Daily News New York, New York Sunday, September 09, 1956
Late Starter Wins Nurse Exam Honor
Despite the fact that she had a late start in a new career, 43-year-old Mrs. Regina Fischer of Brooklyn has managed to walk away with state-wide honors.
The winner of a $750 scholarship for advanced training in nursing, Mrs. Fischer, who has been an RN for only three years, scored the top grade among 300 applicants who took the scholarship exam giving by the University of the State of New York this summer.
The mother of two, Bobby, 13, and 19-year-old Joan, Mrs. Fischer started her nurse's training at the age of 37. A student at the Prospect Heights Hospital School of Nursing, she went to work for the Visiting Nurses Association following her graduation three years ago.
Nursing Her Goal
“I've always wanted to work in the field of medicine,” said the attractive brunette nurse, who obtained her BA from the University of Colorado in 1941. “But bringing up a family and earning a living didn't leave much opportunity for studying.”
Living on the West Coast until she came to New York in 1948, Mrs. Fischer taught school and worked in shipyards during the war. When she settled in Brooklyn with her two children in 1950, she decided to finally have a go at the career she always wanted.
“It wasn't easy getting into a nursing school,” she admitted. “A lot of my applications were turned down because I was too old. I was thrilled when I finally found a school where they relaxed the age requirements.”
Attending classes during the day and studying at night was no easy grind for the newcomer to the field, who had a family to look after. But encouraged by her two children who were proud of their mother's efforts, she came through with high grades.
Boy a Chess Wiz
A slender, energetic woman, she lives at 560 Lincoln Place. Her son Bobby, a chess wizard, is one of the national junior champions. Joan, following in her mother's footsteps in a nursing career, will be graduated from Brooklyn College next January. Like her mother, she is also a scholarship winner with a four-year grant to any college in New York.
Since Mrs. Fischer's newly won scholarship requires her to become a full-time student, she is faced with the problem of earning a living for her family while continuing her studies. Anxious to acquire top educational requirements for public health nursing, however, she has found a solution
Studies by Mail
Aware that there are no visual study aids for student nurses, she has started a mail order study aid program of her own. So far, she has been successful with at least 100 schools ordering copies of her study aid devices.
“My study aid program should be a big financial help while I'm back in school,” said Mrs. Fischer, who will take a leave of absence from the Visiting Nurses. “I'd have been awfully unhappy if I would have had to pass up this chance for further education. I've waited this long to be a nurse and now I want to be able to learn everything there is to know.”
