Doris Cook Sutterley A Major Influence on La Salle University Nursing By Sandra Kress Davis

Heraclitus, the 5th Century philosopher, astutely observed that a person's character is his or her fate. As Henry James reflected on character in the nineteenth century, "What is character but the determination of incident?" Building on those timeless observations, James Hillman posits in his latest work The Soul's Code, (1)"…that we are all born with an inherent uniqueness and destiny … The positive fulfillment of our individual soul's code, if you will, leaves an illustrative trail that paints our character." In no contemporary individual is this more obvious than in the life and work of Doris Sutterley, the architect of the curriculum framework that oriented La Salle University's approach to RN-BSN education.

As the oldest daughter in a Depression-era family, Doris began her caring journey by wearing the mantle of primary care for both herself and two sisters, thereby freeing her mother to assure their economic survival. A beloved nurse-aunt served as a role model, demonstrating the value of education to those attributes of caring and nurturing that were flowering in Doris. It is not surprising to understand how Doris later chose nursing as foundation of her life's work.

Trenton High School later provided Doris with another lifetime inspiration in the person of Elizabeth Dillon, a non-traditional English teacher who opened her integrated class to social realities. Doris remembers that a class trip to see Paul Robeson in a Broadway play was followed by a segregation incident in a restaurant. The hurtful sting of this experience etched into Doris's spirit the inequality of racial bias, which she fought during all of her life. Ms. Dillon also afforded Doris another pivotal life experience by having her class perform a "freedom play" at a post World War II citizenship swearing-in ceremony in Trenton Park.

One of the new citizens who shook Doris's hand in gratitude was Albert Einstein whose reputation had preceded him. The imprint of his handshake and the conversation with the students fused genius and humanity for Doris. Frequent subsequent sightings of Dr. Einstein on the streets of Princeton as Doris made her "daily rounds" reinforced the transition of knowledge into the activity of the world for Doris. These experiences lit fire to Doris's innate social sensitivities as well as her intellectual curiosity, both of which persist to this day.

It was no surprise to friends and family when Doris chose nursing as a career. This choice would assure her economic independence and education while at the same time expressing her natural character traits of nurturing and caring. To that end Doris entered the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania's School of Nursing, graduating in 1948 with a diploma in Nursing.

While a student she was taught by Harriet Frost,(2) a public health nursing instructor who permanently influenced Doris's worldview of nursing. Ms. Frost arranged fieldwork for students' experiences with visiting nurses in which students were prompted to view and deal with not just the patient but also the patient within the social and cultural context of the entire family. Ms. Frost strongly mentored the student's perspectives of the effects of the relationship of cultural, economic and social variables to a patient's total health. This was, however, in opposition to the content of the remainder of the nursing care curriculum of the time in which Doris remembers learning to think the opposite; "… that all patients be treated alike." Doris's agony in studying nursing from the viewpoint that all patients being treated alike was relieved by Ms. Frost, whose nursing philosophy and practice made sense to both Doris's spirit, intellect and common sense.(3) It is not surprising to know that Doris and Ms. Frost developed a lifelong friendship.(4)

Doris Cook Sutterley worked in hospital obstetrics in Princeton, "treating all patients the same." After a year, her intellect unsatisfied, she returned to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, working part-time as a ward instructor while attending school to earn a baccalaureate degree in nursing education.(5)

When Doris had entered nursing it was a time when the combined factors of the Great Depression, the shift in illness trends from acute to chronic health problems, the growth of the health insurance industry, plus the demand for qualified health care providers resulted in a shift in the locus of care from the home settings to hospitals. World War II forced another shift in the health care system in responding to the increased complexity of medical and nursing care needed for post-war patients. This in turn put new demands on nursing, nursing education, and the nurse. Nursing was evolving to be become increasingly aligned with a professional, rather than it former occupational profile.

After graduation, Doris pursued her caring interests and intellectual curiosity. She worked in the various clinical areas of visiting nursing as a staff nurse and supervisor at the Princeton VNA and a psychiatric instructor at New Jersey State Hospital.