Maxine Klein, April 8th, 2016

Interview with Maxine Klein, April 8th, 2016

SUSAN CLEMENS-BRUDER: Today is April 8th, 2016, an interview -- a second interview -- with Maxine Klein. Maxine, would you talk about your career as a nurse?

MAXINE KLEIN: Yes, thank you. I went to school as a nurse, excuse me, when I was thirty-eight. And why I did that essentially two -- well many reasons, but two of the main reasons -- one of them, I was involved in some community projects, the- at the Center Hakol, the development of the newspaper, Hakol. And my partner and I decided we wanted to be paid for this job because it was enormous, and they told us, no, they weren't going to, so we both decided we would go and become professionals of some sort or another. I always felt that I wanted to be more than Mrs. So and So; growing up at the time that I did, the first half of my life, we were programmed into the old ways of becoming secretaries or 00:01:00teachers or nurses and- but mainly wives and mothers. And then the Women's Movement happened in the middle of that, and all of a sudden women were supposed to be more than that. At first I resisted this, but then I decided that I thought I would like to be more than that, too, and have my own identity.

So I decided I would go to the community college because I still had three children that I was responsible for and my husband. And I- it was a two year program to become an RN, I did it in three years so that I could organize my life. That- I was at school from eight to four, whether I had class or not; I did all my work at school and then when I came home at four, I was with my family for the rest of the evening and I didn't have to be distracted with any other work. And this seemed to work quite well. So I finished in three years 00:02:00and- and then I- my first job was at Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Center. I never really wanted to work in a hospital, I always felt that I wanted to use the nursing authenticity, shall we say, as a segue into something else. It was a sort of a quick and legitimate way to get that authenticity. And I was always interested in education, but I didn't want to be a school teacher either. So my first job was at Good Shepherd Rehab, which is a lot of patient teaching as well as patient care. That was a- a- a what was that? Seven to three job, which was very difficult for me because I still had my family.

A month after I started there, I also passed my- my boards, and my husband died suddenly on August 8th. I had started there in the beginning of July and he died 00:03:00on August 8th. So I left that day and I did not return there. And I took about six months to kind of reorganize myself because he was involved in several businesses, et cetera, and all that had to be straightened out, and my children's lives were in the middle of this and that as well. And I wasn't sure what I wanted to do, but I didn't want to work in a hospital, I didn't want to work full time because I had these other- Anyway, close friend of mine arranged for me to interview with one of the local oncologists who was looking for a nurse to come in and give his patients what he couldn't do -- education, time, contact with family, help to understand what the patient needed about their treatment, about the disease, etc. So I went and interviewed and he hired me. It 00:04:00was David Prager who was a wonderful oncologist and is now deceased. And I worked for him and his partners for seven years as an oncologist nurse. I became an oncology nurse, I became an oncology specialist and I helped design patient education as well as some courses for visiting nurses to come through to learn how to do some- certain techniques. And it was very exciting, for me, it was very, very exciting. And very helpful, I was helping people in a time when they needed it and if it was end of life and they needed help and had to have a good death as well. So it was- It was- And I think it was a sort of a healing process for me, too. Having lost my husband, the whole process was somehow therapeutic as well as it turned out. However, at the end of that time, I did seven years, I began to realize- am I going on too long?

GAIL EISENBERG: No.

SC: No, keep going, please.

MK: Oh okay. I began to realize that I was losing a sense of perspective. My 00:05:00friends were telling me, oh, they had a bad cold or their shoulder was hurting and this and that, you know, "I can't do it." And I'm thinking, "Are you kidding? What are you telling me this for? I'm dealing with people making life and death decisions!" And I started to lose touch with the main real world. And I thought, you know, either I'm getting healed or something, something needs to change, I'm going off on the wrong end here. So I- I left that job. I worked for a little while as head of the hospice volunteers. I didn't like that much. Then I volunteered at Planned Parenthood. My daughters all went to Planned Parenthood and I volunteered doing all sorts of things there for about a year. And then the- the manager at the Allentown clinic said that the- the clinician was going 00:06:00to leave Planned Parenthood, would I be interested in becoming a nurse practitioner? And they would pay for me to go. There was a special program with Planned Parenthood and the University of Pennsylvania and the United States government to try to get clinicians into places where- that serve the underserved. So it was a speed up kind of thing. And I could become a women's health nurse practitioner in one one- one year's time, which would give me a certificate, not a Master's Degree, and I didn't need anything other than my Associate's Degree and my RN license. And so I thought, okay -- nothing else is happening right now. A year will go by and either I will be a nurse practitioner or I won't. So I said, yes, I'll do it.

I had to move to Philadelphia for four months, which I did, and then did the rest of my internship at- in Easton at the Easton Clinic, and I became a women's health nurse practitioner. And then I worked for 12 years. At the time that I 00:07:00did it, I thought, how long am I really going to work? You know? I mean, well, if I work two years, it'll make it worthwhile. But I worked twelve. And it was most exciting and most gratifying and it kept me young, kept me in touch with all different ages of people and what was happening, and I could do a lot of teaching in a really short amount of time to a patient population that really, really wanted that teaching. So it was very gratifying and I'm glad I did it. And then when I was sixty-five, I decided I think I'm getting tired and I had some health issues and I thought, I'm going to retire before they kick me out. So that's what I did. I retired from Planned Parenthood. So now I'm looking for my next career, shall we say. Is that enough?

GE: Yes.

SC: Well, may I ask you--?

MK: Sure.

SC: What has made you feel the most creative in life? I know we asked you this 00:08:00before, but sometimes it changes.

MK: I don't remember you asking me that.

SC: Maybe we-

GE: No, we did.

MK: But I don't know what I said.

GE: I don't remember.

SC: And that doesn't matter.

MK: Oh, I'm sorry.

GE: That's okay, just leave it.

MK: Most creative? I think, I think interacting with other people, helping people to see the world the way they need to see it sometimes takes a lot of energy and creativity on my part.

GE: Can I ask you- Can you, can we just mute that?

MK: Yes, I can turn it off.

GE: Yeah, let's turn that off and just say the- 'cause what you said is beautiful, perfect, I just don't want to have that-No, no, no. I'll get it for you.

[cross chatter irrelevant to interview]

SC: So, what has made you feel the most creative in life?

MK: I was- I think working with other people, helping people to solve their problems, helping them to understand what they need to understand. It takes a lot, for me. it takes a lot of creativity and getting outside of myself and trying to be in somebody else's skin to- to help them. I think I feel the most alive when I'm doing that. I don't know if that's the same as being creative, but that definitely makes me feel most alive and most energized.

SC: And what do you value in lif?

MK: Well, probably the love of my family and my children and all the people that 00:10:00I, I know and love -- that's definitely the most valuable to me.

SC: Do either of you have any questions?