xt7gms3jz33n https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7gms3jz33n/data/mets.xml The Frontier Nursing Service, Inc. 1993 bulletins  English The Frontier Nursing Service, Inc. Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. Frontier Nursing Service Quarterly Bulletins Frontier Nursing Service, Vol. 68, No. 4, Spring 1993 text Frontier Nursing Service, Vol. 68, No. 4, Spring 1993 1993 2014 true xt7gms3jz33n section xt7gms3jz33n V FRONTIER NURSING SERVICE   ‘““’  
Volume 68 Number4 Spring 1993      
QUARTERLY BULLETIN  
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It was on one of my rides alone that I first saw Wendover. Of course it wasn`1;
_ Wendover then, but I knew it would be. I was on my way to Stinnett and
° Beechfork, so, for the first of many thousands of times, I rode down Muncy
Creek, forded the Middle Fork and rode slowly along its banks. I thought I
r had never seen anything lovelier than the lay of the land with its southern
` exposure facing the great North Mountain. When I raised my eyes to
towering forest trees, and then let them fall on a cleared place where one
might have a garden, when I passed some jutting rocks, I fell in love. To
myself and to my horse I said, "Someday I`m going to build me a log house
right there." Two years later I did.
Mary Breckinridge
Wide Neighborhoods

 1
I
US ISSN 0016-2116   i
Table of Contents  
Dedication Ceremony of the Big House - Barb Gibson l 1
FNS Consolidates Clinics - Barb Gibson 7 gg
FNS Employees — Barb Gibson 8  
Notes from the School - Judith Treistman 11  
Meet Robert L. Johnson — New Board Member - Barb Gibson 13  
NACC Annual Conference Announcement 14 p
My Experience as a Courier - Heidi Hojfman E
and Maddy Schreiber 15  
Courier News - Barb Gibson 19 i
Beyond the Mountains - Deanna Severance 22
Local Spotlight- Barb Gibson 25
In Memoriam - Barb Gibson 26
In Honor Of — Barb Gibson 27
Field Notes — Susie Hudgins 27
Urgent Needs — Barb Gibson Inside back cover
COVER: Plaque designating the Big House a National Historic Land-
mark.
11
FRONTIER NURSING SERVICE QUARTERLY BULLETIN Ei
Us ISSN 00162116 ,1
Published at the end of each quarter by the Frontier Nursing Service, Inc. 1 `
Wendover, Kentucky 41775 , 1
Subscription Price $5.00 a Year }
Editor‘s Office, Wendover, Kentucky 41775 I
VOLUME 68 NUMBER 4 SRl’1l’lg]993 l
Second·class postage paid at Wendover, KY 41775 and at additional mailing offices.  
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Frontier Nursing Service, Wendover, KY 41775.
Copyright 1986, Frontier Nursing Service, Inc. `
I 1

 »
1
  QUARTERLY BULLETIN 1
l 1
l 1 Dedication Ceremony of the Big House
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`}_ Deanna Severance, CEO and Mr. C. Allen Muncy, County Judge
, 3 Executive of Leslie County.
l In 1925 when Mary Breckinridge built her home at Wendover,
  it was in the memory of her two children, Breckie and Polly. During
l July 1991, the Big House at Wendover was designated a National
1 H Historic Landmark and on April 16, 1993, we held a dedication
  ceremony in honor of this important event.
Since April was the time for our annual board of governors
meeting, most of the board members were already here. Former
J couriers, trustees, friends, supporters and other people affiliated with
1 the Frontier Nursing Service also attended the ceremony.
i 1 Deanna Severance, CEO and Director of the Frontier Nurs-
ing Service, opened the ceremony by welcoming everyone. Speak-
ers included: Mr. C. Allen Muncy, County Judge Executive; Dr.
James Klotter, FNS board member and Kentucky State Historian;
Mr. David Morgan from the Kentucky Heritage Council;Mr. Mark
p Bames, National Park Service, Atlanta, Georgia; Miss Jane Leigh
l , Powell, National Chairman of the FNS Board of Governors; Dr.
  Anne Wasson, physician at Frontier Nursing Service from 1969 until
1983, currently serves as a member of the FNS Board of Govemors,
1 serves on the Frontier School of Midwifery and Family Nursing
  Board of Directors and is chairman of Mary Breckinrid ge Healthcare's
5 Home Health Advisory Committee; Mr. George Wooton, former
1 County Judge of Leslie County; and Mrs. Carol Crowe-Carraco,
1
¤ I
It

