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<\/a>Micah Hurd, left, is the first recipient of a scholarship created by Joyce Rutherford-Donner to provide tuition, books and supplies for a nursing major who is also a single mother. (Photo by Will Jones)<\/p><\/div>\n
Every day was a constant struggle. Figuring out her finances, keeping her grades up, trying to be a good mom, doing work-study. The pressure was incredible and often overwhelming.<\/p>\n
But Rutherford-Donner persevered, graduating from Wright State in 1982 with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing<\/a>.<\/p>\n Her original post-graduation plans included working in a hospital for a couple of years and then going back to school to earn her master\u2019s degree. She wanted to specialize in her first love \u2014 geriatrics \u2014 and then start working on a Ph.D. to move into a university professorship, eventually working her way up to become dean of a nursing school.<\/p>\n \u201cUnfortunately, there was a glut when I graduated and you couldn\u2019t get a job in a hospital,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019d done all of this to support my family and I couldn\u2019t get a job.\u201d<\/p>\n Fortunately, Rutherford-Donner landed a full-time position in long-term care. She described the job as a \u201cgodsend,\u201d since she didn\u2019t have to work nights.<\/p>\n After working nine months as a bedside nurse, she became an assistant director of nursing \u2014 a job that she admits she wasn\u2019t fully prepared for.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen the doors open, I have always walked through. It doesn\u2019t make any difference whether I think I can do it or not,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Eighteen months later, she became director of nursing and then, five years later, the nursing home administrator. Her career has also included stints as an executive director of a continuing care retirement community in Columbus and as a compliance auditor. Rutherford-Donner recently retired as a senior customer service representative for eHealth Data Solutions, a company that provides software for long-term care facilities.<\/p>\n Throughout her successful career, Rutherford-Donner has never forgotten the struggles of her early days as a single mom.<\/p>\n \u201cI know how desperately difficult it was to get the money together to be able to continue to go to school and not have to interrupt it and stop and get the money together again,\u201d she said. \u201cI just wanted to be able to do that for a single parent who was in the same kind of situation that I was in.\u201d<\/p>\n In December 2015, she and her husband, Larry, established the Joyce M. Rutherford-Donner Nursing Scholarship<\/a> to provide tuition, books and supplies for a nursing major who is also a single mother. Micah Hurd is the first recipient of the scholarship.<\/p>\n A single mother of three, Hurd is slated to graduate in December 2017 and hopes to become a nurse practitioner in an emergency room. She would one day like to open a clinic to serve the poor.<\/p>\n \u201cI have been in situations \u2014 still am in situations \u2014 where I need medical care and I can\u2019t find a doctor to take my insurance,\u201d she said. \u201cI want to be able to help the people that need it the most.\u201d<\/p>\n In many ways, Hurd\u2019s life is a mirror image of Rutherford-Donner\u2019s more than 30 years ago. The same sleepless nights. The constant worry about how to make ends meet. Fortunately for Hurd, the scholarship has lifted some of that burden.<\/p>\n \u201cIt helps so much,\u201d Hurd said. \u201cIt\u2019s life changing. It makes you feel like there\u2019s somebody who cares about you and who\u2019s right there with you even though you don\u2019t know them. And they\u2019re saying, \u2018We\u2019re going to help you out and you\u2019re worth it. You can do this.\u2019 It gives you hope.\u201d<\/p>\n For Rutherford-Donner, it was important to meet her scholarship recipient and develop a personal relationship.<\/p>\n \u201cFor me, it isn\u2019t just giving the money; it\u2019s giving the chance,\u201d she said. \u201cYou can\u2019t feel that unless you get to meet the person that you\u2019re helping.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cShe\u2019s an angel,\u201d Hurd said as she fought back tears. \u201cShe literally changed a lot of my perspective, because there is so much in me that wants to give up, because it\u2019s so hard. But I\u2019m doing really well and she\u2019s pushing me to do better. She\u2019s done so much with her life. I want to be there one day.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou will be. You\u2019ve got the drive,\u201d said Rutherford-Donner. \u201cThere are so many single parents who would be fantastic nurses if only someone would give them a leg up. Someday Micah will be sitting here doing her own scholarship.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI will. I definitely will,\u201d Hurd replied. \u201cI will be taking up her legacy and saying, \u2018This is for Joyce.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Joyce Rutherford-Donner \u201982, who knows the struggles of balancing school with the responsibilities of being a single mother, helps current Wright State nursing students who face the same challenges. Continue reading