Media Contact: Michael Schwartzberg, GBMC Media Relations Manager

(O): 443-849-2126/Cell: 410-258-3465eMarch 2:]

GBMC Nurse Takes Non-Traditional Road To Success and Sharing Experience

BALTIMORE, Md. –  August 23, 2007 – Loretta Dahlem, RN, a nurse in the General Surgical Inpatient Unit at the Greater Baltimore Medical Center, first went to nursing school almost four decades ago, at another local hospital which offered a three-year program.  But Dahlem, a Towson resident and a GBMC nurse for 38 years, didn’t earn her bachelor’s in nursing degree until 2004, when she was in her 50s, and already well into her clinical career.

Now, Dahlem is working on a master’s degree in nursing education, which she plans to earn in December 2008, one month after she turns 60.  Dahlem was recently awarded a $2,500 scholarship from the Maryland Hospital Association to help fund her education at Towson University.

Dahlem works three eight-hour clinical shifts a week at GBMC, teaches Towson University nursing students at GBMC for one eight-hour shift, and attends classes one night a week. “There are two elements of my job that I love best,” she said.  “Educating patients and helping them with discharge planning, and helping teach the next generation of nurses.”

“When I was in school, nursing students were on the floor three days a week, but now they are only here one day a week and there’s so much knowledge that I want to share with them and we only have eight hours a week,” she said.  “I want to give them as much of my experience as possible.” 

Five of Dahlem’s previous students now work at GBMC, including Christine Doolittle, RN.  “When I began my Med-Surg clinical in nursing school, I did not realize how much of an impact Loretta Dahlem would have on me,” Doolittle said.  “She pushed us in such a way that we had to research a particular disease, medication, or surgical procedure in order to personally gain a better understanding.  I have a select few nursing instructors who really inspired me; however, Mrs. Dahlem is at the top of my list since she has helped me get to where I am today. I am so proud of how she has inspired me and how accomplished she has become.”

“Loretta has been witness to the ever changing and ever challenging environment that nursing provides,” said Dahlem’s unit manager, Eileen Skaarer, RN.  “Her 38 years at GBMC represents commitment and dedication to both the organization and the patients she has cared for. We are very happy that Loretta is being awarded the MHA Scholarship. “The higher education that she is working toward will benefit the many community patients that we serve.”

Dahlem, who also holds medical-surgical certification from the American Nurses Credentialing Center, is the only one of the 17 MHA scholarship winners who works at a Baltimore County hospital and one of two winners working toward a master’s degree.

GBMC includes Greater Baltimore Medical Center (GBMC), Central Maryland’s leading community hospital; Hospice of Baltimore, which provides comfort and care to patients with life-limiting illnesses; and the GBMC Foundation, which supports the GBMC mission by managing fundraising efforts.  The 292-bed Medical Center, located on a beautiful suburban campus, serves nearly 22,000 inpatients annually and provides approximately 60,000 emergency room visits. For more information, go to www.gbmc.org

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