NURSING EXPERIENCE AT HISTORICAL LUNCHEON
The mother/daughter team of Rita Gutowski and Mary Shaffer amused and informed a
crowd of 79 members and guests, who gathered for the DuBois Area Historical Society’s 16th
Spring Luncheon.
Together Gutowski and Shaffer reviewed their combined 58 years of nursing experience
at what is now Penn Highlands DuBois. They traced the growth and change of the nursing
experience which coincided with the growth of medicine.
Gutowski, a 1966 DuBois High School graduate, outlined the limited options for women
at that time period. Although being a member of the Future Teacher’s Club in high school, she
chose to pursue nursing at the Jefferson College School of Nursing in Philadelphia. There she
experienced eight-hour days over 40 weeks and received her degree in three years.
“I returned home without a job,” Gutowski recalled. “I went to apply at DuBois Hospital
and picked up an application to fill out. By the time I reached home they called and asked me if I
could start that night. I received $12.01 for that night’s work. I never did fill out an application
until the 1985 merger that created DuBois Regional Medical Center.”