May 13, 2002

inda Klumb has dreamed for 40 years

of becoming a nurse. Receiving her B.S.

in nursing next weekend will be the fulfillment of that dream.

"It was my high school dream to become a nurse," she says, "but life sometimes has a mind of its own."

Linda Klumb and her translator on the way to Chameau Village Health Clinic, during a three-week practicum in Haiti, part of Klumb's nursing degree. Klumb hopes to deploy her nursing skills in rural America or in a developing country, after she retires Photo by Courtesy of Linda Klumb

Klumb, who has a bachelor's degree in marketing from the University of Hartford, spent 34 years working in sales. But three years ago, she decided to fulfill her dream and go back to school full-time for her nursing degree. She and her husband are still 10 years from retirement, but when they do retire, they want to travel and she wants to work with the poor elderly in rural America or in developing countries.

In January, Klumb traveled to Haiti and worked with Bette Gebrian-Maglo ire, a UConn alumna and lecturer in nursing, who now works as director of public health at the Haitian Health Foundation.

During her three weeks in Haiti, Klumb worked at Mother Teresa's Mission and traveled to remote mountain clinics, where she did everything from feeding, to bathing, to inoculating and caring for the diseased and malnourished.

"It was an incredible experience," she says.

Klumb says she thought that with her age and experience, she could not be shocked, but she says that Haiti is a shocking country, where people are starving, where children with diabetes get no insulin, and where pregnant women may die on the way to the hospital.

"I left a part of my soul in Haiti," she says.

Klumb says she will return to Haiti one day, but for now, she wants to gain more experience.

"I want to hone my nursing skills and collect needed things for the Haitian Health Foundation," she says.

The Nursing Class of 2002 has collected 100 bottles of prenatal and children's vitamins, and the senior class gift to the foundation will be a donkey, much needed for transport to remote regions.