BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – A former nurse at the UVM Medical Center is celebrating 63 years of service for the hospital, taking care of the people who need it the most.
Each spring, the flowers at the UVM Medical Center come and go, but one woman can’t help but stay.
Lucy Fraiser graduated from nursing school in 1961 and began work that same year at what was originally called Mary Fletcher Hospital. By 1967, that name was dropped for another. “Then, it was the Medical Center Hospital of Vermont, and over the years they’ve changed names,” Fraiser.
But through all the name changes and other developments, Fraiser remained a constant, working for 40 years in various departments, and says she loved all of them. “It’s a great place to work and a great group of people to work with,” she said.
Although Fraiser retired from nursing in 2002, the medical center didn’t want her to leave. Now, she works eight hours a week as a case manager.
Her colleague, Anne-Marie Horne, has been working with Fraiser since 2016 and says that she strengthens friendships within the department, bringing everyone closer together. “It’s so wonderful to hear her stories and her perspective of nursing and to be right on,” Horne said.
The most important lessons Frasier says she has learned — to love people, study hard, and that anyone can be a healer. “It’s important to be able to help other people,” she said.