 2 FRONTIER NURSING SERVICE [
l
Professor of History at Westem Kentucky University. Because Mrs.  
Ca1raco's speech was a wonderful historic narrative and tribute to the i
Big House, I have included her speech below.  
" In the United States, and especially in the rural South, the
importance ofthe family home cannot be over-estimated. It is attested _
to in literature and song. As Robert Frost penned, "Home is the place
where, when you go there, they have to take you in. " It even manifests
itseU° in popular culture, from the refusal to sell the old homeplace,
even though it stands empty, to having ones body returned home for ,
- burial. In 1991 a regional folklorist indicated that a house is more i
than a physical entity to be described factually; it is part of an l
individual 's experience, and must be discussed within the context of  
experience.  
The Big House at Wendover, then, cannot be separated from I
its builder Mary Breckinridge. It was her home, and it was, and still »
is, at the core of the Frontier Nursing Services’s very being. What i
stories these walls could tell about events that have occurred here or i
been discussed here in the almost 68 years since December 1925,
when the house was first inhabited. I
In actuality, Wendover was Mary Breckinridge ’s only endur- i
ing home. During her childhood her family never had a permanent ;
home, in part because of the political and diplomatic career of her ¥
father, and in part because the Major refused to buy a house in .
Washington -- he never forgot that his own father’s home had been
taken by the Federal Government when he joined the Confederacy.
Mary Breckinridge had a house in Arkansas, during her brief first
marriage, and she lived in the equivalent of university housing during
her second marriage. Thus, Wendover, a name suggested by her Aunt
Jane because of the rambling route necessary to reach the place,
became an important part of Mary Breckinridge’s identity. _
Here in this two-story double log house, she lived and ,
worked for some forty years, surrounded by what she called "suitable  
practical goods" walnut bedsteads and tables, bedding and many Y .
books. As the plaque on the chimney indicates, the Big House was ip
built "To the Glory of God and in Memory of Breckie and Polly." _
Although the son and daughter died quite young and without ever i
having visited Kentucky, they became the inspiration for the Frontier l
Nursing Service. She spoke of her "golden haired, blue-eyed ,

 [ QUARTERLY BULLETIN 3
l children" to her friends and other bereaved parents, wrote about
  them, and kept mernentoes from their short lives in her second floor
_ bedroom. The eternal mother, she drew spiritual strength from them,
;l and she believed that she communicated daily with Breckie. She felt
his presence, she wrote, in the bright sunshine and heard his voice in
the sound ofsplashing water and in the wind sighing in the trees. And
· who are we to say that she didn ’t?
In addition to being Mary Breckinridge’s home, the Big
House may also have been one ofLeslie County 's first multi—purpose
buildings. From 1926 until the opening of Hyden Hospital, it served
  as a cottage hospital, and then as a district nursing center. For a
[ number of years it housed the post oyfice, and it has always been a
  hotel. During the first six months that the Big House was habitable,
t Mary Breckinridge entertained 35 guests who stayed for a combined
{ total of 295 days. Meals in the dogtrot and refreshments in the
ahernoon in the living room of the Big House became a tradition.
  Others stopped by to see the two bathtubs that the Big House sported.
T A guest book--really a series of books--records the names of the
visitors.
To the Big House the nurse-midwives came to report
l successes and failures. Here they and the couriers socialized, with
tea being served every ahernoon at four "come hell or high water. "
  The Big House also drew local residents who sought Mrs.
` Breckinridge’s help for a myriad of problems that required her
T personal touch.
At Wendover, Mary Breckinridge prepared the FNS Quar-
terly Bulletin which provided the outside world with a look at the work
and the needs of her "great economic experiment in medical social
service/’ Here she wrote her autobiography and the story of the
F rontierNursing Service. Here she died on May 16, 1965, one month
short of 28 years ago this very day.
· But the Big House at Wendover is still standing, and she
i remains apart of it. For us, the Big House is more than just a wooden
  structure. It, along with Mary Breckinridge, is also a place in the
Q ' heart".
ll Speeches and comments were not the only way people
i expressed their fondness for the FNS during the ceremony. Mrs. Eliza
g Rogers, sister of George Wooton, sang the following song she had

