Thank you, Eileen!

For this post, I would like to refrain from my usual stirring of the pot and, instead, in honor of the upcoming Nurses Week, share a story.

In May 2009, during Nurses Week, I was having lunch at my desk and reading the news online when I was struck by the headline ‘School nurse dies saving coach.’ I clicked on the link, and it took me to a clip on the website of a local news station in California. That’s where my relationship with Eileen Bowden and her family began.

Bowden, a school nurse for California’s Santa Clara School District, was responsible for covering five schools in the county. She just happened to be at the right school at the right time for one very fortunate soul. A softball coach collapsed on one of the fields of the school she was at that day. Nurse Bowden was summoned from her office and rushed to the scene where she performed CPR until paramedics arrived and transported the coach to the hospital. Minutes later, Bowden collapsed and died. The coach survived and is alive today, due to the quick action taken by Bowden. As a side note, the incident took place on the coach’s birthday.

Eileen Bowden

Not only was I moved to tears by this story; I was moved to action. Within minutes, I contacted the school where the incident had occurred, and the principal returned my call the following day. He was very kind and stated that he would make contact with the family on my behalf. Within a few days, Barbara Butler, Eileen Bowden’s sister, contacted me.

I explained to Barbara that I had seen Eileen’s story on the news. I also told her that, although I was not a runner, I was training for my first-ever half-marathon so I could experience running across the Golden Gate Bridge. But now, I said to Barbara, instead of running the San Francisco Half Marathon for the personal experience, I would like to do it to raise money to start a scholarship in Eileen’s memory. She agreed, and that call became the kickoff for the Eileen Bowden Memorial Scholarship, administered through the Foundation of the National Student Nurses Association, with which I have been involved ever since my days as a nursing student, 20-plus years ago.

I immediately went to work raising awareness of the need for school nurses and for funding students who have an interest in school nursing. I put up a website, emailed friends and colleagues, started blogging and tweeting, and, with my new purpose, rededicated myself to training for the half-marathon.

As I have stated, I am not a runner, and training was hard. Living in Austin, Texas, only compounded the difficulty. The race was to be held in San Francisco in July, where the average high temperature is 69 degrees Fahrenheit (21 degrees Celsius), but the average high in Austin in June, when I was training, is 92 degrees Fahrenheit. This meant getting up most mornings at 4 a.m. so I could get my training in before the Texas heat would get the best of me. Just about the time I was questioning my sanity and ability, my next round of motivation came. I received a handwritten letter and a check for $25. This gift—and it truly was a gift—was from an 80-plus-year old registered nurse on a fixed income. Her name was Betty Bowden. She is Eileen’s mother.

Well, the training didn’t get any easier, but my motivation was strong. Before I go further, I must acknowledge that my wife was with me on this journey every step of the way. The night before the run, we were sitting together in our hotel room contemplating a Wall Street Journal headline we had seen just days before—“The San Francisco Half Marathon, the race that real runners fear” —when the phone rang. It was Eileen’s nephew. Suddenly, I had no fear of what I would take on at 5 a.m.

The next morning, with my wife at my side, I completed my first-ever half-marathon, raising more than $4,000 for the newly established Eileen Bowden Memorial Scholarship. Little did I know it was the beginning of a journey to create a permanently endowed scholarship for students interested in pursuing a career in school nursing.

The following year, I was once again training to run in San Francisco to raise more funds for the scholarship when Tom Grant contacted me. Tom is Eileen’s brother-in-law. In 2010, he, too, was not a runner. However, inspired by my efforts, he had begun training for New Jersey’s Long Branch Half Marathon, which coincides with the New Jersey Marathon, and was calling to ask if I would help him replicate what I had done to raise awareness and funds. Not only did I say yes, I asked if I could run with him. I can’t begin to tell you what an honor it was to run by his side and cross the finish line together in his first-ever half-marathon.

To run a half-marathon (13.1 miles), you need all the help you can get!
Before running New Jersey's 2010 Long Branch Half Marathon together,
Tom Grant, brother of Eileen Bowden, and Ken Dion pose for the camera with
an energy product designed to help them make it across the finish line.

A highlight of making the trip to New Jersey was having the opportunity to stay with Tom and his wife Rosemary, Eileen’s other sister. And if the kindness they showed me was not enough, I had the honor of spending the evening with Betty Bowden, Eileen’s mother. We stayed up until late in the evening, sharing stories about the joys and sorrows we experienced as nurses. Mostly, the joys!

Eileen was the epitome of what nursing is all about. She was active in her community. She chose to work as a school nurse to assure health and health education for the future of our country. The single mother of an adopted daughter, she was a daughter, a sister, a friend. She was also a member of the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International.

So, on the fifth anniversary of Eileen Bowden’s passing, I would like to dedicate this Nurses Week blog post to her and others like her who have made the ultimate sacrifice in the service of others.

On behalf of all those you have touched—especially this nurse—thank you, Eileen!

For Reflections on Nursing Leadership (RNL), published by the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International. Comments are moderated. Those that promote products or services will not be posted.