of these last four years, we have been blessed with the
companionship of many unique and gifted individuals who have shared in our
legacy. In this third issue of VitalPeople, we wish to tell the stories of those who
are representative of the Mercy College Campus Community – students, alumni,
faculty, staff, donors and employers. Each is a steward of our legacy. Some of them
represent multiple facets of our community e.g. faculty/donor or alumni/employer. All
have a valuable story to share, yet are also representative of the many others in our
Community who share similar lives and stories that make this Campus Community
so special and nurturing.
As you read their stories during the coming holiday break, I hope you will see their
zest for life and their belief in using their God-given talents for the betterment of our
students and the communities within which they choose to live and serve. We are
grateful to have them as travel companions!
If you would like to suggest someone for a future issue of VitalPeople, we would
be happy to hear from you. We’ve made it easy; just visit the College website at
www.mchs.edu/vitalpeople and click on Suggest a Vital Person. Thank you.
Sincerely,
2014

3. mchs.edu/vitalpeople 3
A CEO Not Afraid to Roll Up His
Sleeves and Start an IV
“I was in the ER just the other day helping start an IV. I
never tire of that and enjoy every opportunity to go out
and work alongside our front line staff.”
Energy, Enthusiasm and
Empathy Define Professor Brown
“I am in awe of all the other commitments our
students have besides school. They have families,
work full-time jobs, have overnight shifts – they’re
balancing responsibilities that typical college students
wouldn’t be able to fathom.”
TABLE OF CONTENTS
4
6
East Meets West in the Library
“There is a real freedom with the form of the martial
arts. You learn specific actions and then creatively
apply them. I can see that pattern or connection in
almost everything I do.”
An Advocate, Mentor and
Role Model
“They were initially intimidated, but we set up a demo
so they could practice before going, and they couldn’t
have done any better. Once you have that experience
and you see you can help bring about change, you
really get a taste for advocacy.”
8
10
All Heart, All the Time
“I am passionate about giving students the best
education possible. We have a huge responsibility to
take the right pictures and be as thorough as we can.
Cardiology is a matter of life and death – and if we
miss something with the ultrasound, the cardiologist
won’t see it.”
19 Years in a Refugee Camp
Drives Desire to Make a
Difference
“In the U.S., we have everything-just call 911 and an
ambulance is there. Over in Nepal, a mother and baby
might both die during delivery. I think my ultimate goal
is to be a traveling nurse and help people who are
unfortunate like my family and I were.”
14
The Recipe for Success: Share
Your Food and Your Blessings!
“She loved to feed people. Whether it was people
begging at the back door of the McDonald’s, or
making Italian dishes for her own family, I can’t
remember a time when someone needed to be fed
when she didn’t take care of them.”
16
12
Internship Interactions Lead to
Scholarship Support from
Laboratory Professionals
“We get to know these students very well by the end of
the year. They’re here from 7 a.m. to Noon, four days
a week throughout the year in the program, and they
work side-by-side with our staff during that time.”
Thoughtful Leader Guides the
College Board
“Health is intrinsically interesting to me because
it’s something that affects all of us – a common
denominator.”
Odd Fellows Reach Out Again to
Help Students Succeed
“The cost of education can be prohibitive, and it’s a
great feeling to know that you’re changing peoples’
lives with donations.”
Professor Monroe has Learned to
Trust What She Can’t Always Touch
“We actually get better outcomes this way, because each
student has to demonstrate every health
assessment skill by making a video of themselves
performing it. Those videos are uploaded to a
secure web site where I can review them and send my
feedback privately.”
Need for BSN’s Growing –
Mercy College Filling the
Shortage
“In addition to students’ clinical rotations, we see
great benefits from the joint efforts between Mercy
Medical Center and Mercy College, with research and
evidence-based patient care improvement projects
that improve care for all our patients.”
A Career of Honor
“We had a shortage of certified nursing assistants, so
I started a free program to help people get certified.
It took them 75 hours in class, and after they passed
their state exams, I was able to hire many of them to
work at the facility.”
Special Recipe from Josephine Norkaitis –
“I would never have been able to come close to
mastering this tradition without the help of my
mother. And she helped me with every single
batch and continues to do so. Buon Appetito!”
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20
22
24
28
31
26

4. Mercy College of Health Sciences4
Energy, Enthusiasm
and Empathy Define
Professor Brown
Mercy College of Health Sciences4

5. Susan Brown
PhD, NREMT-P, CHES
Assistant Professor
School of Liberal Arts &
Sciences
Like Ralph Waldo Emerson, who
wrote that “Nothing great is ever
achieved without enthusiasm,”
some people just seem to have
an extra measure of zest for life.
One of them is Susan Brown, an
Assistant Professor in the Mercy
College School of Liberal Arts and
Sciences.
Whether she’s helping students
learn to perform physical
assessments, coaching a middle
school football team, chasing her
three-year-old daughter, Caroline,
around one of Des Moines’s parks,
or even waiting out a two-hour rain
delay during a Minnesota Twins
game last year, Brown brings
her trademark enthusiasm to
seemingly everything she does.
“We actually had a lot of fun
waiting for that rain delay. My
husband and I got some great
pictures of Caroline splashing
around in the rain, and she made
it through the whole game even
though she was only two!” she
says with a laugh.
An East Coast native and member
of the Mercy College faculty since
the Fall of 2010, Brown is known
for her ability to inspire students
and build relationships. Teaching
classes ranging from General
Biology and Health Assessment
to Human Anatomy, Introductory
Biology and Pathophysiology, she
draws on her experience working
with a wide range of students.
“Between earning my Master’s
and my Ph.D., I was teaching
middle schoolers at a K-8 school
in Lawrence, Massachusetts. My
second year there, I also taught
second graders and served as
the defensive line coach for the
football team.”
She next lived in Ames for nine
years, where she earned her
doctorate and taught at Iowa State
University, worked at Mary Greeley
Medical Center, as an Emergency
Department Technician and later
as a wellness coordinator, and
served as a volunteer EMT with
the Gilbert Fire Department. In her
“spare time,” she volunteered as
a soccer coach. She also taught
at Des Moines Area Community
College.
That rich variety of life experience
has been an asset to her at Mercy
College, where students from
non-traditional backgrounds are in
the majority.
“I taught students anywhere from
six years old to 50-plus before
coming to Mercy. Teaching and
healthcare have always been my
two primary interests; as I get
older I have found more and more
ways to bring them together.”
Because her husband, Kyle, is in
medical school and will be doing
clinical rotations mainly in Chicago
for the next two years, Brown is
Caroline’s primary caregiver for
now. Her personal experience
may account for her appreciation
for the many responsibilities her
current students are juggling.
“I am in awe of all the other
commitments our students have
besides school,” she says. “They
have families, work full-time jobs,
have overnight shifts—they’re
balancing responsibilities that
typical college students wouldn’t
be able to fathom. It really
demonstrates how capable they
are, and that will be a real asset to
them in the work force,” she says.
Outside of the classroom, Brown
savors time with her daughter,
especially on outdoor adventures.
“Caroline is a great kid and very
active. She loves to go to parks
and play, and there are some
wonderful ones in Des Moines,
including our favorites Sargent
Park, and ‘frog and turtle park’
(McHenry Park). I have to laugh
when people ask me about
hobbies. I don’t really have them
because I spend my time teaching
and with Caroline and Kyle.”
That “no hobbies” claim is
almost true, until you factor in her
enthusiasm for sports and passion
for volunteering.
A true multi-sport enthusiast,
she attends major league
baseball games whenever she
can, and keeps Caroline busy
with gymnastics and swimming
lessons. Most of the U.S. caught
World Cup fever this year, but
she’s been a soccer fan for
decades and attended a match in
1994, when the Cup was last held
in the United States. And this past
summer, she combined her love
of the game with her volunteerism
by helping at a soccer tournament
that was held by Genesis, a charity
founded by Mercy College student
Sam Gabriel.
From the field to the classroom to
the playground, Susan Brown’s
unfailing joie de vivre shines
through everything she does.
We’re proud to call her part of the
Mercy College faculty.
Outside of the classroom,
Brown savors time with
her daughter, especially on
outdoor adventures.

