Sylvia Griffith has always wanted to become a nurse, but missed out on her dream until this week, when she became nurse for a day at the Linfield-Good Samaritan School of Nursing.
Griffith, born in 1931, served as a caregiver for her neighbors. At the nursing home where she now lives, she looks out for fellow residents and reads nursing manuals.
She arrived at Linfield College in a white scrub dress and white duty shoes, and was presented with a Wildcat T-shirt and stethoscope before joining other nursing students. They showed her how to take an assessment of a patient and helped her take the blood pressure and listen for the lung sounds of a manikin. Griffith then moved on to her clinical experience in the high-fidelity simulation lab, where she interacted with and cared for “Eric,” the resident manikin.
The day closed with an overview of past nursing uniforms and culminated in a pinning ceremony, where Griffith was also presented with a small ceramic lamp, the “Lady of the Lamp” Florence Nightingale Lamp of Knowledge.
Griffith lives at Marquis Autumn Hills, which asks individuals and organizations to help make wishes come true as part of their “New Chapter” program.