 I
I
I
4 FRONTIER NURSING SERVICE  
written in memory of Mrs. Breckinridge and the Big House. George I
accompanied her with his guitar. I have included the song below. I
Come and gather round ye good and kindly people and listen while ‘
I tell a tale to thee,
how the Frontier Nursing Service ofthe mountains settled in the hills
of Leslie County. l `
Now a lady jrom the city came a calling, from a rich aristocratic
family known as Mary Breckinridge of fame and fortune ,
she saw a need to service a people proud and free.
For when Mary came looking for some new land to build a clinic for  
the moms and babes, I
for miles she rode through rough untraveled woodlands, this must be Q
God's own country, so she said. I
Soon she found a place and men to build her cabin, built it strong and
sturdy for to stay,
and here it stands today a thing of beauty, and proud we are that she
chose to come our way.
So here she spent her We as did her nurses, God bless this house and .
bless them one and all, I
and bless each nurse and courier who came aher Mrs. Breckinridge 's  
call. I
After the speakers shared their remarks, Mr. Mark Barnes,
from the National Park Service in Atlanta Georgia, gave his com-
ments and presented the plaque which now hangs prominently
outside the building.
Several of our guest speakers and visitors joined us for a .
wonderful dinner of turkey, dressing and other trimmings prepared `
by Cassie. This was a nice finish to a very memorable day at  
Wendover. I
-Barb Gibson I l

 3 QUARTERLY BULLETIN 5
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  Speakers from the Dedzcatzon ceremony
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§ Carol Crowe-Carraco
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Mzss Jane Lexgh Powell

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6 FRONTIER NURSING SERVICE I
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Mr. David Morgan and Mr. Mark Barnes   l
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Dr. Anne Wasson

 QUARTERLY BULLETIN 7
FNS Consolidates Clinics
- On March 15, 1993, FNS made a decision to consolidate its
Pine Mountain and Beechfork Clinics into one facility, to be located
at the Beechfork Clinic's current site. The move coincides with the
* resignation of Trudy Morgan, Pine Mountain’s nurse practitioner.
After careful consideration, consolidating the two clinics appeared to
be the best decision for the Pine Mountain, Beechfork area. We are
hoping all of our patients from Pine Mountain and Beechfork will
continue to benefit from the excellent primary medical care our nurses
  and physicians offer.
. We were sorry to see Trudy resign after many years of
V dedicated service. It isn't easy to find and retain nurse practitioners
like Trudy. She has managed the Pine Mountain Clinic since 1981 and `
has been a nurse practitioner with FNS since the 60‘s.
-Barb Gibson
         .         
i Beec f rk c olid t d wi h P ne  ou tain Cl n 

