Retiring nurse enjoyed challenges on the job
Role changed in 45 years but Welychka’s commitment never did
Nearly 50 years ago a guidance counsellor changed Patty Welychka’s path in life.
The recently retired Niagara Health director of clinical services for surgery and executive lead, chief nursing officer for its Welland and Port Colborne sites said she wanted to be a teacher.
“The guidance counsellor said she saw me more as a nurse than as a teacher. I asked her why and she said it was my mannerisms,” said Welychka.
So, in 1974 she applied to three nursing schools and was accepted by all.
She chose Mack School of Nursing, which operated under Niagara College in St. Catharines.
“It was a two-year program then. I loved it.”
After graduating in 1976, Welychka said, there were few jobs in Niagara so she started applying all around, including in the U.S.
She ended up working in a longterm-care facility as a personal support worker but didn’t give up on becoming a nurse.
“Every day I went to Welland hospital from July to December. They got tired of me coming in and begging. In December 1976, they hired me. I started working at the old hospital, the Riverside Annex on Riverside Drive.”
After working there for a couple of years, she moved to the acute-care hospital, the current site of Welland hospital.
She worked on the front lines as a surgical nurse, administering medications, and more.
“I was also interested in learning. I had a thirst for knowledge. I was very intrigued by what was happening in health care and the changes that were taking place.
“The busier I was at work, the happier I was.”
After 14 years on the front lines, Welychka was approached by a vice-president of nursing who wanted to get her into a leadership role. She was told she had the people skills and common sense to become a manager in the hospital system.
“It was my first time managing and co-ordinating things.”
Once hospitals in Niagara amalgamated, Welychka moved to Greater Niagara General Hospital in Niagara Falls.
“I was excited because of the move to a whole new hospital. It was a challenge I was ready to take on. I always loved to be challenged.”
As she moved through the hospital system over the years, Welychka said the nursing profession changed.
When she first started, nurses wore white dresses, caps and polished shoes and had to have their hair up.
Nurses joined doctors and surgeons on their rounds.
“We had to be very attentive to the physicians. When they came to the floor we had to greet them.
“The role evolved over the years … we work as a team now. The physicians treat us as equals,” she said, adding there’s a more holistic approach to helping patients from start to finish these days.
Her career was focused on helping patients and finding ways to improve their care and satisfaction.
Welychka also loved to find ways to improve the quality of life for nurses in her charge and those she mentored over her 45 years.
In the past two years that stress increased due to the COVID-19 pandemic, said Welychka, who worked through the SARS, H1N and Ebola epidemics.
She held off on retiring to help her teams through COVID-19.
“We had to delay surgeries and it wasn’t quite known at that point how to treat people (with COVID-19). We had to figure all of that out.”
Once the first wave was over, she said, Niagara Health started to rebook delayed surgeries and patients were forgiving.
“People were understanding.” One of the highlights of Welychka’s career was when the Welland team won a Health Care Quality Team Award from the Conference Board of Canada.
“It was exciting. My team did all the work, and it validated what we were doing to improve patient care.”
Her leadership style kept her close to patients and nurses.
“Sometimes I’d visit patients to see how they were doing. I always started connected, so I didn’t lose sight of what we were doing up until my last day.”
Welychka said she loved every minute of her job and was blessed to have such a long career.
Now that she’s retired, she’ll spend more time with her four grandchildren and her husband, Tim, a retired Niagara Regional Police officer.
“We’ll have some more time for ourselves and being at the marina (in Port Colborne) and on the water.
Welychka said she’ll probably take it easy for the first six months to get used to her new life of not working and having more freedom.