Open Stacks

Tradition of Care: School of Nursing... Part 31 - Virginia Ohlson, Public Health Champion

 

Virginia Ohlson grew up in Albany Park and remembered fondly listening to her aunt tell stories about her job as a nurse.  One of the greatest influences on Virginia Ohlson's career choice was Ruth Nordlund, friend of the Ohlson family and public health nurse. Virginia was inspired by Nordlund who provided care for people in their homes and helped patients’ families learn how to care for them. She decided that was what she also wanted to do. Virginia Ohlson entered Swedish Covenant Hospital School of Nursing in 1934 after her high school years at North Park Academy and a year at North Park College. When Ohlson graduated in 1937, she worked a year at Swedish Covenant Hospital in the operating room before being hired by the Evanston Department of Health.  
 
Virginia Ohlson.
Photographic Print, 5” x 3”.

 

 

 

 

In 1955, she earned her MSN from the University of Chicago, where she taught from 1956 to 1960. While completing her doctorate degree at the University of Chicago, Ohlson was named Associate Professor and Director of Public Health Nursing at University of Illinois at Chicago. In 1971, Ohlson was appointed Interim Dean of the UIC College of Nursing where she founded The Office of Global Health Leadership (GHLO).  She also played a pivotal role in making the college the first WHO Collaborating Center for Primary Health Care in 1986.

April 10, 2010, marked the passing of the extraordinary personage Dr. Virginia Ohlson, PhD, RN. She died at the age of 95 after a life filled with amazing accomplishments.

Virginia Ohlson, O. T. Roberg, et. al. Chicago. [1940]
Photographic Print, 11” x 8.5”.
Courtesy of Ted Roberg

The exhibit Tradition of Care: School of Nursing – Swedish Covenant Hospital to North Park University traces the history of nursing education using photographs, artifacts, and ephemera from the North Park and Covenant collections along with items on loan from friends of the nursing programs.  It is on display in the lower level of Brandel Library throughout the summer and fall of 2011. 

Tradition of Care: School of Nursing... Part 24 - Delores Johnson Nursing Laboratory, continued

 
 
North Park College. Delores H. Johnson Memorial Nursing Laboratory. Chicago, 1981.
Photographic Print, “8.5 x 6”.
Covenant Archives and Historical Library 13786

 
North Park University. Current Nursing Laboratory. Chicago, 2011.
Digital Photograph, 8” x 5”.
Covenant Archives and Historical Library 13798 

In the first photograph a student works in the newly constructed nursing laboratory in Carlson Tower in 1981. The second photograph shows the laboratory as it continues to serve nursing students today. Advanced technology is incorporated into courses and in practice settings nationwide. North Park nursing students currently use state-of-the-art simulation mannequins in the laboratory. As a result of grants from foundations and the Illinois Board of Higher Education, computerized human patient simulators (Sim-Man and Sim-Baby) were purchased, along with video equipment that allows for video-taping and debriefing sessions, and plans are in place for expansion.

The exhibit Tradition of Care: School of Nursing – Swedish Covenant Hospital to North Park University traces the history of nursing education using photographs, artifacts, and ephemera from the North Park and Covenant collections along with items on loan from friends of the nursing programs.  It is on display in the lower level of Brandel Library throughout the summer and fall of 2011. 

 

Tradition of Care: School of Nursing... Part 23 - Delores Johnson, Nursing Laboratory

In 1981 the Delores H. Johnson Nursing Laboratory was opened on the 5th floor of Carlson Tower.  Before then students relied solely on the hospital for opportunities to practice nursing skills.  When the laboratory was under consideration a recent graduate stated that, although she had earned her degree, she never performed some basic nursing skills for a lack of opportunity to practice them.  The dedication program from December 1981 honors Delores H. Johnson, first chairperson of nursing education…, teacher, colleague, friend, and sister in Christ.  Johnson died a year before the laboratory opened.

North Park College. Delores H. Johnson Memorial Nursing Laboratory Dedication Program. Chicago, 1981.
Print Document, 8.5” x 11”.
Courtesy of Joan Zetterlund