 1
8 FRONTIER NURSING SERVICE I
FNS Employees
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Sharon Koser
In this issue, we would like to pay tribute to two of our employees,
Sharon K oser and Wanda F eltner.
Sharon Koser is originally from Seattle, Washington. She
studied nursing and graduated from the University of Washington.
From 1965 to 1967 she was a psychiatric nursing clinical instructor
in Salem, Oregon at the Oregon State Hospital and then moved to
Chicago. From 1967 to 1969 she worked in general medical/surgical,
pediatric and geriatric nursing and in intensive and coronary care
units at the Swedish Covenant Hospital.
Sharon first heard of FNS through a nursing friend, Darlene
Wilke, who was a RN at FNS in the l950's. Sharon made a decision
to come to the Frontier Nursing Service in the fall of 1969 and began
work at the Wendover Clinic. She was the district nurse there until the
clinic closed in 1976. While still working at Wendover in 1972 she
enrolled in the Frontier School of Midwifery and Family Nursing to »
become a Family Nurse Practitioner and was one of the first to take
the national certification exam for Family Nurse Practitioners. After
the closing of the Wendover Clinic, Sharon worked at the Beechfork ·
and Wooton Clinics. She then became the district float nurse, and in
August, 1990 she became the District Clinics Manager. Among her {
accomplishments she was included in Who’s Who in American  
Nursing for the 93-94 year for significant contribution to nursing.  

 p QUARTERLY BULLETIN 9
. Sharon has very strong feelings about the Frontier Nursing
i Service and the people of this area. She says it is because of the people
that she has stayed this long in Kentucky (23 years). She was
’ impressed when she first arrived here at how the people learned to
survive during the hardest of times. She has seen people plowing com
I with a mule all day on the side of a hill and never complain about it.
` She admires and respects the people's inner strength they get from
their strong mountain roots, strong family ties, and their faith in God.
She feels the mountain people were bom with more "common sense"
than any other people she has met, in the way that they can cope with
any situation. She sees them as having great wealth and riches in
tradition, culture, talent and family closeness.
Sharon has always wanted to live on a farm and since moving
to Kentucky she has satisfied that longing by learning how to do
things like horseback riding, fishing, hunting and digging for gin-
seng, working in a garden and helping build her own home here.
Sharon loves nature and loves listening to the birds calling each other.
She also said the change of seasons here in Kentucky is so distinctive
that it fascinates her.
Sharon loves the Frontier Nursing Service and feels the
service has made an impact on the younger people in this area to go
into the medical field. Without being inspired by the FNS some of
them probably would not have chosen this profession.
I really enjoyed talking with Sharon and listening to her
reminisce about FNS. She feels a very special love for FNS and
obviously it is a part of her. Thank you Sharon for your committment
to this great organization!
FNS Employee-Wanda Feltner
Wanda Feltner has worked at Frontier Nursing Service for
i 23 years. She started working at the old hospital in April 1970 as a
nurse aide and has since worked on the medical surgical and obstetrics
p floors and in the clinics. She now works in the Hyden Clinic,
V emergency room and is on call as a scrub tech for the operating room
5 at the Mary Breckinridge Hospital. Before coming to FNS she
  worked with the postal service and at a clothing store.
l I asked Wanda why she had not attended nursing school

 10 FRONTIER NURSING SERVICE {
S    
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Wanda Feltner I
because I have always thought she had the caring for patients that all
nurses should have. Wanda said she would have loved to have
become a nurse but circumstances did not allow it. She became a
wonderful nurse aide instead.
Wanda was born in Leslie County but moved to Perry
County at a very early age. She moved back to Leslie County in 1964
when she married A.B.Feltr1er. They have two children, Bill and
Shirley both of Michigan. `
Wanda says this organization has been a part of her life and
she plans to continue working here until she retires. Thank you
Wanda for your many years of hard work!

