Mary Marino, director of rehabilitative services, has always focused on the big picture. Early in her career, she worked as a speech-language pathologist, coming up with ideas and solutions to help her pediatric patients overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles. Later, looking at the big picture meant joining a team that helped to streamline Akron Children’s separate […]
Debbie Tulodzieski trades genetic testing for a new experiment: retirement
Science has always fascinated Debbie Tulodzieski, medical technologist in Akron Children’s cytogenetics laboratory. As a child, she read science books non-stop, pondering the careers available to a girl who loved science and math. Since Debbie feared heights, becoming an astronaut was out. Nursing was another option until she heard a news report about nurses parachuting […]
Kathleen Considine speaks up to say, “I’m retiring!”
Kathleen Considine, manager of speech pathology, found her calling in life in elementary school. Kathleen, who comes from a large, close-knit family, saw how speech and language therapy helped her younger brother transform from a struggling first grader into a straight-A student. By the time Kathleen graduated from high school, she had decided to become […]
Bob Daugherty’s retirement will feature travel and glammed-up furniture artistry
Very few people can claim that they’ve talked to every single Akron Children’s Hospital employee. But Bob Daugherty, patient relations specialist at Akron Children’s, can. For most of his career at Children’s, he was a telecommunications operator who answered and screened incoming telephone calls, routed calls to hospital employees, residents, departments and physician offices and […]
Kay Kirtley’s retirement checklist includes family, friends and fun
Kay Kirtley, director of Children’s After Hours, has always loved nursing. Kay’s mom was a nurse, and her favorite games involved bandaging her dolls and taking care of her friends and family with her first aid kit. Even while relaxing, Kay read Cherry Ames books, which featured a young nurse who solved mysteries. But unlike […]
Grace Wakulchik concludes three-decade career at Akron Children’s
When Grace Wakulchik was a Cuyahoga Falls High School student considering a career in health care, a friend’s mother introduced her to a nurse who had earned her master’s degree. At the time, most nurses were trained in hospital-based schools and not colleges. But Grace took her advice and enrolled at Case Western Reserve University. “She suggested that I get a bachelor’s degree in nursing and then a master’s, and that was a big influence in […]