6. Mercy College of Health Sciences6
I’m very lucky to have a career
helping people—that is our mission
and I’m proud of it. There is nothing
more gratifying.
Daren Relph
BSHCA, PS-CCP
Class of 2010 Bachelor of Science
in Health Care Administration
Chief Executive Officer
Wayne County Hospital and
Clinic System
Take a look at Daren Relph and you’ll see
a dress-shirt-wearing, award-winning
CEO who is leading Wayne County
Hospital toward continued growth
after a $7.3 million renovation project
and numerous accolades, including a
nationally ranked Emergency Room.
The hospital’s revenues are projected to
increase from $25 million to $40 million
from 2010-14.
A Mercy College graduate in health
care administration, Relph received the
Mercy Health Network Great Manager
Award before being named to lead the
25-bed facility in 2010. He was named
one of Indian Hills Community College’s
outstanding alumni in 2013.
But there’s more to Relph than successful
hospital CEO and acclaimed alum. A
former EMT and paramedic, he has kept
up his certification and enjoys rolling up
his sleeves to help with the occasional
emergency call, or to lend a hand in the
hospital when needed. “I was in the ER
just the other day helping to start an
IV. I never tire of that and enjoy every
opportunity to go out and work alongside
our front line staff,” he says.
Outside of work, he relishes spending
time with his family, even when that
means picking up Barbie dolls and/or
tractors off the floor after a visit from his
grandchildren. The Relph’s are parents
of four and grandparents of three, all of
whom live close enough to have family
time on a regular basis.
Relph is also a former stockbroker who
relaxes by writing programming codes for
an automated stock trading system. “It
might sound a little nerdy, but it’s a puzzle
that I can get lost in, and that really offers
stress relief,” he says. “Sometimes with
problems day to day, there is no easy
answer and it can take months to find the
best solution. It’s very satisfying to write
codes that work, and feel like you have
resolved something.”
Perhaps most surprising for this native
Iowan, who has lived in Wayne County
his entire life: he and his wife, Dusti,
are planning to attend Fashion Week
in Paris and Milan next year, where
their 20-year-old son, Winston, will
likely appear as a runway model for the
second year in a row. Winston’s career
took off after he went to Los Angeles for
a competition in January 2014; by that
summer, he was striking high-fashion
poses on runways in France and Italy.
“He’s really come out of his shell and
has a lot of fun stories from his travels,”
Relph says. Winston is planning to live in
New York City after some training in Los
Angeles, giving his proud parents another
vacation destination to consider.
Like her husband, Dusti Relph is a
Mercy College alum, and was one of the
College’s first graduates in health care
administration before going on to earn her
law degree at Drake University. She was
recently appointed to the Iowa Bench by
Governor Terry Branstad, and is now a
judge in the 5th Judicial District of Iowa.
With two working parents, four children,
and their own continuing educations,
the Relphs have known some very busy
years, but the first half of 2010 might have
been the most intense for Daren.
“My last semester at Mercy College,
I knew my predecessor was leaving
the hospital. When he accelerated his
timeline, I had to work really hard to finish
my degree and get ready for the job,”
he says. Working full time and taking 22
credit hours that semester, Relph got
through “by the skin of my teeth,” and
credits the Mercy College faculty for
making it possible. “They realized there
was a tremendous amount riding on that
last semester, and the faculty went above
and beyond so many times to help ensure
my success.”
Relph gives his experience at Mercy
College a great deal of credit for his—
and the hospital’s—continued success.
“I learned so much about balancing
deadlines and workload, and using critical
thinking,” he says. “My studies at Mercy
helped me learn to make sure I’m asking
the right questions to really unravel a
problem. The answer is almost never the
first thing that comes to mind.”
Beyond the hospital’s recent building
project and state-of-the-art technologies,
Relph is proudest of its positive,
patient-centered culture and 240-plus
employees.
“We have awesome folks here who
really care,” he said. “Most of our senior
management team members have clinical
backgrounds, and we all try to provide
an environment that helps people satisfy
their need to know they’re making a
difference every day.” Staffing ratios and
a trained support network are designed
to support nurses and others on the front
line of caring for patients, so they can stay
connected with their patients.
That personal care resonates with the
hospital’s CEO as well as with the people
who are treated there.
“I’ve learned the importance of trying
new things, to pay attention to what
works while always looking for new ways
to improve what we do for our patients.
I’m very lucky to have a career helping
people—that is our mission and I’m proud
of it. There is nothing more gratifying.”