 I
  QUARTERLY BULLETIN ll
Notes from the School
I am 30,000 feet above the continent, and my spirits are just
" about as high! I am on my way back to Kentucky after spending a
week at a most exciting conference in Vancouver British Columbia.
I Almost 5, 000 midwives from 82 countries attended the 23rd
{ Triennial Intemational Confederation of Midwives to discuss the
theme: "MIDWIVES: HEAR THE HEARTBEAT OF THE FU-
TURE." Frontier School of Midwifery and Family Nursing Faculty
Ellen Craig, Deirdre Bledsoe, Penny Armstrong, Kathy Carr, Cynthia
Goetz, Debra Frank and I were joined by Dr. Ruth Lubic and several
recent CNEP graduates as we participated in the strong United States
contingent; many CNEP students were there as volunteers, working
as pages and interpreters. We were proud to don FNS uniforms for
the opening ceremonies and amazed at the intemational recognition
we cormnanded. The heritage of the Frontier Nursing Sewice is so
important to the School as we advance into the 21st century.
The meetings were off to a marvelous begimiing with the
announcement on May 10th of the legalization of midwifery in the
Province of British Columbia! Dr. Barbara Kwast gave the Keynote
Address, telling of the good news and the bad; she set the tone for the
work of the congress. Kwast reviewed the first decade of WHO's Safe
Motherhood Initiative, concluding that the concept of reproductive
rights and advocacy for women remains central to matemal health.
Five hundred thousand women die each year in childbirth; there has
been no amelioration of this tragedy during the last ten years, even
though 75% of maternal deaths are preventable. Dr. Kwast called
upon midwives to come out of the hospitals and move back into the
communities where they can be most effective. Dr. Raa Lingaswami
of UNICEF made this abundantly clear when he spoke of the
hundreds of thousands of lives that could be saved with simple
° micronutrients like iron and iodine. Midwives have the tools to reach
the goal of reducing matemal mortality 50% by 2000 A.D. "They are
I prepared to provide simple, appropriate and cost effective care."
Several speakers reminded us that "...if midwives are the lynchpin in
Safe Motherhood, they must maintain the highest levels of compe-
tence." Stella Mpanda, a midwife teacher from Tanzania, told us
about the AIDS epidemic in the countries of Africa, where this
!.

 12 FRONTIER NURSING SERVICE
infection is the leading cause of death of women between the ages of
17 and 25; there will be ten million AIDS orphans by the turn of the
century.
The challenge for the world's midwives is formidable, but ·
the ICM reinforced our dedication and gave us the vision to forge
ahead. It is clear that the goal of the American College of Nurse-
Midwifery 10,000 midwives by the year 2001 is right on target. The `
Frontier School of Midwifery and Family Nursing and CNEP are
positioned to play an increasingly important role in acheiving that
goal and, in the words of Dr. Kwast, "...we are part of our future!"
- Judith Treistman
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Ellen Craig, Faculty; Judith Treistman, Director of FSMFN;
Deidre Poe, Faculty; Joyce Thompson, President of ACNM ; Ruth
Lubic, Director of Maternity Center Association and Kathy Carr,
Faculty. .

 QUARTERLY BULLETIN 13
Meet Robert L. Johnson-New Board Member
During the April Board l
· meeting, Mr. Robert Johnson ‘ p
was appointed a member of the , 2 dV f 
FNS Board of Governors.   ‘‘i; _, » °    Q Virr ~
  Mr. Johnson joins us { V g   
with a long history of manage-  ,_S  9  ‘ 
ment and experience in the   g      
medical field.Some of his prev- V   , A
ious positions were: Public   M J f, 
Health Educator in training at   `J ‘ ’M
various health departments in W
New York State during 1949
and 1950; Student, on fellow-
ship at the department of Public Mr. Robert Johnson
Health, School of Medicine at
Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut from 1950 to 1951; The
Assistant Director of Health Education at the Erie County Health
Department, Buffalo, New York from 1951-1953; He was the Health
Educator at the Rip Van Winkle Clinic, Hudson, New York from
1953-1958; Founding Executive Director of the Medical Founda-
tion, Boston, Massachusetts from 1958-1960; Director of State and
Local Services at the University of Kentucky Medical Center, Lex-
ington, from 1960-1965; Vice President for Student Affairs of the
University of Kentucky, Lexington, from 1965-1968; Vice Chancel-
lor for Student Affairs at the University of Califomia at Berkeley from
1968-1969; Vice Chancellor for Administration at the University of
California from 1969-1970; Vice President for Administration at the
University of Califomia from 1970-1972; Vice President for Student
Relations at the University of California from 1972-1976; Founding
‘ President and Chief Executive Officer at the National Center for
Health Education, San Francisco, California from 1976-1978; Presi-
dent and Chief Executive Officer at the Appalachian Regional
' Healthcare, Lexington, Kentucky from 1978-1993.
i Mr. Johnson eamed his Masters in Public Health from Yale,
  New Haven, Connecticut and a Bachelors in Health Education from
Cortland State Teachers College, Cortland, New York. He is also
l

