Giving Back by Paying It Forward

Many graduates of the St. Luke’s School of Nursing have accomplished nursing careers. One such nurse, Kathy Stine Cope, Class of 1951 owes her success to the school’s former director Miss M. Naomi Houser. Kathy was given the inspiration and support needed to follow her dream of becoming a nurse and recently decided it was time to “pay it forward” by establishing The M. Naomi Houser, R.N., B.S., M.A. Memorial Endowment Fund For School Of Nursing Scholarship to honor her long-time friend and mentor Naomi Houser.

“I’m a nurse because of her,” says Kathy, who lives in Spokane, Washington. “Houser (as she refers to her matter-of-factly) and St. Luke’s helped me develop into who I am today.”

Kathy went to work first as the secretary for Houser, the director of the School of Nursing from 1934-59. Seeing the passion for the profession in her secretary, Houser encouraged Kathy to pursue her passion and enter the school. With money she saved from the job, Kathy did just that, thriving at her studies and the patient care she provided.

She never forgot Houser’s no-nonsense formula for solving a problem, something that influenced her own practice: “She would see a problem and fix it,” says Kathy, who used this strategy to examine what she saw as missing pieces in the wholistic approach to modern medicine.

Today, Cope looks back on her rewarding and multi-dimensional career as a bedside nurse, nurse educator and researcher in nutrition promotion and obesity prevention. She became the only Certified Nutritional Support Nurse (CNSN) in Washington State for 15 years, and in 1998 she developed the Spokane BMI initiative linking research, practice and policy. This led to listing BMI on the front page of electronic health records in Washington State. For all her hard work and effort she received a commendation plaque from former U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop.

Kathy longed to find a way to repay her mentor for the lessons and advice Houser had taught her during the time she spent both as an employee and a student at St. Luke’s School of Nursing, the oldest continuously operating school of nursing in the country.

“Someday you can pay me back by helping someone become a nurse,” Houser told her once, which Kathy never forgot.

Kathy has established an endowed scholarship fund named for Houser, which she is funding with distributions from her IRA. The interest earnings from the endowment, which will remain in perpetuity, will be used to help fund the tuition of deserving students enrolled in the School of Nursing.

“This living memorial to Kathy’s friend and mentor, and a respected teacher of nurses, creates a legacy that will help bolster the ebbing supply of these special caregivers,” says Lisa Storck, DNP, RN, Senior Associate Dean, St. Luke’s School of Nursing.

Needed now more than ever due to the national nursing shortage, the scholarship endowment will fulfill her mentor’s wish of giving a helping hand to students with a passion for the profession, much like Kathy was when Houser encouraged her to follow her dream and become a nurse.

For more information on how to make a contribution to the Houser Nursing Endowment Fund or another nursing fund please contact Gail A. Evans, MBA, CFRE at +1 484-658-0532 or developmentoffice@sluhn.org.