7. A CEO Not Afraid to
Roll Up His Sleeves
and Start an IV

8. Mercy College of Health Sciences8
An Advocate, Mentor
and Role Model
Mercy College of Health Sciences8

9. Dawn Bowker
RN, MAN, ARNP, WHNP-BC
Associate Professor
School of Nursing
The mother goat in labor was in obvious
distress, and Dawn Bowker (then a high
school sophomore) was home alone on
her family’s farm in northern Minnesota.
Bowker called her mother, Leann, who
suggested calling their veterinarian; he
coached her over the phone on how to
help pull the kid’s legs around for a safe
delivery.
Thanks to Bowker’s hands-on emergency
care, the kid, its two siblings and the
mother goat all survived. But that happy
ending is just the beginning of this story.
“The first kid’s front legs were broken in
the birth and needed casts, which caused
the mother goat to reject it,” explains
Bowker, an associate professor in the
Mercy College School of Nursing, who
went on to become a women’s health
nurse practitioner, including assisting at
deliveries and surgeries, before joining
Mercy College in 2010.
“My mother let us raise that baby in
the house and bottle-feed it until it was
ready to go back into the barn. She is
the person who inspired me to go into
nursing. I saw her compassion and the
benefits of it every day. She’s such a
strong, passionate, intelligent woman – an
amazing role model for me growing up.”
A few months later, when Bowker was
working after school as an aide at a
nearby nursing home, an elderly resident
named Augusta mentioned how much she
missed her own farm and animals. Bowker
shared that conversation with her mother,
who hatched a plan. Working with friends,
the mother and daughter loaded a truck
with piglets, puppies, kittens, chicks, and
goats (including the first of the triplets, still
wearing braces), and brought them into
the home for a visit. The residents were
delighted, and the braces-wearing goat
actually jumped up to greet Augusta in her
chair.
The sense of caring deeply, taking
personal responsibility and thinking
beyond obvious solutions that both of
Bowker’s parents instilled in her (ask
her sometime about her dad’s response
the first time she had a flat tire) have
contributed to a career in healthcare that
helps bring about change on every level.
Whether she’s meeting one-on-one with
a client at a shelter, or helping shape
policies that affect nursing practice
throughout the entire country, Bowker’s
dedication and commitment shine
through. It’s small wonder she was named
a member of 100 Great Iowa Nurses
program in 2014 – an award for nurses
who have made a “meaningful and lasting
contribution to nursing and to humanity.”
Bowker’s involvement with healthcare
policy began in the late 1980s, when she
was very involved with national legislation
that allowed nurse practitioners to write
prescriptions and receive third-party
reimbursements.
In recent years, as an advisor to the Mercy
College Association of Nursing Students
(MCANS), Mercy College’s chapter of the
Iowa Association of Nursing Students
(IANS), she has overseen their creation
of healthcare policy resolutions. The
MCANS students recently presented their
third year of resolutions which passed
state and will be bringing their resolutions
again to Nationals in April 2015 potentially
improving health care for people across
the United States.
In 2012 the MCANS resolution, “In
support of educating and increasing
awareness of pain assessment in older
adults with cognitive impairment” was
selected as the resolution to be presented
at Nationals, which then passed a House
of Delegates vote and is now being
reviewed for policy implementation at
local hospitals.
In 2011, Bowker helped MCANS members
prepare for a roundtable discussion with
Iowa Governor Terry Branstad, which
brought students to his office at the Iowa
Capital, where they did an “amazing
job” of discussing the 2011 Institute of
Medicine (IOM) report on nursing, and
other current healthcare issues with the
governor.
“They were initially intimidated, but we set
up a demo so they could practice before
going, and they couldn’t have done any
better. Once you have that experience and
see you can help bring about change, you
really get a taste for advocacy,” she says.
And 2013 brought more interaction with
policy makers. The students met with
Iowa Congressman Tom Latham at Mercy
College for an open forum on healthcare,
and listened in on a conference call with
Vice President Joe Biden and several
hundred nurses, in which the Vice
President addressed the role of nursing
in the future of healthcare in the United
States, particularly in rural areas.
“Students have a fresh view of nursing
and the future. We tend to see things
through our lens of experience and
expectations, but students are much
more open to asking, Why is it done this
way? How can we make it better? It’s
very empowering for students when they
can get engaged in policy debates and
recognize that their voices can make
change,” Bowker says.
Although she has a penchant for thinking
broadly, she remains just as connected
to people and patients on an individual
level. Once a week, she and a group of
nursing students visit Central Iowa Shelter
and Services with coffee and tea, and
invite the clients to enjoy a hot drink.
Bowker and the students get to know the
clients and can answer questions, check
blood pressures, review medications
and offer minor healthcare services and
assessments.
Scheduled to finish her PhD in Nursing
from New Mexico State University in
2015, Bowker is a proud mother of “three
amazing daughters,” including two in
graduate school (one in a Doctorate
of Nursing Practice, one in education
policy) and a 14 year-old still at home,
who’s also interested in pursuing a career
in healthcare. “They are my heart and
soul – I love that my husband Wayne and I
are raising these really strong, determined
women,” she says
Sounds like the three Bowker apples
didn’t fall far from the tree.
Nursing is uniquely
focused on caring for
people, not curing
them. Caring can
happen without
curing, but curing
can’t happen
without caring.

10. Mercy College of Health Sciences10
Roy Meador
MA, MLS
Director of Library and Media
Services
Stop by Roy Meador’s office in the Mercy
College Library and you’re likely to smell
the scent of his favorite tea, Tieguanyin.
Chances are good that you’ll also get a
chance to try it yourself—he frequently
offers freshly brewed tea to visitors, and
even passes out samples on occasion to
students working in the library.
“Tieguanyin is an oolong tea that’s made
by hand in Southeast China,” explains
Meador, the College’s director of library
services since February of 2013. “It’s in
between a green tea and a black tea, and
has a lot of nice subtleties. And because
it’s such high quality, you can re-use the
same leaves four or five times.”
Meador serves the tea gong fu style: the
leaves and water steep in a pot, then the
tea is poured into a second pot before
being poured into cups. The second pot
is called the “justice pot” because the
process ensures that everyone’s tea is the
same strength.
The tea is supplied by his son Jonathan,
a professional skateboarder who lives in
Shanghai with his wife, who is Chinese,
and their baby daughter. (Google “Jay
Meador” + skateboarding for some truly
amazing videos of him in action.) But
Meador’s interest in China long predates
his son’s residence there. In junior high,
he began studying martial arts in an
attempt to ward off bullies. It worked.
“They stopped messing with me,” he
says.
That successful attempt at self-defense
was the start of his lifelong love of
Chinese poetry and culture. Meador has
travelled three times to China in the past
10 years, including one trip where he
served as an exchange professor with
Spring Arbor University in Michigan,
where he taught creative writing and
poetry in addition to directing the library.
A poet himself, Meador loves the Beat
poets such as Jack Keroac, and notes
that as a group they were strongly
influenced by Gary Snyder, who translated
ancient Chinese poems into English. And
he continues to practice karate and kung
fu, finding that the martial arts help him
cultivate patience and discipline in all
areas of his life.
“There is a real freedom within the form
of the martial arts,” he says. “You learn
specific actions and then creatively apply
them. I can see that pattern or connection
in almost everything I do.”
Although Meador came to Mercy with 20
years’ experience as the library director
at Spring Arbor University, he has found
a new challenge in learning medical
terminology and references. In addition
to the extensive physical collection, the
Mercy College Library offers students
24/7 online access to more than 40,000
journal titles and 400-plus reference
books. In addition to the technological
challenges of ensuring students have
access, he’s focused on making the
library space a place where they can
work individually and also gather and
collaborate on projects.
“I want them to be able to work together
without worrying about being noisy,”
he says. “I really like the students here
at Mercy. Most of them have some
experience in the working world and they
are so focused on going back to school to
make a change in their life. I like the size
of the college too—there is a real team
atmosphere here.”
Meador also appreciates the College’s
grounding in faith. “It’s not heavy-handed
or pushy, but you can see that
perspective in the way that everyone
cares about the students. I appreciate
that.”
A happy byproduct of the Meadors’
relocation to Iowa: they’re now just a few
minutes away from daughter Heather, a
librarian at Iowa State University, and her
family. Both Meador and his wife, Donna
(who met by chance on a Greyhound
bus in 1974 and married less than two
years later, after a romance conducted
largely through letters that was featured
in Greyhound Connections newsletter),
have thoroughly enjoyed living near their
granddaughters, now 9 and 11.
“We used to be a nine-hour drive away
from them—it’s been so nice to be able to
see them more often,” Meador says. Son
Benjamin and his wife, in Grand Rapids,
welcomed their first child earlier this year,
giving the Meadors’ a fourth grandchild
and first grandson.
The next time you visit the MCHS library
and notice the students working together
in sunny spaces, think of Roy Meador and
his offerings of Tieguanyin. And if you’re
fortunate, you might even have a chance
to try it.
There is a real freedom within
the form of the martial arts.
You learn specific actions and
then apply them. I can see that
pattern or connection in almost
everything I do.