 14 PRONTIER NURSING SERVICE
professionally affiliated with the American Public Health Associa-
tion; Society of Public Educators; Delta Omega; Kentucky Educa-
tional Television Advisory Committe; Mutual of America's Chairman's
Council; Kentucky Hospital Association Task Force on Competitive
and Regulatory Reform; Rural Health Initiative Advisory Committee
at the University of Kentucky; and serves on the Advisory Board of
Graduate Programs in Health Care Policy and Administrations at
Mercer University, Atlanta, Georgia. Along with these accomplish-
ments, Mr. Johnson also has several publications.
Mr. Johnson is married to Ruth and they live in Lexington
Kentucky. They have four children.We feel honored to have him
serve on our Board of Govemors. Welcome!
-Barb Gibson
OIIIIOOOIOOOIOOOIOIIIOI
National Association of Childbearing Centers (NACC) Annual
Convention - 10th Anniversary Celebration September 30 -
October 3, 1993, San Diego, California
"Birth Centers: One Vision - Many Models." The vision is the birth
center concept while the models are the many ways the concept is
structured. There will be a wealth of pre—convention workshops as
well as networking and sessions on business management, clinical
issues , managed care, etc. Join in celebrating the tenth anniversary of
the founding of NACC and two decades of birth center experience.
NACC will be applying for continuing education program approval
from the American College of Nurse-Midwives, the Pennsylvania
Nurses Association and the International Childbirth Education Asso-
ciation.
For more information contact: Christine M. Spade, Meeting Coor- *
dinator, National Association of Childbearing Centers, 3123
Gottschall Road, Perkiomenville, PA 18074-9546 or call (215) 234-
8068 ‘

 QUARTERLY BULLETIN 15
My Experience as a Courier
Butterflies went wild in my   ~ _ ‘
stomach as my airplane flew over the _
congested, traffic-ridden streets of _   »
my home in Los Angeles, Califomia QQQ-    g   ' Jn:. »
and headed east to the mountains of · , ‘· Af    T L ~   -°·={
southeastem Kentucky. Having just   ° ' I 2 A °`. _ ‘
graduated from college, I wanted to ··" p `  
stay clear of textbooks for a year V ig
before entering the grueling life of a gx 4 A
medical student. The Frontier Nurs- .
ing Service afforded me the perfect —
opponunity to test my motives and _ {QA.   .
desire IO become a physician_ to gx- A l   J 4Ly»    
plore rural health, and to simultane- ·»-~<* y  I;   " J g  zi
ously experience life in a r11ral com- i *1 
munity rich in culture and history. Heidi Hoffman
Full of anxiety, I left L.A. wondering what my six weeks with FNS
would be like. . . Six months later my parents wondered if they’d ever
see their daughter again! Here I was, still in Kentucky, and having
the time of my life.
I came to Wendover intending strictly to be involved in the
health-care aspect of FNS. Helping provide basic hygenic care to
homebound patients on Home Health rounds was one of many new
experiences for me. I certainly have a new appreciation for the care
that goes into shaving a man’s face! Every Monday and Thursday for
six months I could be found at Wooton Clinic, one of three FNS
outpost clinics. By the end of my stay I was taking vital signs, doing
blood and urine tests, helping with physicals, doing pregnancy tests,
answering phones, and helping renovate the clinic! Along with
I valuing the hands—on experience and admiring the efficiency and
quality of care, I will remember the special people I met at the clinic,
both patients and staff alike.
I combined my knowledge for health issues and my passion
for teaching and worked as a teacher’s aide in the Health Services
class at the local vocational school. I must have been very excited
El

