COOLSPRING TOWNSHIP

For more than 30 years, Diane Turner has been tending to patients at Woodland Place nursing home in Coolspring Township.

But now, as she awaits a liver transplant, her role has been reversed.

Mrs. Turner, 54, of Mercer, is a patient in the skilled therapy unit at the home and is second on the liver transplant donation list in the United States.

On Thursday, she was transferred to UPMC Presbyterian Hospital in Pittsburgh because her condition worsened, said Paula Dickson, director of nursing. She's still in the hospital, but now she's out of intensive care, a Woodland Place spokeswoman said this morning.

Although Mrs. Turner was too weak to conduct an interview, fellow nurse Starla Christy prepared a news release about Ms. Turner and the staff's experience of taking care of her.

"As her fellow workers go about the daily task of caring for all our residents, we hope and pray that her transplant beeper, sitting at the skilled unit nursing station desk, will go off, announcing a life saving 'gift of life' for our comrade and friend," Ms. Christy said.

A Woodland Place employee for five years, Ms. Christy said she has seen the outstanding quality of care given to the patients by the nursing staff, and Ms. Turner stands out as a "shining example of excellence within our nursing staff."

"It is very hard for us who have know her for such a long time to see her hanging on to her life and unable to live with the vibrancy we have been so used to seeing," Ms. Christy said. "We find ourselves praying for her life, as hard as she is fighting for her life."

Throughout her ordeal, Mrs. Turner has remained positive, kept her "upbeat attitude" and is an inspiration to the staff, Ms. Christy said. "We can give her outstanding care expected from Woodland Place. We can lift Diane and her family in our prayers. We can admire her and remain grateful for her in our own lives. We can hope that her story will inspire others in our community to be involved in organ and blood donations, as well as financial support for those in need.

"Mostly we can thank Diane Turner for being a light and inspiration to all of us at Woodland Place. Nurses remain the Florence Nightingales of our time. We thank God for the love, kindness and patience people like Diane show every day. Truly a 'small town hero'," Ms. Christy said.