One Friday afternoon in 1975, about 3 p.m., after the faculty and students of the School of Nursing had left West Hall for the weekend, Dean Marilyn Christian cleared her desk and started to leave her office. By this time she was the only one in the building, and it was totally quiet. She had been very busy, was tired, and had plans for the coming weekend. But as she stood to leave, a voice seemed to tell her she should stay. The impression was so compelling that she sat down again behind her desk. She didn’t know why, but she felt strongly that she should not leave her office.
Marilyn asked God, “Lord, if this is You directing me to stay, I need some further directions. What am I to stay for? What am I here for.”
No response.
So Marilyn sat down at her desk. She didn’t feel inclined to start working again so she just sat there, quietly waiting and sometimes praying out loud. Fifteen minutes passed and nothing happened. After 30 minutes, she continued waiting, asking God if her impression was from Him, and wondering why she was staying late. She really wanted to go home.
Another half-hour passed and still she felt compelled to stay. Anyone who knew the Dean knew that she usually didn’t sit still doing nothing for an hour. But this was different. After a second hour passed, the telephone rang. When Marilyn answered she recognized the voice of Dr. Jesse Scott, Director of Nursing for the United States Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. Marilyn had known her from national meetings, but had had no personal conversations with her. On the line with her was Dr. Jo Eleanor Elliott, the Director of the Western Interstate Commission on Higher Education in Nursing (WICHEN), a colleague Marilyn did know.
The women called to announce the organization of a high level, national think tank. Dr. Scott proceeded to tell Marilyn that the committee would establish recommendations to be presented to the United States Congress on the future of nursing in America for the next 10 to 20 years. Questions to be addressed included: How many nurses do we need in America? Where should they be placed? What level of preparation do they need? How many staff nurses as well as leadership personnel with advanced degrees would be needed in various agencies, including VA hospitals, private hospitals, public health agencies, and nursing homes.
Committee members would include the presidents or their representatives of the American Medical Association, the American Hospital Association, the American Nurses Association, the National League for Nursing, the Mayo Clinic, Johns Hopkins University, Harvard University, Boston University, the University of Hawaii, and key people from other leading universities that had both Schools of Nursing and Schools of Medicine.
Then they asked Marilyn to chair the committee.
Marilyn was almost overwhelmed by an offer to chair a national think tank. She was amazed, thinking about what a responsibility they had asked her to accept. She didn’t feel qualified for this role by herself, but she knew that if God were involved, He would help her. Without knowing all the ramifications, she said yes, and accepted the challenge. The task both humbled and honored her. In accepting the invitation she became the Chair of The National Committee for the Analysis and Planning for Improved Distribution of Nursing Personnel and Services.
Dr. Scott asked Marilyn to come unprepared. “Come with what you have. You have what we need.”
After the call ended, Marilyn bowed her head in prayer and said, “Lord, you know I could never do this without Your help. Help me to be filled with Your Spirit to go on with the work that I’ve been asked to do.”
The meetings were held alternately in Denver, Colorado and Washington, DC over a period of two years. Thirty participants included government statisticians who provided reams of material to be considered. The first item on the agenda was self-introductions. Even though Marilyn knew that some of the members had been openly hostile toward each other in other settings, she hoped and prayed that that would not occur.
During that first meeting, Marilyn focused on how the group was going to proceed. What was their challenge, their mission, and timeline? At the end of the first session, Marilyn felt drained. During the night, statisticians delivered a stack of papers seven inches high to each participant’s room. Even though she went through the material and understood basic principles, it was too broad and too deep for her really to understand. But she felt that the Lord revealed to her what to do, and the meetings proceeded well.
After the first major session, several participants approached Marilyn and made positive comments about the proceedings. But when a note was handed to her, she thought it might be critical and went to a private place to open it. The note, written by Ann Zimmerman, President of the American Nurses Association, said, “Marilyn, I had not known you, but I am so-o-o delighted that you are here, and you are the chairman that we need. There has not been one angry word that I heard from this group in the whole time we’ve gathered. And that is a real wonder. You are doing a wonderful job and I wanted you to know that you are.”
The committee’s report became U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare project #241-75-0802, which was contracted with the Western Interstate Commission on Higher Education in Nursing (WICHEN), a subsidiary of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC).