MEMBER IN THE SPOTLIGHT Mrs. Betty Thomas, R.N.

The soft-spoken AORN President, Mrs. Betty Thomas, R.N., doesn’t appear to be carrying a big stick. She is petite, warm and holds an outward impression of quiet serenity.

However, last month she took over control of a 10,000 strong American organization, and the quiet serenity showed its force.

A graduate of the Arkansas Baptist Hospi- tal School of Nursing and the University of Colorado, Mrs. Thomas has done her nursing practice at St. John’s Hospital in Santa Monica, Calif., and in Denver, Colo., at General Rose Memorial Hospital, Mercy Hospital, and Swedish Hospital, where she is now employed as operating room supervisor. She also served as private scrub nurse for orthopedic surgeons.

Activities in AORN are not a new idea for Mrs. Thomas, whose list of Association involvements includes stints on the Executive Committee, Budget and Finance Committee, and Long Range Planning Committee. She has chaired the Association of Operating Room Technicians Advisory Board, AORN-AORT Committee, Policy Committee and Audio- Visual Committee. The 1969 film “Operating Room Nursing Today,” premiered at the Cincinnati Congress, was made and edited under her supervision, and she also had a hand in the production of the films “Oral Endoscopy” and the 1970 Congress features, “I’m Not a Small Adult” and “Faces and Phases of Operating Room Management.”

March 1970 93

Administrative duties at Swedish Hospital, Den- ver, are enough to keep Mrs. Thomas busy when- ever she has a few hours away from surgery. Her small ofice on the third floor holds the organiza- tional workings of the OR wing, and all signs o f quiet control particular to this small athletic bundle o f energy. The only thing the ofice lacks for use during her f e w spare moments, is a small mountain, a warm sweater, and a pair o f skiis.

Board of Directors member, and 1969 President-elect, the blond mother of one relates from experience that “true job satisfac- tion comes from true effort.” She has written, in an article for Colorado University, “AS a young nurse I was a disgusting parasite who gave very little of myself to my chosen profession, and I was miserabIe. Fortunately, early in my career I worked with a nurse who taught me the value of a job well done.”

Mrs. Thomas is a member of the Colorado Nurses’ Association, and in 1968 served the Economic Security and General Welfare Committee. In District I1 of the CNA, she chaired the 1968 Bylaws Committee and the 1969 Nominating Committee.

The Texas native has few off time hours,

Becoming a “veteran” in the mass communica- tions business, Mrs. Thomas joins other mem- bers of the 1970 film committee in a last m i m t e review of the audio portion. W i t h her are Miss Audrey Bell, R.N., past president; Mrs. Ludmila Davis, R.N., Mrs. Jacqueline Cordner, R.N.; and Miss Myra Slavens, R.N.

and they are split. Most are customarily spent in the National Headquarters office, where she may be found helping in almost any capacity. On a real “day off,” however, she may be found on the slopes-she is the true Colo- radoan in her ardent zest for skiing. And family activities often include daughter Deb- bie, a Colorado State University graduate, flying out of Los Angeles, as a United Airlines stewardess.

Mrs. Thomas’ aims for the organization are built around the enthusiasm and pride of accomplishment with which she has always faced her own duties, and questions about the organization’s future present varied reactions built on that spirit.

“In my position as operating room super- visor I find it difficult not to become over zealous in my fight against the acceptance of mediocrity by young nurses on my staff.”

Ask any question of the new President of AORN. She listens. She thinks, watches and sometimes comments.

The comments are soft, but concrete. She doesn’t need a big stick.

94 AORN Journal