 16 FRONTIER NURSING SERVICE
about being there since I could drag myself out of bed, shower, and
be at school for first period at 7:50 a.m. when (for me) being "tardy"
didn’t even matter! Whether it be helping the class with anatomy,
quizzing a student on the cardiovascular system, monitoring a student ·
transferring a patient from a bed to a wheelchair, or working individu-
ally on medical terminology with a special education student, I
learned as much myself from this experience as I was able to give.
Once I realized the vast array of things I could get involved
in here I felt flustered when I couldn’t do it all! One day I spent the
moming judging students in a 4-H competition in town, the early
aftemoon working-up patients at the clinic, the late aftemoon
tutoring a woman in physiology, and the evening teaching a CPR class
to FNS staff at the hospital! Other memorable experiences include
coaching the high school tennis teams, helping dust, mop, and scrub
the home of an irnrnobile homebound patient, and speaking to sixth
graders in a career class about being a courier and a pre—medical
student. Although I went to answer questions about my studies and
career ambitions I spent most of my time responding to questions
about surfers, gangs, Hollywood, the riots, and earthquakes!
Reflecting back on my time at FNS I realize that much of
what I take away from here are memories of first-time experiences.
While in Hyden I saw my first strip coal mine, leamed my first
country-westem line dance (the "Tush Push"), baked my first loaf of
bread, quilted my first pillow, experienced my first snowstorm (20
inches! Remember I ’m from sunny CA!), shot a gun for the first time,
went to my first "fish fry", and ate my first helping of "shuckey"
beans! I also packed and hauled coal up a hill for a woman while a
78—year old man in overalls played the banjo—these "cultural"
experiences enriched my life here and were definitely not ones Icould
have had in Los Angeles!
I cannot do justice to this "Courier Experience" without
paying tribute to the wonderful people of Leslie County who made my ·
stay here so memorable. There are few women with purer hearts than
Alabam Morgan, who shared with me her love and quilting expertise
over fried apple pies and country music. Thanks to Sherman Wooton
I leave Kentucky with a wooden bench (made with my own two
hands!) and with the amazement that someone still posesses as much
unadultered chami and wisdom. I have also learned that two people

 QUARTERLY BULLETIN 17
of entirely different backgrounds and lifestyles can have a wonderful
friendship, as I leave anew-found and lifelong friend on the Wendover
staff. I will forever cherish these months of fun, friendships, service,
’ fulfillment, and personal growth. Although I will unquestionably
visitWendover within the coming months, my courier experience has
been so rewarding, educational and inspiring that one day I may
return to FNS with my white coat and stethoscope and be ready to go
to work! -Heidi Hoffman
My Experience as a Courier - Maddy Schreiber
I first heard about FNS back in high school, when my friend
Ellen Shapiro decided to be a courier during the spring of our senior
year. I had always tried to picture my friends in what they were doing,
but I couldn’t picture Kentucky or frontier nurses or anything of the
sort. I do remember the stories she told, about learning how to drive
standard shift cars, Cassie’s banana cream pie, and the beautiful
Kentucky spring. I didn’t think too much about it until this past
winter, when I knew I wanted to take time off between working and
going back to school. So I called Ellen, who at this time had traveled
around the world and back, and asked her whatl should do in the time
off-go to Israel, New Zealand? She immediately said "FNS". Sol
came.
I arrived at Wendover with very few expectations of the
place or the type of workl would be doing. Since my undergraduate
degree was in geology, I was very interested in geologic aspects of
Kentucky and the host of environmental problems associated with
strip mining and carbonate terrain. Within h