By By RANDI K. PICKLEY / Niles Daily Star
Jane S. Davis was a remarkable woman. She came to Niles Pawating Hospital to serve as its new administrator in 1946, a first for the state of Michigan at a time when women were rarely found in such positions of authority.
During her tenure from 1946 to 1977, Davis observed and instituted many changes in health care.
According to those who worked closely with her, she was a task master with a very clear vision of the hospital's role in serving the community's health needs.
According to Bea Gorton who came to Pawating in 1950 as an obstetrics nurse, Davis would come back from a seminar on hospital administration and immediately begin to implement the changes she had learned about. "It was kind of fun to watch her put things into action," Gorton said. "For instance, we were the first in our area to use certain lab procedures. Those procedures then became standardized. We were way ahead of the other hospitals."
Davis had a reputation for keeping a tight rein on things. "She knew every employee in the place by name," said Gorton. "And she walked the halls often to see that everything was in order." When she did, according to Gorton, "You'd better be good."
Dr. Robert Landgraf, who joined the Pawating staff in 1949, remembers, "She kept her eye on the ball. She knew what everybody was doing. But she was very nice."
Davis' attitude towards fiscal responsibility was legendary as well. According to Gorton, Davis was "tighter than bark on a tree."
Dr. John Bruni, a colleague of Davis since 1956 said that when Davis was administrator, "the board was unusually frugal. But then she was unusually frugal, too."
Referring to the constant need for funding for equipment and services, Bruni said, "From a business standpoint, her frugality helped."
Indeed, in 1953, she helped launch a fund drive for the hospital with a goal of $700,000. According to those involved in the drive, pledges were received totalling $765,000. All agreed that the success was in part due to Davis, who knew nearly everybody in the community.
Kathryn Hess, who was both employee and friend to Davis, said, "She had support from the medical staff because she was an extremely fair person. I think Mrs. D. was the fairest person I ever knew. She always took time to weigh a problem before making a decision. If a request was legitimate, it would receive consideration."
Hess also mentioned, "Her employees had job security, too. If they didn't do well at something, she found the proper job for them instead, one that suited their abilities more."
Julie Weger, who worked as a candy-striper and later as a high school nursing assistant said of Davis, "She always came to our classes and was very interested in the students. If they went away to school, she asked them to come back and work on holidays, and reminded them there was always a permanent position available."
Weger took Davis up on that offer and became a registered nurse at the hospital in 1967. She remembered, "Jane knew all the students and was interested in each of them. She was very sharp. She kept up with everyone."
Weger remembers meeting Davis for the first time. "She was such a dignified lady, very business-like. I was very much in awe of her."
Weger got to know Davis best after the administrator retired in 1977. "She was a very private person. At the hospital she would keep herself aloof," Weger said. "She didn't drive, so I would take her places. I got to know a side of her I'd never seen before. She was very compassionate. She never had children of her own, so I guess the nursing students were like family to her."
Olove Colcord met Davis when joining the hospital staff to work as a nurse in cancer services in 1948. "She was a special lady," Colcord observed. "She was very dictatorial. When something needed to be done, it had to be done correctly, nothing half way. She wanted our hospital to be the best, but her first concern was for the patient."
Debra Johnson, currently the executive director with what is now called Lakeland Medical Center, remembers meeting Davis. "It was like meeting history itself," she said. "She was strong in her vision of how things should be and how they should happen. She was instrumental in the directions that the hospital took."
According to Johnson, a young man once applied to the hospital as an accountant. Davis insisted that, even though he would be hired, he would not be allowed to work in the hospital itself. Johnson said that was because, "Taking care of people and asking for money were very separate ideas" in Davis' thinking.
Dr. John Landgraf, who met Davis as a medical student in 1975 said, "She was helpful in showing me around. Her philosophy of individual care was all important."
Jane Davis had a profound effect on the Niles community through her work in the health care system. These changes were instituted during her years at "Lakeland/Pawating," as she would have preferred to call it.
1947: The first dietician was hired for the cafeteria
1948: Pawating Hospital was accredited for the first time and has remained so since.
1949: A large number of new physicians began to join this forwarding thinking, quality hospital
1950: The first "walking blood bank" was established which was a predecessor to the Red Cross blood bank
1952: The Women's Auxillary opened the first coffee shop
1956: A new sugery, recovery, and emergency room and laboratory were added along with the first ever hi-low beds
1957: The first tv's were installed in patient's rooms with under-pillow speakers
1959: The first junior candy stripers formed
1964: The first of a three part expansion program began adding new nurseries, a boiler room, and offices
1971: 24 hour coverage was arranged with the Niles Emergency Service Corportion.
1972: Meals on Wheels was organized
1973: Pre-natal class began and a new addition to the building was started
1974: Phase two ground breaking
1977: Phase three of the expansion was completed and Jane Davis announced her retirement
Born in Duluth, Minn. in 1910, Davis' life spanned a period of great change in America. From her childhood through college years, the early death of her husband, Doc, on to the end of World War II, Davis gained strength as an independent woman. When she accepted the position of hospital administrator at Pawating, she was ready to make a single-handed difference in the health care system.
But in choosing a demanding career path, she also balanced it with outside interests.
According to Gorton, Davis enjoyed cooking. "The hospital gang would sometimes go out to Fernwood. Mrs. D. would bring her little charcoal grill and grill steaks for everybody. She was a good cook," she said. And she loved to eat, according to Gorton. "The dietician nagged her all the time," she said.
Kathryn Hess remembers the Christmas dinners hosted for the medical staff by Davis. "There she'd be in the kitchen, baking with all the others," she said. "She was very good at breads," Hess added.
Another passion for Davis was reading. Gorton remembered, "She was an avid reader. She read and read and read." According to Hess, Davis "had books everywhere, especially travel books."
When Davis retired, the the medical staff chipped in to send her on a round-the-world trip, which she went on by herself in true Davis fashion.
Davis also loved music, according to Hess, especially classical music. She sang in the choir at the First Presbyterian Church in Niles.
And Davis had quite a personality. According to Gorton's husband, Eugene, "She was a good Democrat," he said, "and she made no bones about it."
Perhaps the most memorable quality about Davis, however, was the feeling she promoted that everyone there was part of a family.
Gorton said, "She and the staff worked hard and helped each other out."
Bruni remembers, "We used to be like a family. Everyone knew each other."
But perhaps Davis' 31 years in Niles are best defined by Davis herself.