WGNO

New Orleans nurse ‘retires’ to teach new nurses after 52 years

NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — She still takes the temperature, still believes in the blood pressure, and knows nurses are the prescription for whatever ails you.

She’s Acquelyn Donsereaux, or “Nurse Ackie,” who is retiring after 52 years as a New Orleans nurse.

“When the doctor’s not there when no one else is there, nurses spend time with patients,” Donsereaux tells WGNO Good Morning New Orleans features reporter Bill Wood.

She’s known she wanted to be a nurse since she was fourteen. But even when retiring, she knows that means there’s more time to volunteer.

Nurse Ackie knows as much about teaching nurses as she does about treating patients. She’s on the board at Advance Nursing Training, a New Orleans school for nurses.

She says, “I don’t want a job, don’t punch a clock.”

As a teacher for almost half of her more-than-half-a-century career, Nurse Ackie will be there to train the next generation of nurses there to bring us love.

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