Nurse has seen change and history over a
50 year career
By Denny Angelle
As she approaches a monumental milestone of work at The Methodist Hospital, Norma Salahshour asserts that very little has changed since she was a fresh-faced graduate beginning her first job. In July, Salahshour will celebrate 50 years of working at Methodist, every second of it as a nurse. Is it even possible to hold the same job for 50 years? Just a few years ago even Salahshour would not have been able to answer that question. “It has always been about helping people when they need help the most,” she explains. “That has never changed, as far as I know.” Although The Methodist Hospital and the nursing field have evolved radically over the years, Salahshour finds the same inspiration to come to work today as she did five decades ago. “It all starts in your heart,” she says. “I have always been interested in helping people.” Fifty years as a registered nurse is incredible enough, but five decades working at the same hospital is an even greater achievement. “Being a colleague of Norma’s has been one of the most significant gifts I’ve had in my career as a nurse,” says Ann Scanlon McGinity, Ph.D., RN, chief nursing executive for The Methodist Hospital. “Norma is a wise, compassionate and knowledgeable woman who has continuously influenced our nursing organization on its journey towards excellence. … She is the spirit and heart of what we all aspire to be as leaders of nurses,” she says. Salahshour has been a nursing administrator virtually all of her time at Methodist. A native of Nederland, Texas, she came to Houston in 1961 to seek work as a nurse in the Texas Medical Center. 32 I methodisthealth.com
“At that time, a female only had a few choices if she wanted to work,” she says. “You could become a secretary or a teacher, or if you wanted to go to school for it, you could become a nurse.” She was inspired to become a nurse by a childhood friend, who in first grade asked Salahshour if the two could become nurses together. “That stayed with me all of my life,” she says. “My friend did indeed go into nursing, and I did too.” Upon graduation from Beaumont’s Baptist Hospital/Lamar Col lege nursing program, Salahshour and two of her fellow graduates sought out the best-paying nursing jobs they could find. The search led them to Houston and The Methodist Hospital.
The Methodist experience After working as a staff nurse for two years, she was promoted to head nurse of Methodist’s cancer treatment unit in 1963.
