Joyce Gimmestad hoped to succeed in 90 before retiring from being a nurse. Still, she retired on June 22, at 88, attributable to a rare eye disease that may eventually cause her to go blind.

Gimmestad developed macular degeneration, which she said led to Charles Bonnet syndrome. She said she needed to retire for her safety and that of her patients.

She received her nursing license in 1954, right before her 18th birthday, after one yr of nursing school. Until her retirement, she worked full-time, about 50 to 60 hours per week, at Twin Cities hospitals and care facilities, and even throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

70 years of nursing

Gimmestad grew up in Herman, Minn., a town of 400 people, in a family of 11 children. On the time, she desired to attend nursing school at Ancker Hospital in St. Paul, but the schooling was too expensive for her family, which was $385 for a three-year course. As an alternative, she went to Swedish Hospital in Minneapolis, which she said was a $65 all-inclusive cost for a yr of nursing school, room and board and uniforms.

When she entered training within the 50s, her family lived on a farm and didn’t have a phone, causing her mom to fret while Gimmestad was away within the dormitory.

“I said, ‘So long as I can walk and talk, I’ll be superb,’ and well I’m 88 years old and I can still walk and talk, so I feel I’m okay,” Gimmestad said.

She previously worked at Swedish Hospital, Ancker Hospital and Midway Hospital until they closed, did private duty and worked at St. Mary’s until landing at The Villas at Latest Brighton for the last 12 years.

She said she felt adequate to work and hoped to succeed in 90, but her eye condition modified things for her.

“I got to the purpose where I couldn’t see the pc anymore and I said, ‘That’s it, I gotta quit,’” Gimmestad said.

As she reflects on her time within the industry, she said a major change for her was the nurse-patient relationship and the doctor-nurse dynamic. She said she feels that nurses were more accommodating with patients — including giving them backrubs — when she began, and when the doctor got here into the room, the nurses stood at attention.

She was very loved at The Villas at Latest Brighton, in line with her daughter and a past coworker.

Her oldest daughter, Sue Rothstein, said she’s at all times known her mom as hard-working and go-getting.

“She wants every thing done yesterday,” Rothstein said.

Rothstein attended Gimmestad’s retirement party together with her this past June and said she remembers her coworkers and patients speaking fondly of her.

“This guy was in a wheelchair, he got up and said some words and abruptly he just went flying over and hugged her and said, ‘we’re gonna miss you,’” Rothstein said.

Joyce Smith, a coworker of Gimmestad at The Villas at Latest Brighton, said she worked together with her for five years, including throughout COVID-19. She said Gimmestad, who was on the night shift, was at all times hard-working.

“She was at all times busy, didn’t sit down and was at all times up doing stuff for the residents here,” Smith said. “For her age, she was really on the go.”

Smith said working through COVID-19 was stressful for a lot of healthcare employees, and the isolation gear made their job tougher.

“That was a scary time with people getting COVID, among the residents died and plenty of the staff were scared to return to work, but not Joyce,” Smith said.

A life, long-lived

Gimmestad remains to be a part of a giant family with three kids, six grandchildren and 16 great-grandchildren. A lot of them are in college, and she or he said the associated fee difference from her time continues to amaze her.

She also had a protracted bucket list that she’s accomplished through the years, the last and most up-to-date item being skydiving.

A few of the others on her list included going to Disney World, crashing a marriage, winning a dance contest, driving a race automotive. She went skydiving two years ago, at 86, and was featured on TV on KSTP 5. She said she hopes to go again soon.

Gimmestad owned a flower shop for 25 years while working as a private-duty nurse. She said she would bring flowers to work often and enjoyed making corsages and bouquets from the flowers she grew. She sold the shop in 1998 to concentrate on other ventures.

Gimmestad said she received recognition from the U.S. House of Representatives for her work throughout the past 70 years.

“I used to be so shocked when it got here within the mail,” Gimmestad said. “It was this beautiful American flag and this paper explaining what I did and the way old I used to be. It was very nice.”

When renewing her license last fall, officials with the Minnesota Board of Nursing said they believed she is the one nurse at her age working full time. For the last eight years, she has been considered the oldest working nurse in Minnesota.

“It’s pretty amazing while you really give it some thought to work on this career, which is so hard and other people leave it on a regular basis, and she or he stuck with it for therefore a few years,” Smith said.