Inaugural Nurses Hall of Fame inducts the late Ruth Murphy

[flintauqua]

From the El Dorado Times:

Ruth Murphy, RN, formerly of El Dorado, was inducted posthumously into the Kansas State Nurses Association (KSNA) Hall of Fame at its centennial gala, held in Wichita Oct. 12. She was one of four inductees of the KSNA Founders Class to the Hall of Fame.

Her surviving family members accepted this special recognition in her behalf and included her daughter Maggie Gard of El Dorado, Michael Murphy and Patricia Arnold.

Nurse Murphy graduated from Wichita Hospital (now Via Christi St. Joseph) in 1941. She held supervisory positions at Dodge City, Wichita, Sedan and Independence as well as Ponca City, Oklahoma. She began her sustained, lifelong contribution to nursing practice when she organized and serviced the Elk County Health Department in 1957.

In 1958 Murphy initiated traveling clinics to "span the bridge between the patient and admission to the medical world" (Community Health, Kansas Public Health Association, Spring 1974). On average, she would see 150 patients, ages 0-100, at each two-day clinic as well as make 4,000 house calls in a year. In 1969 she wrote and received a comprehensive health planning grant that supported regular monthly clinics in Grenola, Moline, Longton and Elk Falls. She served as the nurse for county schools, assisted the state in licensing the two nursing homes available in the county at that time, treated accident victims, and held office hours in Howard on one day a week. She also held specialty clinics including free blood pressure checks and publicized these clinics as part of her dedication to health education. She received honorary recognition from the KSNA in 1971; honorary recognition from the Kansas Public Health Association in 1972; and was the first recipient of the Nurse Practitioner Award from the American Nurses Association in 1974.

The KSNA Hall of Fame was established this year to recognize outstanding nurse leaders who have demonstrated excellence through sustained, lifelong contributions affecting health, social history of Kansas or the profession of nursing. Patterned after the American Nurses Association Hall of Fame, the KSNA Hall of Fame is a permanent and lasting tribute to nurses whose dedication and achievements have enduring value beyond their lifetime.

Inductees exhibit excellence in one or more of the following areas: patient care, leadership, education, public service, nurse advocacy, research, heroism, patient advocacy, clinical practice, public policy, economics or literature. Members are honored in a permanent memorial located at the KSNA office in Topeka.

The KSNA is the voice and vision of nursing in Kansas and was founded Feb. 8, 1912 in Wichita.

http://www.eldoradotimes.com/article/20130108/NEWS/130109432

[frawin]

Thanks Charlie, Ruth was really a deserving lady, she did her best to help everyone that needed it.

[sixdogsmom]

It is just a shame that we are reading this here. This should rightly be a headliner in our local newspapers. I was fortunate to meet Ruth Murphy after her retirement, but that did not stop her from performing public service. Elk county did not have a thrift shop, so she set one up in a building supplied by the family down by the railroad tracks here in Moline. There she offerred to anyone who came, items donated by local families. Many families benefited from this activity since all the items were absolutely FREE!. The shop was open one day a week. I visited there one day, found a couple of books I liked and had a heck of a time getting her to accept a donation. Finally she accepted the money to help pay the light bill. At Christmas she offered a collection of jewelry and toys, saved back during the year. She let people shop those items at one per customer so that people would not be too greedy.

I am fortunate to own a very large Audobon bird book from her home. I bought it at the auction she had when she sold her estate after entering the nursing home. In it is marked all the birds she saw here in Elk county. I have heard tales about her looking up people and giving them a flu shot right when they were working. I am not surprised by that. The world needs more folks like her. Nice lady, and I am priveledged to have known her although only briefly.

[Catwoman]

I knew and admired Tiny Murphy.  She was a woman of incredible resolve with a backbone of pure, Grade A, Bethlehem steel.  Once that woman made up her mind something was going to be a certain way, that was the way it would be.  An object lesson in how an individual should end up in their life!