11. East Meets
West in the
Library

12. Mercy College of Health Sciences12
19 Years in a
Refugee Camp
Drives Desire to Make
a Difference
Mercy College of Health Sciences12

13. Hema Bastola
ASN, RN
Associate of Science in
Nursing Alumni, Class of 2014
Nurse with Iowa Home Care
Take a minute, right now, to think
about where you were and what you
were doing in 1995, and how much
your life has changed in the last 19
years.
Then imagine spending that amount
of time living in a refugee camp,
in a thatched hut without running
water… and then adapting to a
whole new country, language and
culture in the United States.
That was the experience of
Hema Bastola, a 2010 graduate
of the nursing assistant program
sponsored by the Iowa Bureau of
Refugee Services (IBRS). A native
of Bhutan, Bastola moved to the
refugee camp in Nepal with her
family in 1989 when she was six
years old, due to the Bhutanese
government’s persecution of the
ethnic Nepali minority.
Situated between China and India,
just west of Bhutan, Nepal has a hot,
humid climate. “We could see snow
on mountaintops, but we never had
to walk and drive on it!” exclaims
Bastola, who says her parents are
still adjusting to harsh Iowa winters.
While in the camp, Bastola earned
a Bachelor of Science degree and
worked first as a science and math
teacher, then as a resource teacher
for other camp educators. After her
family relocated to Iowa in 2009
as part of a refugee resettlement
program, Bastola’s caseworker
suggested she look into the nursing
assistant program at Mercy College
because of her love of science.
Bastola says there were times she
got discouraged about her classes
and the challenge of perfecting her
English, but at home or at school
there was always someone to buoy
her spirits—“I had such wonderful
support from my family throughout
the program. There were times
when I lost hope, and they were
always like, ‘You can do it!’ ” Some
of her favorite instructors included
Stephanie Jones-Vo, Brenda Long,
Rhonda Heim, Michael Allsopp, and
Linda Playle.
Playle speaks just as highly of her
former student.
“Hema was a wonderful student,
and she is my benchmark for
engagement and success in working
with other refugees,” Playle says.
“There’s nothing you ask of her
that she won’t do. When she was
working as a Patient Care Technician
while earning her Associate of
Science in Nursing (ASN) degree,
she was an incredible mentor to my
Nursing Assistant (NA) students. I
really treasure the time that I had
with her, and I was so honored to
have been invited to her house to
celebrate her ASN graduation.
“All of us who work with our refugee
population feel immense pride in her
accomplishments. Her patients will
be taken care of by the best of the
best – I’d want her taking care of
me!” added Playle.
In April 2014, Bastola became the
first IBRS-sponsored graduate
to earn an ASN degree at Mercy
College—but she isn’t finished with
her education yet. Now working
fulltime as a home health nurse with
Iowa Home Care, she is hoping
to begin her Registered Nurse to
Bachelor of Science in Nursing
(RN to BSN) degree program in
2015, and credits the support of
her instructors and fellow refugee
students in helping her continue
thriving.
Bastola is pondering a return to
Southeast Asia at some point in
the future. “In the U.S., we have
everything—just call 911 and an
ambulance is there. Over in Nepal,
a mother and baby might both die
during delivery. I think my ultimate
goal is to be a traveling nurse and
help people who are unfortunate,
like my family and I were,” she
says. “I hope I can do something in
another part of the world and make
a difference. “
I think my ultimate goal is to be
a traveling nurse and help people
who are unfortunate, like my
family and I were. I hope I can do
something in another part of the
world and make a difference.

14. Mercy College of Health Sciences14
Erin Moon
BA, RDCS
Instructor,Diagnostic Medical
Sonography Program
School of Allied Health
When Erin Moon searched for a way to
merge her faith and her passion for the
environment, she went far beyond online
petitions and letters to Congress, as useful
as those tools can be.
Working with a Christian grassroots
environmental ministry, Moon took
nine Mercy College students to rural
Appalachia for a week in 2013. The
group conducted intensive, door-to-door
research about the health of people who
live near mountaintop coal mines, even
using respirometers to measure lung
function. The resident’s self-reported rates
of lung and brain cancer were higher than
those of the control group—findings that
contributed to research published annually
in the Journal of Rural Public Health for the
past several years.
Despite their long days, Moon and the
students managed to find a little time
in the evening for clogging at the local
community center, at the invitation of the
people they were surveying. (Also along
for the trip: her then 11-year-old son,
Evan.)
“The people we met were so resilient—
strong, kind and very welcoming to us,
despite their extreme poverty and lack of
medical resources,” says Moon. “Mercy
College is working to expand service
learning opportunities, and this experience
was certainly eye-opening for all of us.”
Whether on a service trip, in the
classroom, at home with her family, or
pursing her love of running, Erin Moon
puts her whole heart into everything she
does. So it seems only appropriate that
her career focuses on the heart itself:
teaching students the art and science
of cardiac ultrasound as an instructor
with the College’s Diagnostic Medical
Sonography Program.
“I am passionate about giving students
the best education possible,” she says.
“We have a huge responsibility to take
the right pictures and be as thorough as
we can. Cardiology is a matter of life and
death – and if we miss something with the
ultrasound, the cardiologist won’t see it.”
At the same time, she keeps her own
professional journey—which included a
few detours—in mind as she counsels
students who are sometimes discouraged.
“It took me a little while to find my way,
and I don’t hesitate to share that with
them,” she says.
Planning to be a social worker, she
applied to the University of Iowa’s
selective social work program, but was
not admitted. “I was devastated, but it
worked out for the best,” Moon says.
She graduated with a psychology degree
and worked at a shelter for homeless
teens, but found it too difficult to maintain
the necessary degree of detachment. A
stint as a secretary in Mercy’s radiology
communications department helped
her find the fit she’d been searching for.
She went on to earn her certificate in
echocardiography from the Mayo School
of Health Sciences, and worked for five
years as a cardiac sonographer at a
hospital in LaCrosse, Wisconsin, before
joining the Mercy College faculty in 2007.
“I loved every minute of my experience
at Mayo, but it was also grueling. This is
not an easy skill to learn,” she says. “I can
use that perspective when I have students
who are struggling. I remembering feeling,
‘Am I cut out for this?’, and that helps
me relate when students have those
moments. They know I have a lot of
empathy, but I also have expectations that
need to be met.”
Outside of the office, she is an avid runner
who has completed several marathons,
including one up and down Pike’s Peak in
Colorado; a dedicated volunteer through
her church, where she teaches Sunday
school and volunteers twice a month at a
food pantry in Ankeny; and a busy mom of
three extremely active young boys: Evan,
12; Ethan, 8; and Easton, 6.
The Moon boys play tennis, baseball
and basketball, making their mom’s
ongoing training and endurance an asset
year-round. She credits the support of her
husband, Collin, an educator who stayed
home when the boys were younger, for
making their lives work and her career
possible. And as much as she does now,
Moon is always thinking about how to
accomplish more in a day.
“I used to get up at 4:30 to train for
marathons, but now I’m just too tired to
wake up that early,” she says with a laugh.
Given her dedication to everything she
does, it’s not hard to imagine her finding
a way to return to those early mornings
sooner rather than later.
I am passionate about giving
students the best education
possible. We have a huge
responsibility to take the right
pictures and be as thorough as
we can. Cardiology is a matter of
life and death – and if we miss
something with the ultrasound,
the cardiologist won’t see it.

15. All Heart,
All the Time

16. Mercy College of Health Sciences16
The Recipe for Success:
Share Your Food and Your
Blessings!
Mercy College of Health Sciences16

