{"id":22712,"date":"2019-02-22T07:15:54","date_gmt":"2019-02-22T14:15:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/?p=22712"},"modified":"2020-01-02T16:41:43","modified_gmt":"2020-01-02T23:41:43","slug":"the-love-story-of-donna-and-paul-poduska","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/the-love-story-of-donna-and-paul-poduska\/","title":{"rendered":"A love story: 101 years of changing lives"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>
\"couple
Donna and Paul Poduska met 50 years ago at UCHealth Poudre Valley Hospital. On Feb. 28, they will retire together. Photo by Kelly Tracer, UCHealth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On a warm June evening in 1969, 22-year-old Donna Guintoni \u2014 in her white uniform, stockings and hat \u2014 walked through the back doors of Poudre Valley Hospital<\/a> to start her first night shift as a newly graduated nurse.<\/p>\n

As was customary then, she had no formal training before her first day about the hospital\u2019s 44-bed surgical unit.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe looked lost,\u201d recalled Paul Poduska. \u201cShe was looking for the time clock and standing right in front of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Acting like a hospital veteran, the third-year orderly who was just 24 at the time, directed Donna to her unit. She was unimpressed, but eventually Paul would win her heart.<\/p>\n

For more than half a century, Donna and Paul Poduska have continued to walk through the doors of Poudre Valley Hospital. And next week, they\u2019ll walk out together, retiring with a combined 101 years at the Fort Collins, Colorado, hospital.<\/p>\n

In those 50 years, the Poduskas have brought their warmth to patients, while driving progress for the hospital. Donna was a fierce force behind strong nursing collaborations and advancements. And Paul helped create the hospital\u2019s safety and infection-control policies.<\/p>\n

The start of a career<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\"donna
Donna Poduska with her mother after receiving her undergraduate degree in nursing from Montana State University. Photo courtesy of the Poduska family.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Donna had visited Fort Collins over spring break and was hired on the spot at Poudre Valley Hospital, with a commitment to return a few days after getting her undergraduate in nursing from Montana State University. Having grown up in Livingston, Montana, she had worked summers at Yellowstone National Park\u2019s medical clinic, but was new to hospitals.<\/p>\n

Paul, who was raised in a military family and had lived all over the world, was working in the hospital\u2019s emergency room while attending Colorado State University, pursuing degrees in microbiology and environmental health.<\/p>\n

After being directed to her unit by Paul, Donna went about learning her new responsibilities, which included everything from mixing medications to cleaning beds. She also learned what she wasn\u2019t allowed to do: start IVs, put in a male patient\u2019s catheter or enter a psychiatric room without an orderly.<\/p>\n

So, when she needed to care for a psychiatric patient that first night, an orderly was called in to provide her with protection.<\/p>\n

And there was Paul again. Their second meeting confirmed Donna\u2019s earlier suspicions. \u201cI didn\u2019t like him,\u201d she said with a smile.<\/p>\n

The night shift<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Still, the night crew was a \u201cthick group,\u201d Donna said, so she and Paul soon became friends.<\/p>\n

\"donna
Donna and Paul Poduska in the 1970s. The young couple met at Poudre Valley Hospital, and after three years of dating, married in 1972. Photo courtesy of the Poduska family.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The hospital had only three patient-care units at that time: orthopedics, obstetrics and surgical. At night, only two nurses were on duty in each unit. The ER, located in a small room, had only one nurse. Staff would regularly see each other, swap stories and make after-work plans while grabbing something to eat in the small cafeteria.<\/p>\n

A few months later, Paul asked Donna out on a date. He took her to the Denver Zoo. He\u2019d packed cheese and a bottle of wine, but he\u2019d forgotten a corkscrew. He managed to force the bottle open with his pocket knife.<\/p>\n

Despite the floaters in her wine, Donna said she enjoyed Paul\u2019s company, and the two continued to date for the next several years.<\/p>\n

Growing careers, growing together<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\u201cFor a while, we didn\u2019t tell anyone at the hospital that we were dating,\u201d Donna said. \u201cBut we found out later that they knew. See, Paul would come through with the bedpans \u2026 then a few minutes later they\u2019d see me go through the same doors.\u201d<\/p>\n

Walking through the same doors together never lost its luster. As their liking grew for each other \u2014 they were married in 1972 and had two children born at Poudre Valley Hospital \u2014 so did their love of working at the hospital and advancing their careers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe never thought of going anywhere else,\u201d Donna said. \u201cWe were thankful for our jobs. This was our home. We knew everyone. And we liked Fort Collins.\u201d<\/p>\n

Donna\u2019s career<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\"donna
Donna Poduska poses with her children and mother after getting her Masters in Nursing Administration. Photo courtesy of the Poduska family.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

