Call to service
Pulse editor
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Having a heart for service led Betsy Polstra into nursing on two occasions. Two factors influenced her initial foray into the profession: her grandmother was a nurse and as a child, Polstra had met an old woman on a bus trip who had lived through the Great Depression.
“She told me to choose a career that I could always use, even if there was a depression,” said Polstra, RN, BSN. “That advice stuck, but my personality led me towards service-oriented careers, and that’s what got me into nursing.”
Photos by BARRY WILLIAMS / AJC Special
Betsy Polstra gets medical information from Claret Espana during an appointment at Good Samaritan Health Center of Gwinnett in Lawrenceville.
Betsy Polstra (right) talks to Marisol Gonzales while Yoselyn Zunga, 4, plays at Good Samaritan Health Center of Gwinnett.
Polstra graduated from nursing school in 1979 and worked at hospitals in Houston and Atlanta until 1983, when she left the work force to raise her children.
“I never thought I’d go back, and eventually [I] let my license lapse,” Polstra said.
But in 2004, she entered the nursing re-entry program at Kennesaw State University with a specific goal in mind. She wanted to work as a nurse and an interpreter at the Good Samaritan Health Center of Gwinnett in Lawrenceville, which Perimeter Church was helping to establish.
“Several years ago, our church realized that we were doing a lot of good things, but not much to encourage members to get out and serve in the community,” Polstra said. “We began sending out teams to work in health clinics, with street ministries and in food banks, and I realized that I not only wanted to give back, but had specific skills I could use.”
She renewed her license and got started back on the track to nursing.
“Since my background had been in surgical and intensive care hospital nursing, I asked to do my clinical hours of the re-entry program in a clinic so that I could learn that work,” she said. “They placed me in Grady’s North Fulton Health Center.”
Polstra and her husband, Dave, had been going on medical mission trips to Guatemala and Costa Rica since 1992. With other church members, they delivered donated medications and helped local doctors set up clinics in churches.
Fueled by a desire to understand the culture and people better, Polstra returned to college in 2000 to take Spanish classes at Georgia Perimeter College and Georgia State University. She also studied at the Christian Spanish Academy in Guatemala and at a school in Costa Rica.
“I’m not holding out for fluency, but at least I can talk to patients now,” Polstra said.
Once Polstra regained her nursing license, she began volunteering at the Good Samaritan Health Center in Atlanta.
“I thought it would take four or five years to start the clinic in Gwinnett, but it was up and running by June of 2005, so now I work at both,” she said.
Polstra works two days a week in Gwinnett and one day a week downtown, taking vital signs, doing blood work and interpreting for Hispanic patients. She doesn’t get paid, but Polstra jokes that it saves her family money by keeping her out of the mall.
“I call a lot of patients to remind them to come in for their appointments,” Polstra said. “That way I can gather a lot of information about what’s going on with them and learn what they need.
“The patient contact is the best part of this job. I love being able to talk to them, refer them to other resources, and to pray with them. Many are so needy and it’s hard for them to afford health care.”
Last year, the Gwinnett clinic surprised Polstra with the Frank Fearon United Hearts Service Award. Named for a former board president who died in 2007, it honors an outstanding volunteer each year.
“Betsy started volunteering here before we opened,” said Monica Piggott, volunteer coordinator. “She helped paint the walls and gather furniture for the clinic.”
According to clinic records, she served 397 hours in 2006, 386 hours in 2007 and 486 hours in 2008.
“She has the ability to really minister to our patients because she can talk with them,” Piggott said, “and besides working in the clinic, she helps us with back-to-school screenings, job fairs and in-house training. She is a great volunteer.”
Polstra believes she has found her nursing niche.
“When my children got older and were going off to high school, I had so much extra time, and knew I needed to be doing something with it,” she said. “I never expected to go back into nursing, but I love it. I feel like this is where I’m supposed to be.”