17. Florence and Steve
Burch
Daughter and Son-in-law of
Josephine Norkaitis
Philanthropic Supporters
She was extremely prayerful, and could
wear out a new rosary in just a couple
of months. If you were worried about
something, she’d advise you, “Just pray
about it—it will all work out.”
She was irrepressibly generous: when
homeless people stopped by one of the
McDonald’s restaurants she and her
husband owned, she would routinely give
them not only a free meal, but a second
meal to take with them for later. (Back in
the days when McDonald’s signs touted
how many million burgers had been
sold, her young daughter asked her dad,
“Have we really sold that many?” and
he told her, “We’ve sold at least half this
amount—your mother has given the other
half away!”)
She was incredibly hardworking,
continuing to show up every morning
to serve coffee without pay at the
McDonald’s at 63rd and Grand in Des
Moines, even after she and her husband
had sold their six restaurants and she was
in her 80s.
But above all else, Josephine Norkaitis,
who died June 30, 2014 at 104, was
about food.
“She loved to feed people,” says Florence
Burch of her mother. “Whether it was
people begging at the back door of the
McDonald’s, or making Italian dishes for
her own family, I can’t remember a time
when someone needed to be fed when
she didn’t take care of them. Her favorite
saying was ‘Mangia, mangia!’”
Florence interrupts herself to ask her
guest, “Would you like some coffee,
maybe with a little cream in it? And please
be sure to try these cucidati, Italian fig
cookies. They’re my mother’s recipe, and
they’re not too sweet.”
Like mother, like daughter. And
by the way, those cucidati are
melt-in-your-mouth delicious.
Florence’s husband, Steve, agrees. “At
dinner, you couldn’t just have one serving,
and the second helping always seemed
to be even larger than the first.” He
remembers one of his very first meals with
Florence and her parents, when he didn’t
manage to eat quite enough to satisfy
Josephine. “I thought I had eaten plenty,
but it wasn’t enough for her. She said, ‘If
you liked me, you’d eat my food!’ ”
Josephine and William (Bill) Norkaitis first
came to Des Moines in 1962, looking
for a place to expand their business
after successfully opening their first
McDonald’s in Cheyenne, Wyoming.
Their daughter, Florence, worked with
them even after launching her own career
teaching psychology at Des Moines Area
Community College.
Along the way, she witnessed both
her parents’ extraordinary caring and
philanthropy in action. From donated food
to generous employee benefits (including
profit sharing) to significant charitable
donations, the Norkaitis family simply
never stopped giving.
“It would have been silly for anyone to try
to steal from them, because all you had to
do was ask for something and they would
give it to you,” says Florence.
“My dad never charged nuns, priests,
or clergy for their food, and during Lent,
he even used to have someone deliver
Filet-O-Fish sandwiches every Friday
for the nuns at Sacred Heart,” she says.
“After a while, he thought it would be
better if they could come and pick them
up themselves. So Dad offered to buy the
nuns a car, but the priest said they had
just received one, and what Sacred Heart
really needed was a school bus! My dad
said he’d think about it. But by the time
he drove home, there was already a huge
poinsettia plant from the school, thanking
him for his donation. So of course he
went ahead and got the school bus!” she
remembers with a laugh.
The Norkaitis’s major philanthropic efforts
centered around Sacred Heart Catholic
Church, St. Augustin Catholic Church, and
Dowling Catholic High School; the Des
Moines Ronald McDonald House, the first
ever to be built in a city without an NFL
franchise; Des Moines Area Community
College, Mercy Medical Center (MMC) –
Des Moines and Mercy College of Health
Sciences. The Burches intend to continue
that legacy of generosity through the
family’s charitable foundation.
The connection to Mercy began after
Bill Norkaitis had two heart surgeries at
MMC in the late 1960s or early 70s. He
not only recovered nicely, but made a
lifelong friend in Sister Patricia Clare, now
Patricia Clare Sullivan, who was CEO of
Mercy Medical Center and instrumental in
transforming the Mercy School of Nursing,
the Mercy School of Radiology and the
Mercy School of Emergency Medical
Services into the Mercy School of Health
Sciences, the last step before the creation
of the College in 1995.
“My mom used to say that my dad had
benefited more from medical technology
and care than anyone else she knew,”
says Florence. “My dad met Pat when he
was in the hospital, and they just hit it off.
She appreciated his dry sense of humor,
and he and my mom just thought the
world of her.”
More than a century of caring, great
faith, friendship and amazing Italian food:
sounds like a recipe for a truly wonderful
life. And as much as Josephine is missed,
her legacy lives on in her family…and so
do her cucidati.
Editor’s Note: See the inside back
cover for a first-ever published recipe of
Josephine’s cucidati.
She loved to feed people. Whether it
was people begging at the back door
of the McDonald’s, or making Italian
dishes for her own family.

18. Mercy College of Health Sciences18
Thoughtful
Leader
Guides the
College Board
Mercy College of Health Sciences18

19. Diana Deibler
2013-14 Chair and 2014-15 Vice
Chair, College Board of Directors
President, Deibler & Company
It’s a crisp, perfect day in early fall—the
kind of weather that reinforces your
decision to live in Iowa, rather than
making you question it—and with the
company of her dog, a rescue mix, Diana
Deibler is poised to make the most of it.
“Charlie recently learned how to dig for
clams, so I like to walk him down to a
sandbar by Beaver Creek and let him go
for it,” she laughs.
Although the clams aren’t edible, Deibler
has found something more valuable on
her daily walks: time to process, plan and
analyze.
“I do my absolute best thinking while
I’m on a hike with him, enjoying the
outdoors,” says Deibler. The owner of
Deibler & Company, she works from her
home providing strategic marketing,
business development and reputation
management services to clients in the
biosciences, biotechnology, and banking
and finance industries.
“Since I need to exercise Charlie every
day anyway, now I make that my first
priority. The amazing thing is how much
thinking I can do, and how much work I
can get done, while I’m outside with him.”
Deibler used to schedule exercise
as a reward to herself after she had
accomplished her goals each day. The
arrival of Charlie—a long-legged rescue
pup who was originally billed as a beagle
mix but has quickly grown to more than
60 pounds—changed that, leading Deibler
to the discovery that she could jump-start
her packed days by beginning them
outside. To maximize her productivity,
she carries a voice recorder, reporter’s
notebook and pen on these excursions.
And there’s another bonus to the time
she spends outdoors: it reminds her of
all the hikes she took with her father in
the timber near their farm in southeast
Iowa—memories that became even more
precious after he died suddenly at just 59.
Deibler started her career as a news
reporter and editor before joining Blue
Cross and Blue Shield of Iowa as director
of public relations and marketing,
jumping at the chance to work for
former Iowa Governor Bob Ray. After
Ray retired from BCBS, she became
VP of sales and marketing at Holmes
Murphy & Associates, which provides risk
management services, before founding
her own firm 15 years ago.
That background in healthcare and risk
management led to her invitation to join
the Mercy Medical Center Board where
she served nine years she then joined the
Mercy College of Health Sciences Board
of Directors, where she has just begun her
third three-year term and is the vice chair
and the immediate past chair.
“Health is intrinsically interesting to me
because it’s something that affects all of
us—a common denominator,” she says.
The board’s role is to provide governance
and long-term strategic planning
consistent with the College’s mission.
Deibler says one of their proudest
achievements in the past few years is the
“overwhelming success” of the College’s
new Bachelor of Science in Nursing
degree program, which was projected
to attract 32 students but brought 68 to
Mercy for its first semester in the fall of
2014.
“The shortage of qualified nurses has
been discussed as long as I’ve been
around health care, and that need is
even more pressing today,” she says.
“A 2010 report on the future of nursing
initiated by the Institutes of Medicine
(IOM) called for increasing the number
of baccalaureate-prepared nurses in the
workforce to 80 percent, yet the current
Iowa nursing workforce has only 27
percent of registered nurses prepared at
that level. Mercy’s new BSN program will
help address that shortage.”
Another major accomplishment: the
accreditation of Mercy College by the
Higher Learning Commission, a regional
accreditation agency that recently
evaluated the College after an extensive
peer review.
“The standards for accreditation continue
to get more stringent, so this is a
significant achievement for the College,”
Deibler says. “It’s a proud moment for all
of us and a testament to the excellence
our students and their future employers
expect and deserve.”
Since I need to take Charlie out every
day anyway, now I make that my first
priority. The amazing thing is how
much thinking I can do, and how
much work I can get done, while I’m
outside with him.

