Women’s Life Chief retires after 32 years at Newman
By The Emporia Gazette (Contact)
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Newman Regional Health announced the retirement of Cathy McCurdy on July 27 after 18 years as director of the Women’s Life Center.
McCurdy worked for Newman for 32 years, sharing her passion for nursing and babies with staff and patients.
McCurdy came to Newman in 1975 with just six months of nursing experience. She came on board when the special care nursery was large enough to hold only one Isolette (incubator) and a circumcision board.
Babies were in the mothers’ rooms only briefly at feeding times and deliveries involved a sterile (gown and gloved) procedure attended to by a scrub nurse and circulating nurse.
McCurdy worked her way up from nights and evenings to days and became a skilled maternity nurse. She worked under Beverly Hartsook, a midwife from Australia who was the head nurse of the OB unit for many years. When Hartsook retired in 1984, McCurdy took the leadership role just as a new age of maternity care was beginning.
Sibling classes and sibling visits started to be allowed. McCurdy said the addition of breast-feeding support groups and improvements in bereavement care were among the accomplishments she was most proud of.
In addition to her OB work, McCurdy has been involved in numerous health-related organizations including the March of Dimes and the American Cancer Society as a Reach to Recovery volunteer.
She also was the Emporia Gazette’s Medical Professional of the Year.