Barbara Smith
with daughters Tammy (left) and Cyndy (right)

College Friends

“I’ve found that parents go back to school with their kids at SMC. And that kind of thing just doesn’t happen at a big university.”

Barbara Smith was at home with a couple of her daughters and four of their kids. “And with [daughter] Laurie expecting, we’ll soon have five little ones!” says Barbara Smith, the nurse manager of surgery at Santa Monica Hospital. It looks like another round of Smith kids will soon be shipping off for SMC.

It seems to be a family tradition: Barbara, her husband and all four of their children have studied at SMC. “When I went to school I was able to get into a very flexible program and that helped a lot,” says Barbara. “You just can’t keep a rigid schedule when you’ve got a family to care for.”

Barbara went to SMC for the first two years of her nursing studies, as did the three daughters who followed her. “I’m proud to be a nurse,” she says, adding that “nursing school is just the greatest memory for me. We became kind of a family within our class. We all looked out for each others’ welfare and it was always a very caring place.” And being a mother actually helped Barbara to develop in her career. “Nursing, like mothering, is a hands-on profession where you take charge,” says Barbara. She adds that she always felt good about being able to help her daughters with their own studies in nursing.

Now Barbara Smith is in charge of another sort of family: the 55 nurses and orderlies in surgery at the hospital where she works. Her daughters work there with her and her advice to them is the same she’s given to many others over the years.“It’s not all rosy, being a nurse,” she says. “But if you really care about people and want to help them, nursing is for you.”

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