Career center students inspired by Air Force nurse
“Because of her influence, we have two nursing students in the Air Force,” said Pamela Vorkapich, who introduced Purdy to the students. “When I think of professionalism, I think of this lady.”
“I spent 28 years as a nurse in the Air Force,” Purdy told the students. A Northwestern High School graduate, she received a nursing diploma then her bachelor’s degree at Case Western Reserve University.
She earned her master’s degree in human relations while on active duty in the Air Force. The Air Force paid both her tuition and books, she said, and she was able to take classes on her own time.
Since her retirement, Purdy has worked as a nurse on mission trips with her church to Bogota, Columbia, Bosnia, Benin and the Ivory Coast in Africa, Chile, and Honduras.
“Nursing is a wonderful, rewarding, noble profession,” she told the students. “There are thousands of opportunities. You can teach, serve your country or serve your Lord. You can also be a school nurse.” She commented on the upcoming shortage of nurses in the U.S.
Purdy joined the Air Force in 1966, and was assigned overseas to England during the Vietnam war. Before she left in 1967, her plane landed in Philadelphia. Unaware that there was an anti-war demonstration in the city that day, dressed in her Air Force uniform, she decided to take a stroll around Philadelphia during a long layover. Stepping out of a cab into the middle of the protest area, she was mistreated by the surrounding protestors. An older man whisked her away from the area and showed her other parts of the city.
“I was in the military so those people could have freedom of speech,” she said. “So many have lost their lives for that freedom.” She still believes in people standing up for what they think is right, even if she doesn’t agree with them.
She was at Clark Air Base in the Philippines when, at 3 a.m., a soldier in intensive care asked her to come over to him. “Sit with me for awhile,” he said to the busy nurse. “You are the only person who cares whether I live or die.” He had just returned from Vietnam and was 10,000 miles from home.
Nurses have to be committed to the absolute best physical care, she told the students, but also meet a patient’s emotional and spiritual needs as well. “People like that need compassion, care and understanding.”
During World War II, the Japanese were holding a particular hill that the U.S. troops couldn’t penetrate. So they made an agreement with the Negrito natives to take out the Japanese forces with their poison dart blow guns, in exchange for medical care at the military hospital.
“They helped us win the war,” Purdy said. While treating one of these Negritos with a head injury from swinging on a vine, she noticed that his family would bring him nuts and berries, and never used chairs when they visited him.
“People’s attitudes, values and ideals are greatly influenced by their culture,” she said. She stressed being tolerant of others’ cultural differences in the foods they eat, relationships with families, and how they deal with illness and death.
Purdy was present when the prisoners of war were released from Vietnam. One man who had been in captivity for six years had been a classmate of hers at the Air Command & Staff College. He had taken training in survival skills in the jungle, desert, and water. What kept him alive, he told her, was that he didn’t want to die in Vietnam. While examining the POWs, the plan was to start with bland foods, and work their way up to a normal diet. But the POWs had different ideas. This man wanted steak and eggs the very first morning, and, in fact, ate 19 eggs that day. They appreciated hot showers, soap, beds, and ice water, which most of us take for granted, she said.
“They never complained,” she told the students.
Another POW from Wooster was captured when he was 19 years old. He was so badly injured that they wanted to carry him off the plane when he was finally set free six years later. But he refused. Using huge crude wooden crutches, and in much pain, he walked off the plane and saluted to the crowd. He was wheelchair-bound the rest of his life, Purdy said. Some POWs went back to active duty, while others had to be on disability.
“People can tolerate terrible adversity,” Purdy told the nursing students. “And most of them end up stronger for it. We need to be thankful, and cherish our freedoms.”
When the hostages were released from Iran, a hospital where Purdy worked in Germany was their first stop. They named a wing “Freedom Hall” in honor of the hostages.
“I was amazed at how much their freedom meant to them,” said Purdy. She recalled offering stationery to one man, who took her entire supply. He later apologized and returned some of it, saying, “When in captivity, you take anything you can get your hands on. You never know how you’ll be able to use it.”
Some people who seem unreasonable or greedy may have a good reason, she told the students. “Give them the benefit of the doubt.”
She told the students about flying in a C9, working with the sister of a pilot who later died at the World Trade Center on 9/11. The plane was designed for patient transport and had an intensive care unit, wall oxygen and suction. Citing the camaraderie between Air Force nurses, Purdy said she has kept in touch with this woman ever since, and was happy to hear that they finally were able to have a memorial and burial for him.
Another story she told was of being one of only two women to attend the Air Command & Staff College. Later, she was asked by General Ingram to work for him.
“People in the Air Force had more confidence in me than I had in myself,” Purdy said. “Have a positive attitude and encourage others.” She finally became the first woman Wing Chief in the academy.
“In situations like that, go to the right people,” she said. She never wanted to be not considered for a job just because she was a woman or a nurse.
“Lobby for improvements; get involved in the politics of your organization; stand up for your patients and your coworkers,” she told the students. “When you have problems, take them through the right channels.”
Her final story was of a military medical plane that picked up 50 wounded soldiers near a battlefield during a rainstorm, evacuated them to a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital Unit, and worked diligently to save them.
“All 50 soldiers were Iraqis,” she said. “They wouldn’t have survived without our help. Many risked their lives to save these men. Work diligently yourselves to keep the U.S. a powerful country.”
Published: August 31, 2011
