Erin Splechter applied for a job at a convenience store around the same time she applied at Allen County Hospital in 2007. At the time, she was young, single, pregnant and desperate for a job. Any job.
Splecther (then going by her maiden name of Mader), came from a very large family in the very small town of Westphalia. A nurse at the hospital knew her family and told the nursing manager, ?She comes from good stock.?
Splechter started working as a certified nursing assistant (CNA) at the hospital when her daughter, Alana, was just 8 weeks old. She was 22 and the hospital?s youngest employee.
That was 12 years ago.
How different her life might have been if she had worked anywhere else, Splechter mused Thursday.
Two weeks ago, she passed her board certification as an advanced practice registered nurse. Because of that certification, she?s also started a new position where she?ll divide her time between a supervisory position at Allen County Regional Hospital and its associated health clinic, where she?ll work part-time as a nurse practitioner.
On the family side, she?s expecting her fourth child with husband Michael.
It?s been a long and, at times, difficult journey that included a struggle with mental health issues. But with the love and support of friends and family, including her co-workers and staff at ACRH, Splechter achieved goals she wouldn?t have thought possible back in 2007 when she filled out those applications for two very different jobs.
Erin Splechter is with her family, from left, Kinsley, Kaden, Alana and husband Michael. COURTESY PHOTO
WHEN SPLECHTER graduated from Anderson County High School in 2002, she thought she?d like to become a pediatric nurse. She attended Emporia State University and earned her CNA at Flint Hills Technical College.
She enjoyed the fun and freedom of college, perhaps a little too much.
?I discovered life,? she said.
Then, her father and grandfather died within a few months of each other. In her grief, Splechter ?went crazy wild? and ended up pregnant and alone. She decided to move back home to Westphalia, where she was the sixth of seven children. Her grandparents had 15 children and Splechter has so many cousins she can?t remember if the number is 36 or 37 ? and that?s just on her father?s side.