20. Mercy College of Health Sciences20
Teri Reiff
MHA, MLS (ASCP)CM
Administrative Director of
Laboratory Services
Mercy Clinical Laboratory,
Mercy Medical Center —
Des Moines
Philanthropy Team Leader
With 12 admitted students each
year, Mercy College’s Clinical
Laboratory Science certificate
program is a small but vital part of
the College. The year-long program
prepares students for careers in
laboratory science (also known as
Medical Laboratory Science), where
they will provide lab data that is
used to prevent, diagnose and treat
disease. One critical part of their
experience is the 20 hours per week
they spend working with mentors in
the Mercy Clinical Lab department
of Mercy Medical Center – Des
Moines.
“We get to know these students
very well by the end of the year,”
says Teri Reiff, MHA, MLS (ASCP)CM
,
Administrative Director of Laboratory
Services for MCL. “They’re here
from 7 a.m. to noon, four days
a week throughout their year
in the program, and they work
side-by-side with our staff during
that time.
“After the year is over, we
encourage as many as possible
to stay and work here at Mercy
Clinical Lab (MCL). They know our
culture and we know how they think
and work with others. It’s such a
selective program—those who are
admitted are truly the cream of the
crop, and they really become part of
our team during their internships.”
That close connection with
students, and the sudden loss of
two valued colleagues in two years,
was what initially inspired Sue Rich,
a medical technologist who works
in the Core Laboratory at MCL,
to gather support for a targeted
scholarship fund for students in the
CLS program at Mercy College.
“I had two colleagues pass away
unexpectedly: Peggy King in 2011
and Cheryl Barclay in 2012,” says
Rich, who is in her 39th year of
working at MCL. “I wanted to find
some way to honor their memories,
and I thought a scholarship would
be a great way to do it. Education
is such a high priority to me, and
I know it was to both of them as
well.”
Thanks to Rich’s brainstorm,
another team came together, of
donors past and present, to make
her idea a reality. It started with a
$15,000 donation from the estate of
Dorothy Becker, a former director
of the lab. Once that contribution
was approved for use as seed
money, Rich and Reiff were able to
recruit additional donors to create
an endowed scholarship fund
(meaning that the earnings will be
used for CLS scholarships every
year, while the principal stays in
trust). It was truly a group effort,
and one that is continuing to grow
as more department members learn
of the scholarship.
“We gave one $440 scholarship
from the interest our first year, in
2013, and were able to give two
$500 scholarships in 2014-15. We
were thrilled with that growth and
hope that it continues,” says Reiff.
Mercy employees can easily donate
directly to the MCL scholarship fund
via the Spirit of Mercy Employee
Campaign from their payroll
accounts, either by contributing
money or PTO (Paid Time Off). With
around 200 employees in MCL,
there is potential to recruit many
more donors, which would provide
help for many more students. It’s a
fitting tribute that Dorothy Becker,
Peggy King and Cheryl Barclay
would all be sure to appreciate.
“It’s a great feeling to honor their
memories and help our students at
the same time, and we know that
for students, every little bit helps,”
says Rich.
Front Row
Seated: Sue
Rich and Teri
Reiff. Second
Row: Janet
Whitney, Kyla
Dippold, Kim
Patrick, Sharon
Jones and Janel
Hartwigsen.
Mercy College of Health Sciences
I wanted to find some way to honor their
memories, and I thought a scholarship would be
a great way to do it. Education is such a high
priority to me, and I know it was to both of them
as well.
20

21. Internship Interactions
Lead to Scholarship
Support from Laboratory
Professionals

22. Mercy College of Health Sciences22
Professor Monroe has
Learned to Trust What She
Can’t Always Touch
Mercy College of Health Sciences2222

23. Judy Monroe
DNP, APNP, C-PNP
Associate Professor
School of Nursing
If you aren’t in the room when a student
performs a physical assessment, how
can you tell whether he or she is doing it
correctly?
When Judy Monroe learned in 2010
that she would be doing all her teaching
online, she couldn’t help but wonder
how it would work. She was comfortable
teaching her introduction to research
class and a social injustice class via the
Internet, but she just couldn’t imagine
how she would switch her third class.
“To be honest, I was dreading moving my
health assessment class online,” says
Monroe, an associate professor in the
School of Nursing. In that class, students
learn how to perform clinical exams—from
touching skin to examine its texture, to
taking pulses and counting respirations,
to noticing whether a patient’s feet are
cold to the touch—and write up their
findings to be used in diagnosis. Monroe
was convinced that this class required
face-to-face contact with her students—
but the results have been a welcome
surprise.
“We actually get better outcomes this
way, because each student has to
demonstrate every health assessment
skill by making a video of themselves
performing it. Those videos are uploaded
to a secure web site where I can review
them and send my feedback privately.
They’re learning not only how to perform
the exams, but how to phrase their
observations in the correct language.”
She notes that the online classes are
invaluable for her students. “Many of our
students work from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. every
day, and this frees them from the need to
be here at specific class times,” she says.
“They’re able to fit in class at the time
that’s best for them. Even if they move,
they can still continue with their classes.”
Just as flexible with her own hours, she’s
willing to meet with students via Skype at
virtually any time that works for them. “If
it’s 9:30 at night and they have a question,
I don’t mind. If I have a chance to meet
with them and work it out, I will. All I need
to do is walk into my living room and sit
down at the computer, and I’m happy to
do it.”
Monroe, who has been at Mercy College
since 2004, has earned her Doctor
of Nursing Practice degree from the
University of Iowa during that time.
A Pediatric Nurse Practitioner before
beginning her teaching career, she
focuses on teaching parents with the goal
of improving their children’s lives.
“I absolutely love working with parents,”
she says. She draws upon her own
experience as a mother of three grown
children. “I understand parents’ stress
level when their child is ill, and what it’s
like to not have your extended family
close by to help. I’m always focused on
how I can support parents so they can
help their kids. If I can explain to a mother
why it’s important to hold her child and
read him a book, that will affect his life in
a profound way.”
She has continued her work with children
at the Homes of Oakridge in Des Moines,
where she volunteers each week, bringing
a group of her RN to BSN students as
part of their clinical community health
studies. She and the students hold
classes for students from pre-K through
high school age, with up to 30 children in
each age group.
“About sixty percent of the children are
refugees whose parents don’t speak
English,” she says. “We go in every week
and teach them something about healthy
living, such as how to avoid STDs, or how
to eat healthfully despite the typical U.S.
diet. We even brought a yoga instructor in
once.” Monroe’s eventual goal would be
to open a Mercy Clinic site at Oakridge.
Farther from home, she devotes time to
mission trips, and has traveled twice to
Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota
and once to Tanzania, where she helped
build a birthing clinic.
“The Pine Ridge trips are for high school
kids from our church, First Lutheran in
Newton, and the kids are totally blown
away by the experience,” she says.
“They can’t imagine anyone living in
these conditions. And they learn a
great deal about the Native Americans’
understanding of their story, as opposed
to what was taught in our history books.”
Between raising a family, her work,
her own studies and her passion for
volunteering, Monroe hasn’t had a lot of
time for hobbies. “I’ve been a student
forever, and I’m just now reclaiming some
free time,” she says. On her agenda:
Playing the piano, sewing, and continuing
bike rides with her husband—which
should be a bit easier now that their three
children are grown and on their own.
“When they were little, we had a triple
tandem bike that pulled a double trailer
bike. It was like a Greyhound bus, but it
kept all of us safe!”
Through her work with students and as
a volunteer, Monroe continues to help
make life safer and healthier for all sorts
of people.
I’m always focused on how I can support parents so they
can help their kids. If I can explain to a mother why it’s
important to hold her child and read him a book, that
will affect his life in a profound way.