About three years into her career, Donna moved into management. She was the surgical unit\u2019s head nurse and continued part time with bedside nursing. During the next four decades, she held leadership roles in surgical, quality assurance, specialty services and resource services.<\/p>\n

Donna was one of the hospital\u2019s first nurse leaders to earn a graduate degree in nursing administration, and she went on to be instrumental in helping the hospital earn national nursing certifications.<\/p>\n

She pushed for policies that empowered nurses and grew collaborative practices. And because of her efforts, nurses were given more complex tasks, such as starting IVs. She also was heard when she demanded gloves be worn by nurses, not just surgeons.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have been witness to Donna\u2019s passion for excellence in the practice of professional nursing and excellence in the delivery of high-quality patient care,\u201d said Kay Miller, chief nursing officer of UCHealth Greeley Hospital<\/a>, who first met Donna 38 years ago when she started at Poudre Valley Hospital.<\/p>\n

\u201cA warm smile, a huge sense of pride in her profession and her dedication to serving at a state, national and international level are attributes that distinguish Donna\u2019s exemplary career.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fostering innovation<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Donna said that Poudre Valley Hospital\u2019s innovative culture helped foster her leadership.<\/p>\n

\"donna
Donna and Paul Poduska getting a standing ovation during a nursing awards dinner. Photo by Kati Blocker, UCHealth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWe were always empowered to manage our practice,\u201d she said. \u201cIf there was a problem, we\u2019d discuss it with upper management and participate in finding the solution. We had the ability to make changes and to make things better.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 1998, while serving her second stint as interim chief nursing officer, Donna learned about the Magnet Recognition Program. She knew it was something her hospital could achieve.<\/p>\n

Magnet had been created five years earlier by the American Nurses Credentialing Center. And to achieve this gold standard in nursing excellence, hospitals have to provide an environment that cultivates innovation, education and collaboration within the field of nursing; have nurse-driven committees; and maintain strong research and quality components.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew we already had all these things in place,\u201d Donna said. \u201cI didn\u2019t have any doubt we were Magnet.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 1999, leaders at Poudre Valley Hospital sent in their first Magnet application. It included four sets of 23 3-inch binders. The cost of mailing was more than the application fee.<\/p>\n

And in 2000, the hospital became the 18th<\/sup> ever to be Magnet-designated<\/a>, right alongside Mayo Clinic and Cedar-Sinai in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

In 2011, Kevin Unger, CEO and President of Poudre Valley Hospital, hired Donna for the position of chief nursing officer.<\/p>\n

“It was one of the best moves I ever made,” Unger said. “The way she’s gets work done is pretty special. It happens almost magically.<\/p>\n

“She has such a steady, calm, influencing force.”<\/p>\n

Her passion for nursing excellence extended beyond the hospital as well. For 19 years, she has been a Magnet appraiser and plans to continue that role for a few more years. And she served on several other state and national nursing boards and committees.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s not leaving UCHealth altogether, either. She will continue as a resource as other UCHealth hospitals work to achieve nursing excellence through Magnet and other recognition programs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThank you, Donna,\u201d Miller continued. \u201cIt\u2019s been a great ride. You\u2019ve touched thousands of lives and influenced hundreds of careers. Your legacy will continue to help us thrive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paul\u2019s career<\/strong><\/h3>\n

As Paul looks forward to retirement, he’s excited about a \u201clong list of nothing.” And with one more year in health care than Donna \u2014 51 years compared to Donna\u2019s 50 \u2014 maybe he deserves it too.<\/p>\n

\"poduska
Paul and Donna Poduska and their family in Bonaire. The couple goes to the Caribbean island annually to scuba dive. Photo courtesy of the Poduska family.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Paul was hired on the spot in 1968 as an orderly after assuring the director of nursing he had put in a catheter before. As there were no doctors staffing the overnight shift, it was Paul\u2019s responsibility to assist the one ER nurse. He boasts nursery experience too, said Unger, who himself was born at Poudre Valley in 1969.<\/p>\n

“Paul claims that he rocked me as a baby and dropped me by accident,” Unger said with a grin.<\/p>\n

\"Ad
Donna and Paul Poduska once appeared in an ad together. Source: UCHealth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In 1972, Paul was one of the first in the area to get his certification as an emergency medical technician. He still carries the original card in his wallet.<\/p>\n

One July evening in 1976, Paul arrived at work and noticed dark clouds to the west over the foothills. The rains came shortly after. Paul remembers a patrol car racing to the ER bay, horn honking. In his car was a young woman, stripped down to only a muddy bra. They carried her into the ER.<\/p>\n

