Ruth Ann Busald (August 16, 1927 – October 13, 2014), a native of Madisonville, Ohio, graduated from the Mercy Hospital School of Nursing in 1948, earned a bachelor of science in nursing from Edgecliff College in 1950 and a master of science in nursing from Indiana University in 1963.
Busald taught at the Mercy Hospital School of Nursing from 1950 until her arrival in 1968 at the Hamilton campus of Miami University. She not only was the founding chair of nursing, but also one of the founding faculty members on the Hamilton campus.
Busald retired from Miami in 1982, and the department of nursing renamed their first student award the Ruth Ann Busald Award to recognize her dedication and years of service. Following this, she took gerontology courses, and was Director of Nursing at the Montgomery Care Center for five years before fully retiring in 1986.
Nursing associations were always important to Busald. In the early 1950s she joined the Ohio Nurses Association (ONA) and became interested in by-laws, an interest she pursued for many years. She attended every ONA convention until 2004.
Busald was president of ONA from 1971-1973, having served on the Board of Directors for two years previous to this. Two dominant issues at this time were the establishment of two year technical nursing programs and four year professional programs in nursing. The second issue was the unionizing of nurses, with ONA becoming a union.
Mentors influential in Busald’s ONA experience included Dorothy Cornelius, who was Executive Director of ONA at that time; Jeanette Wooding, a past ONA president who helped with raising ONA dues; and Ida Casey, a member of the ONA Heritage Committee.
In retirement, Busald stayed connected with nursing professional groups through her membership in the retired nurses’ council and the southwest Ohio Nurses Association. She also became involved with her local community government (Madisonville, OH) and was chair of the town history committee, which led the bicentennial celebration in 2009. She was also much more involved with her church.
The Ruth Ann Busald Papers (1.5 linear feet) contains material related to Busald and her nursing career.
These related collections are part of the Medical Heritage Center archival collections:
This collection is arranged in three series:
Series I: Media (1 box and 1 item) contains photographs, negatives, slides and a roll of microfilm.
Series II: Personal (1 box and 17 files) contains information related to Busald’s personal life like her schooling. This series is arranged alphabetically.
Series III: Professional (34 files) contains information related to Busald’s careers. This series is arranged alphabetically.
The collection is open to the public and is available for viewing in the Medical Heritage Center. Materials do not circulate and must be used in the supervised reading room. Restrictions, including copyright, may exist and some materials may be too fragile to photocopy or digitize. The MHC charges for duplication services, which must be performed by staff.
[Identification of item], Ruth Ann Busald Papers, SPEC.201624.BUSALD, Medical Heritage Center, Health Sciences Library, The Ohio State University.