24. Mercy College of Health Sciences24
Marty Zylstra, Grand
Treasure, Keith Brittain,
Grand Master, Lawrence
Shilling, Grand Secretary,
Mike Palmer, Deputy
Grand Master and Darrell
Sells, Grand Warden
State Leadership of the Grand Lodge
of Iowa - Independent Order of Odd
Fellows
With a charitable focus on healthcare and
education, and a mission of making the world a
better place to live for all of us, the Grand Lodge
of Iowa - Independent Order of Odd Fellows
(IOOF) seems like a natural fit for donating to
Mercy College of Health Sciences.
But without the connection provided by Sue
Zylstra, the Business Manager at Mercy College
since 2005, the IOOF might never have known
about the opportunity to help students from other
countries who have successfully completed the
College’s Pathways to Health Care Careers – Iowa
program, and who are wanting to further their
education at Mercy College.
It all started in a hallway at the school, when Brian
Tingleff, Vice President of External Affairs, and
Zylstra starting talking about her husband, Marty
Zylstra, and his work as Grand Treasurer for the
Grand Lodge.
“I was aware that the IOOF had an existing
international effort operating a school in
Cambodia, and wondered out loud if they
might be interested in supporting our Pathways
students as well,” Tingleff says. So Sue brought
the question to her husband and his co-worker
Lawrence Shilling, Grand Secretary for the Grand
Lodge of Iowa, which represents 33 IOOF lodges
across the state and is part of a worldwide
altruistic organization open to men and women of
good character.
Unbeknownst to Sue, Marty made a motion at
the annual meeting of the state’s lodges later
that year that answered the question. The
organization’s leadership approved a remarkably
generous $25,000 donation to assist Pathways
students, with the requirement that the money
be paid out in full as scholarships during the
upcoming year.
That first donation showed incredible
generosity—but that’s only half the story. In
October 2014, the organization approved a
second donation equal to the first, making a
total of $50,000 in direct scholarship money for
2014-15 and now 2015-16.
“The cost of education can be prohibitive, and
it’s a great feeling to know that you’re changing
peoples’ lives with donations,” says Marty
Zylstra, who joined the IOOF in 1990. He says
the organization’s other worldwide causes include
arthritis and vision research, hunger and disaster
assistance, reforestation, and United Nations
pilgrimages for youth.
The 2014-15 funds were distributed as $5,000
scholarships to five students. In addition to
students who successfully completed an
academic program in the federal grant program,
the organization has agreed that first time college
students (defined as those whose parents did not
graduate from college with a bachelor’s degree)
are also eligible to apply for the scholarship
money to ensure it is all used each year.
Zylstra and Shilling agree that Mercy College’s
focus on educating students for healthcare
careers is vital to our state’s future.
“When you’re a kid, you just take good health
for granted, but the older you get, the more
important healthcare becomes to you,” says
Shilling. “We really like the idea of educating
future healthcare providers. You just don’t know
how far they’ll go or what they’ll come up with to
improve healthcare.”
Both men encourage anyone who’s interested in
joining the IOOF to learn more by visiting www.
ioofiowa.org for more information. All of us at
Mercy College offer our sincere gratitude to this
organization for their exceptional support of
Mercy students.
Mercy College of Health Sciences
The cost of education
can be prohibitive,
and it’s a great
feeling to know that
you’re changing
peoples’ lives with
donations,” says
Marty Zylstra.
24

25. Odd Fellows
Reach Out Again to
Help Students Succeed

26. Mercy College of Health Sciences26
A Career of
Honor
Mercy College of Health Sciences2626

27. Joanne Hurd O’Gara
BC, BSN, RN
Diploma Nursing Class of 1964
2014 Catherine McAuley Award for
Professional Excellence Recipient
It’s been 50 years since Joanne O’Gara
(then a young Joanne Hurd) and the rest
of her 43-member class graduated from
the Mercy School of Nursing as new RNs
in 1964. A few details from that year might
surprise today’s Mercy College students.
All the students in O’Gara’s class were
women, and so were all their instructors.
Every student was required to live
on campus in a dormitory, which has
since been demolished. And, O’Gara
remembers, “Dorm life required us to sign
in and out and if we returned past curfew,
we faced penalties—we were not allowed
to get married until after graduation
without a school signed petition.”
Fast-forward to 2014. The Mercy College
student body includes men and women
from a wide variety of cultures and
backgrounds. Many students earn their
degrees via online programs, and most
are working other jobs and raising families
at the same time. The growth of technical
careers, such as diagnostic medical
sonography and the expansion of Mercy
College itself, have opened up a host of
healthcare careers.
O’Gara, now retired from a long nursing
career that earned her the prestigious
Catherine McAuley Award for Professional
Excellence at her 50th class reunion in
August 2014, applauds that growth.
“It’s wonderful that everyone has so
many more options now, and specifically
in the field of healthcare,” she says.
She also appreciates the College’s work
to ensure that students are culturally
competent. “I was very impressed that
students went on the trip to Mexico.
We can absolutely give better nursing
care with an understanding of different
cultures.”
But some important attributes of the
College haven’t changed since 1964. One
is the concept of patients as people first.
Half a century later, O’Gara remembers
one of her instructors, Miss Sweeney,
telling the class, “Don’t ever say ‘The
gallbladder in Room 306 needs a pain
pill!’ ” O’Gara notes, “They really stressed
how to care for people as individuals, not
just medical issues.”
That philosophy served O’Gara well
throughout her long nursing career, which
included many years as the Inservice
Director at Alverno Health Care Facility in
Clinton, Iowa, where she was responsible
for staff development worked to improve
the residents’ care and quality of life.
“We had a shortage of certified nursing
assistants, so I started a free program
to help people get certified. It took them
75 hours in class, and after they passed
their state exams, I was able to hire many
of them to work at the facility,” she says.
She also worked with researchers from
the University of Iowa who studied the
facility’s residents and developed a variety
of ways to improve their healthcare.
O’Gara continued her education after
graduating; became Board Certified
as a Gerontological Nurse and Nursing
Professional Development then earned
her BSN degree while working and raising
her four daughters with her husband,
Philip. She also taught at St. Ambrose
University, and credits her Mercy
education with preparing her well for her
career and continued study.
Retired since 2008, O’Gara stays active
with golf, international travel, and
significant volunteer contributions through
Habitat for Humanity and her church’s
relief efforts in Haiti, where she went on a
life-changing 10-day medical mission in
2013, and where she hopes to return in
2015.
But the volunteer work that’s perhaps
closest to her heart is the time she spends
helping Honor Flight of the Quad Cities,
which offers U.S. veterans a free trip to
Washington, D.C. to visit the monuments.
She went with her father, Joe Hurd, a
W.W. II veteran, on the first Quad Cities
honor flight in 2008, and cherishes those
memories even more after his passing
four years later.
“Dad thoroughly enjoyed that trip. He
was 92, and it was his first time on an
airplane,” she says. “He thought the
memorials were so beautiful, and he was
very proud of the pictures we took there.
It was truly one of the most memorable
events of his life. I keep volunteering
because I want others to have that
experience.”
For each of the 30 flights since then,
O’Gara has been at the Davenport airport
at 4:15 a.m., helping to check people in
and ensure a successful send-off. She
also works behind the scenes before the
day of each flight.
“Among other jobs, I contact family
members and ask them to write letters
to their family member thanking them for
their service,” she says. “Those letters
are taken on the trip, and given to each
veteran to read on the way home. It’s very
moving and means a great deal to them.”
With that extraordinary caring and
dedication, it’s easy to see why Joanne
O’Gara was given the Catherine McAuley
Award for Professional Excellence in
2014. Here’s to many more years of
her sharing the Mercy spirit to improve
people’s lives.
We had a shortage of certified
nursing assistants, so I started a free
program to help people get certified.
It took them 75 hours in class, and
after they passed their state exams,
I was able to hire many of them to
work at the facility.

