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Meet the New AORN President
When Susan Banschbach, RN, MSN, CNOR, became involved in AORN in 1979, she would not have imagined seeking the presidency of the organization; however, she is not one to stay content with the status quo. You just reach for the next thing and reach for the next thing, she says. Its a matter of not being satisfied with just staying where you are. The desire to keep moving, whether in her education, her career, or her roles within AORN, may have its roots in the geographical moves she experienced during much of her life.
Banschbach was born in Altoona, Pennsylvania, and is the oldest of three siblings. Be cause her father was in the army, the family traveled extensively in the United States, and she attended eight different grade schools during the first six years of her primary school education. Although some people might perceive this frequent moving as a hardship for someone so young, Banschbach says it has helped her learn to be both adaptable and empathetic with other people. Each time she moved, she took the opportunity to standin others shoes, absorb theculture, and adapt to it beforemoving in to take part.
A NURSING CAREER
Nursing became an interest for Banschbach at age 13 when she had her appendix re moved. She spent four days in the hospital and felt drawn to the environment. After that, she never considered another career.
She attended a diploma program at Geisinger Medical Center in Danville, Pennsylvania. After graduating, she left Pennsylvania for Boston, Massachusetts, and began working in the intensive care
unit at Tufts New England Medical Center. The man who would be come her husband followed her from Pennsylvania to Massachusetts, and they married in 1968.
Then began the next cycle of moving. Banschbach and her husband, Marty, settled in Virginia while he earned his doctorate at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg. Banschbach worked at Radford Hospital in Radford and later at Montgomery County Hospital in Blacksburg. It was there that she began practicing in the OR....