Nursing a tradition for this Illini Community Hospital family

By Editor | May 2, 2024 |

Submitted photo
Four members of the Smith family from Pleasant Hill are involved in nursing at Illini Community Hospital. Left to right, son Logan works in the emergency room as does his mother, Heather and father, Ed. Kaylee, sister and daughter to the other three works acute in-patient care.

While the Smith family shares a last name that is considered common, that’s where the ordinary ends in their lives.

Ed, Heather and two of their children – Logan and Kaylee – are all registered nurses and all work at Illini Community Hospital in Pittsfield. Ed, Heather and Logan are on the Illini Emergency Room staff. Kaylee provides inpatient acute care.

“We had one patient a couple of weeks ago that mom and dad took care of first,” said 25-year-old Logan. “I took over care when I came on after them in the ER. The person was admitted as an inpatient and Kaylee took over. The four of us cared for the same patient.”

Another unique element of the Smith family career path is that all graduated from the John Wood Community College nursing program. And all four are graduates of Pleasant Hill High School.

Heather began the family tradition, graduating in 1996 and spending her first 15 years in labor and delivery nursing before joining Illini 14 years ago. “I wanted to be in nursing since I was a little girl,” she said.

The next Smith family member to earn their RN license was Ed, at the urging of his wife. Prior to going back to school, he was a paramedic for six years.

“I liked medicine and thought I could do a lot more of it if I went to nursing school,” Ed said. “I wanted to go to anesthesia school. But first, I had to complete my nursing education. So I did, and then started working in the Intensive Care Unit at Blessing Hospital. Then, Heather and I started our family. I enjoyed it all and decided to stay where I was at.”

Ed has been on the Illini ER staff for eight years.

Taking after her mom, Kaylee is a natural-born nurse.

“I always thought of being a nurse. There was nothing else I considered,” the 23-year-old said.

Heather says her daughter was, “a very lovable, huggable, and affectionate child.” That’s why what Kaylee said one day as a child surprised her.

“Kaylee was in preschool and someone wanted to hug her. She told them, ‘No, I’ll get germs,’” Heather recalls.

“It was completely out of character for her,” she said. “I then asked her why she didn’t want to hug her classmate? Kaylee responded, ‘Because she has germs. But that’s okay because the white blood cells in my body will carry them away.’ When I asked where she learned that, she said she had read it in a book. She was unable to read yet. It gave me a good giggle.”Logan’s journey to nursing was fueled by stories people would tell him about his mom and dad.

“I always had people come up to me and tell me that my parents saved their lives, they did such a great job and they just wanted to thank me,” he said. “I always felt like my parents were heroes and if I could do what they were doing, then I was doing something right.”

Kaylee says she has heard those heart-warming stories, too.

Choosing Illini was a no-brainer for the family.

“I started as a tech at Illini,” Kaylee said. “When I received my RN license I then began working here as a nurse. I love my work family and it’s a good environment.”

Logan adds being a nurse in a small hospital has taught him independence and to think for himself. He also loves his teachers.

“I wanted to get trained by my dad and mom and this was the place where I was able to do that,” he said.

“We love that Kaylee and Logan wanted to follow in our footsteps, and they wanted to be at Illini to learn from us,” Heather said, speaking on behalf of herself and Ed.

When Logan and Kaylee finished high school, Ed and Heather thought of becoming travelling nurses. For a variety of reasons they chose to stay at Illini instead.

“We are both happy here” Heather said. We work seven miles from our home. We work day shift. We love our administration and the people we work with.”

“Vacations and holidays are a little bit of a juggle,” Ed admitted. “We have to find a lot of coverage when we take time off as a family.

There are two more siblings, older twin boys, Bo and Blake, in the Smith family and at one time they thought of becoming doctors. They started the process, but due to the length of schooling required ended up choosing a different career path not in the medical field.

“They should have started with nursing,” Heather said with a laugh.