28. Mercy College of Health Sciences28
Mary Brown
MSN, NEA-BC, RN
Vice President and Chief Nursing
Officer
Mercy Medical Center —
Des Moines
Mary Brown’s interest in nursing and
healthcare was inspired by two women,
starting with her mother, Ceil Hager, who
worked as a nursing assistant in a small
hospital in Bellevue, Iowa.
“She never had the opportunity to go to
nursing school, but she told me about her
work and it sparked an interest in me,”
says Brown, the Vice President and Chief
Nursing Officer for Mercy Medical Center
– Des Moines.
The second was her high school nurse,
Betty DeGear. “I saw how much good she
did as a teacher and as a nurse for our
school population, and I knew I wanted
to make that kind of difference myself,”
Brown says. “Little did Betty know that
she made such a big impression on me!”
Brown joined Mercy Medical Center some
19 years ago, after studying nursing
at Northeast Iowa Technical Institute,
working at Mercy Hospital in Dubuque,
and earning a BSN degree from the
University of Dubuque. She has worked
in bedside nursing, case management,
nursing administration, and nursing
leadership while at MMC, earning her
MSN from Drake University and NEA-BC
certification along the way.
In her current role, Brown heads up the
entire nursing staff of Mercy Medical
Center, more than 1,800 dedicated nurses
and patient care technicians, and while
she’s humble about her achievements,
she will admit that her mom is “very
proud” of her career.
In a challenging health care environment,
the hospital’s strong connection with
Mercy College offers significant benefits
to both organizations, she says.
“In addition to students’ clinical rotations,
we see great benefits from the joint
efforts between Mercy Medical Center
and the College, with research and
evidence-based patient care improvement
projects that improve care for all our
patients,” she says.
“Mercy College nursing graduates are
extremely well prepared to practice,
thanks in part to people from the hospital
who work on the school’s curriculum
development committee and make sure
that courses are relevant for nursing
practice today. We want to keep students’
experience current and relevant, so they
are easily assimilated when hired after
graduation.”
She notes that a large number of MMC
staff nurses work as student preceptors,
helping to give nursing students a
real-world view of the work they’ll be
doing, and says students are integrated
throughout the hospital’s work. “It’s not
uncommon for me to have a meeting of
nursing leadership and have five or six
RN to BSN students in the meeting – they
get a chance to hear how we do problem
solving and critical thinking, and they can
see our focus on bedside care in action,”
she says.
Brown says the hospital is making steady
progress toward the health care industry’s
goal of 80 percent of nurses having BSN
degrees by 2020, with current numbers
at MMC of 33 percent. Mercy College’s
online RN to BSN degree has helped
make continuing education possible for
many working people, she says.
“The online degree is very important
to people because of their varied work
schedules, and also due to the preference
of younger people to utilize technology,
which permeates their lives,” Brown
notes. “We’re finding it’s very much the
preferred method of learning for a lot of
our people—and we’re thrilled that there
are as many people currently enrolled
in the RN to BSN program as there are.
Research shows that nurses having BSN
degrees leads to demonstrably better
patient outcomes, and that is why we’re
all here.”
With a higher number of open positions
at MMC last year, she said the predicted
nursing shortage is already here in Iowa,
especially because there are so many
elderly people in our state.
“As we have more challenges around
healthcare from a resource perspective,
changes in health insurance and our aging
population, it’s increasingly important
for a nurse to put things together and
find resources to put the best care
plan together,” she says. “The RN to
BSN program really prepares people to
assume entry-level case management
roles, to think through family resources
and support and help people get through
illness with as much grace and speed as
possible.”
“Grace and speed” is an apt description
of Brown herself, who credits her “really
great” husband, Dave, with keeping her
family going and supporting her in her
career. The Browns have a daughter,
Kelsey, who just started a teaching career
in Iowa this year, and a son, Kyle, who is
in high school and who has special needs.
“Without Dave’s constant help and
support, I just couldn’t do the job I do
every day,” she says. “I see my work as a
calling, and I come to work every day with
a focus on improving patient care and
the health care environment for clinicians
and nurses at the bedside, so they can
provide the absolute best possible care to
our patients.”
Mercy College nursing graduates are
extremely well prepared to practice,
thanks in part to people from the
hospital who work on the school’s
curriculum development committee
and make sure that courses are
relevant for nursing practice today.
Mercy College of Health Sciences28

29. Need for
BSN’s
Growing –
Mercy College
Filling the
Shortage

30. Mercy College of Health Sciences30
10%
Minority
89%
Race and Ethnicity
White,
non-Hispanic
By gender
12%
Men
95% 5%
Living on
Campus
Commuter
Marital Status Children in Household
35%
Children
88%Women
86% of students enrolled at Mercy College completed a FAFSA in 2013-14.
Of those students who did file data with the federal government:
27Average Age
25
Median Age
71%
Single
29%
Married
65%
No Children
FAFSA Filing
33%
Filing as a
dependent
2014-2015
STUDENT PROFILE

31. Preparation
Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt
together into a large bowl. Add the sugar
and stir well. Cut in the butter mix with your
hands and work the mixture until it looks
like corn meal. In a bowl, beat the eggs
and vanilla together separately. Add eggs
and vanilla to the flour mixture and work
the mixture with your hands into rough
dough. Turn the dough out onto a floured
work surface and knead for 5 minutes, or
until smooth. Do not knead excessively.
The dough should only be soft. Refrigerate
dough while preparing filling.
To make the filling, grind the figs, dates, and
raisins in a food processor until course; or
coarsely chop by hand. Place the mixture in
a bowl, add orange juice, orange zest and
mix well. The mixture should be thick. Set
aside.
Preheat the oven to 375ºF. Lightly grease 2
cookie sheets.
Separate dough in half. On a floured
surface, roll the dough with the palm of
your hand into a long strand about 2 inches
round by 36 inches long. Roll out the strand
into a long, narrow dough about 4” wide.
Spoon the filling mixture down the center
of the dough. Carefully fold over the edges
to meet at the top, then pinch the seam to
close it securely, and turn the dough roll
seam side down. Cut the filled dough on a
diagonal into 1” pieces. The filling will be
visible on each end. Place the cut pieces
seam side down on the cookie sheets.
Bake for 15-18 minutes, or until golden
brown. Transfer to wire rack to cool. While
cookies are still slightly warm, drizzle the
glaze over them and sprinkle with the
colored sprinkles.
Cucidati (Italian Fig Cookies)
Ingredients
Dough:
4 cups all-purpose flour, bleached
1 1/2 tablespoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 cups sugar
2 cups butter (4 sticks) at room temperature
4 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla
Filling:
2 cups dried figs, soaked in water (remove
stems if necessary)
2 cups dried dates, pitted
1 cup raisins
Juice of one orange or 1/2 cup of orange juice
Orange zest
Glaze of confectioner’s sugar and milk
Colored sprinkles
Makes about six dozen cookies
adapted from Josephine Norkaitis’s Recipe
fold here
cuthere
Josephine and Bill Norkaitis at their 50th
Wedding Anniversary (photo courtesy
Florence and Steve Burch.)

32. Mercy College of Health Sciences32