Judith Feustle, ScD, RN, has ties to MedStar Union Memorial Hospital that run deep. Not only was she born at the hospital, but she volunteered there as a Candy Striper and Pinky before entering the Union Memorial Hospital School of Nursing, graduating in 1971. Since then, the relationship has flourished.
“I started working at MedStar Union Memorial right out of nursing school,” Judith says. “For the next 30 years, the hospital was my home away from home.” She was eventually named director of the nursing school from which she graduated.
From 1991 to 2000, the hospital offered a nursing program in partnership with Stevenson University, which was then known as Villa Julie College. During that time, Judith served in a dual role—she was responsible for the LPN and RN schools and staff development at the hospital, while she led the nursing program at the college. When the hospital decided to turn the program over to the college to operate full-time in 2000, she continued to lead the program at the college for 22 more years, retiring earlier this year from her position as associate dean of nursing and chief nursing administrator.
Even though she wasn’t physically working at MedStar Union Memorial in the latter stages of her career, Judith remained actively engaged with the hospital as a member of the Board of Directors, and is currently serving another term. She has always been interested in the hospital’s rich history and honoring its people, programs, and special milestones through expressions of gratitude.
“MedStar Union Memorial is the place that it is today because of its long heritage of serving the community,” she says. “Nursing has been a foundational part of the hospital since 1890. It’s at its core…it’s engrained in the culture.”
To express her gratitude and passion for the hospital and its history, Judith recently made a generous philanthropic investment to support the creation of a new historical timeline and display for the hospital’s lobby, which will be unveiled in honor of its 170th anniversary in 2024….a fitting tribute given her lifetime of memories. “I feel honored to be a part of this special display and to play a role in its development,” she adds. “I feel like I’ve always been a part of MedStar Union Memorial. It feels like home and I am forever grateful for that.”