Moments later, a helicopter arrived with another Big Thompson Flood victim. Paul raced the gurney across the parking lot in the pouring rain. He wheeled the patient into the ER next to the first victim. It turned out that the two girls, who were found about a mile apart from each other, had been in the same car with two other friends. They were attending a CSU camp when they decided to head toward the canyon to see the floodwaters. Their vehicle was swept away. Both girls survived, but Paul never found out what happened to their friends.<\/p>\n

During the 1970s, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention created the National Nosocomial Infections Surveillance, and it was then that Paul began developing a specialty in preventing infections.<\/p>\n

He took the two-week course and began his new position as a “preventionist” in 1977, which did come with one perk. He was the first one in the hospital to get a computer. Per the CDC guidelines, Paul had to spend 50 percent of his time researching and the other 50 percent monitoring hospital infections and diseases. That meant sending the CDC a floppy disk of the hospital\u2019s data each month.<\/p>\n

And Paul’s dedication to disease prevention has saved lives, Unger said.<\/p>\n

“We benchmark ourselves against the top 10 hospitals in the United States for our infection disease rates,” Unger said. “Paul has done a great job to keep those rates low. That’s what he’s dedicated his life to.”<\/p>\n

Paul is a nationally-known expert in his field, Unger said, but added jokingly that he’s not the best person to sit next to at a sushi restaurant if you want to enjoy your meal.<\/p>\n

A happy ending<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Today the cafeteria is still a common meeting place for Paul and Donna. They regularly enjoy lunch together. Their conversations are a mix of business \u2014 what needs to be done that day, what issues might need addressing \u2014 and pleasure \u2014 which grandchild has a soccer game or who\u2019s cooking what for dinner. But the two have a strict code they live by that they said has kept both their professional and personal relationship afloat.<\/p>\n

\"couple
Paul and Donna Poduska met at Poudre Valley Hospital in 1969. Now, after 101 years of combined service, they’ll retire together on Feb. 28. Photo by Kelly Tracer, UCHealth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cHis business is his business, and my business is my business,\u201d Donna said. \u201cWe have clear boundaries and wouldn\u2019t step in on each other\u2019s territories.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although those lines might be clear for them, the space that they both influenced during their five-decade-long tenure at Poudre Valley Hospital extends far beyond those walls.<\/p>\n

And many colleagues and patients alike will shed a tear the last time the Poduskas walk out the door.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On a warm June evening in 1969, 22-year-old Donna Guintoni \u2014 in her white uniform, stockings and hat \u2014 walked through the back doors of Poudre Valley Hospital to start her first night shift as a newly graduated nurse. As was customary then, she had no formal training before her first day about the hospital\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2164,"featured_media":22717,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[294,2182],"class_list":["post-22712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-nursing","tag-uchealth-poudre-valley-hospital"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe love story of Donna and Paul Poduska - UCHealth Today<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"After walking through the hospital doors for 50 years, Donna and Paul Poduska will walk out together, retiring with a combined 101 years of changing lives.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/the-love-story-of-donna-and-paul-poduska\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A love story: 101 years of changing lives\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"After walking through the hospital doors for 50 years, Donna and Paul Poduska will walk out together, retiring with a combined 101 years of changing lives.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/the-love-story-of-donna-and-paul-poduska\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"UCHealth Today\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/uchealthorg\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-02-22T14:15:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-01-02T23:41:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/02\/21105607\/Poduska-101-holding-hands-ty.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kati Blocker, UCHealth\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@uchealth\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@uchealth\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kati Blocker, UCHealth\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"10 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.uchealth.org\\\/today\\\/the-love-story-of-donna-and-paul-poduska\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.uchealth.org\\\/today\\\/the-love-story-of-donna-and-paul-poduska\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Kati Blocker, UCHealth\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.uchealth.org\\\/today\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2974962d9c19ae1bbcec3250ab830fbc\"},\"headline\":\"A love story: 101 years of changing lives\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-02-22T14:15:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-01-02T23:41:43+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.uchealth.org\\\/today\\\/the-love-story-of-donna-and-paul-poduska\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":2071,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.uchealth.org\\\/today\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.uchealth.org\\\/today\\\/the-love-story-of-donna-and-paul-poduska\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/6\\\/2019\\\/02\\\/21105607\\\/Poduska-101-holding-hands-ty.webp\",\"keywords\":[\"Nursing\",\"UCHealth Poudre Valley Hospital\"],\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.uchealth.org\\\/today\\\/the-love-story-of-donna-and-paul-poduska\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.uchealth.org\\\/today\\\/the-love-story-of-donna-and-paul-poduska\\\/\",\"name\":\"The love story of Donna and Paul Poduska - 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