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Happy Birthday, Myrtle! Upstate nurse celebrates 90th birthday

Happy Birthday, Myrtle! Upstate nurse celebrates 90th birthday

Myrtle Bush celebrated her 90th birthday a little early, on Sept. 30, at Upstate University Hospital’s Community Campus surrounded by her colleagues. That’s right. Colleagues.

At 90 years of age, Bush is still working as a nurse more than 70 years after her career began. A nurse for the health education department at the Community Campus, she works per diem and participates in annual flu clinics, cardiac risk screenings clinics and health fairs.

Bush began her extensive nursing career at the age of 19 when she attended St. Joseph’s nursing school in Syracuse in 1943 - during World War II. When asked, ‘why nursing?,’ Bush says that it is hard to put to words.

“It was always a feeling I had-I knew it was what I was supposed to be. It was inborn in me,” said Bush. “I was in to music in school - I was in the glee clubs, choirs and played the piano. My counselors told me to get a degree in music. But I just said, ‘No. I wanted to be a nurse!’”

Since her early days of working in a hospital, a lot has changed in terms of technology and uniforms, admits Bush with a giggle. “Then the uniforms were 100 percent cotton and always pressed. Even the stockings were cotton, which took forever to dry. You were lucky if they were dry by the next day after washing them after work.”

Through the years, Bush has maintained that sense of humor and it is something her colleagues appreciate and value.

“Myrtle is an amazing woman and I learn from her always,” says Lisa Vigliotti-Bane, business manager of the Upstate Sleep Center and Health Education Department. “She offers a type of caring for patients that is simply unique to her--she puts everyone at ease, and it is an honor for me to watch her share her wisdom with the next generation of nurses.”

In her 60s, when most people her age were thinking about retiring, Bush opted to go back to school and earn her master’s degree in nursing because she enjoyed learning and wanted to advance her career.

With her impressive academic background, Bush went on to teach various classes for health education throughout Central New York, which included CPR classes at then-Community General Hospital.

Today, Bush’s work calendar gets busy in the fall when Upstate begins hosting its various flu clinics. Through the rest of the year, Bush enjoys spending the “worst of the winter months” in Florida before coming back to Syracuse to be with her family and play on a golf league.

For Bush, retirement has never come into the picture.

“I continue to work because I love nursing so much,” she said. “I have been blessed with good health and I have a lot of good role models - my mother and grandmother. It didn’t matter what difficulties they had in life, nothing deterred them. They just kept going.”

Her advice on turning 90: “Get involved as much as you can, read, and reach out to other people. Don’t stay at home worrying about what is coming next.”

Happy birthday, Myrtle.

Caption: Myrtle Bush, front row, center, a nurse for the health education department at the Community Campus, celebrates her 90th birthday Sept. 30, flanked by her colleagues Jill Knepel Zens, left, and Jeanne Nolan. Back row, from left, are Catherine Narcavage-Bradley, Lisa Vigliotti-Bane, Denise Feeley.

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