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2 arrested in Wilkes-Barre after PSP/city police undercover drug buys

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Mike Turzai: Whopping public pension debt in Pennsylvania can be dealt with – if we dare

<p>The late Dorothy Tribus approached her nursing career in the most motherly of fashions, at times displaying a tender touch and, when necessary, flashing the ferocity of a bear whose cub was threatened.</p><p>Her devotion to the well-being of Wyoming Valley infants, and their parents, led to the introduction of progressive programs at the former Nesbitt Memorial Hospital in Kingston. She began the area&#8217;s first childbirth classes for expectant parents there in 1964 &#8211; the year she was named supervisor of the hospital&#8217;s obstetrics unit.</p><p>As a straight-shooting manager with a big heart, Tribus became not only respected among many of her colleagues, but widely revered. When pushed out of her job during a corporate merger, they protested on her behalf. Tribus gracefully slid into another health-care post that allowed her to continue to advocate for women&#8217;s health. &#8220;If we really &#8230; support women,&#8221; she said then, &#8220;we can turn this whole community around.&#8221;</p><p>Tribus &#8211; whom admirers saw as a saint, a spitfire and a woman whose self-described &#8220;wild imagination&#8221; allowed for compassionate advances in childbirth care locally &#8211; died last week in Wilkes-Barre. She was 84.</p><p>Her passing deserves special attention in part because of the sheer number of lives she touched; during her nearly 30 years as a boss at Nesbitt&#8217;s ob-gyn unit, some 44,600 babies were born there. If you were among them, Tribus might not have cuddled you, but she certainly cared about you.</p><p>A Kingston native, Tribus famously safeguarded one premature baby as the hospital was evacuated during 1972&#8217;s devastating flood. She wrapped the preemie in aluminum foil to keep him warm, and the pair traveled out of the flood zone by helicopter. At one point in the days-long ordeal, she prevented a National Guardsman from commandeering the room where she cared for the fragile infant, barking, &#8220;You and your officers can go to hell.&#8221;</p><p>The incident was not the lone example of her devotion to those in her care. &#8220;Sometimes she didn&#8217;t come home (from the hospital) for three or four days because she wouldn&#8217;t leave someone having a baby,&#8221; her husband, Steve Tribus, told a Times Leader reporter in 1992.</p><p>Together, Dr. William &#8220;Wild Bill&#8221; Hazlett and Dorothy Tribus worked to make the Nesbitt obstetrics unit &#8220;a mecca for modern childbirth,&#8221; according to a prior Times Leader article. &#8220;Nesbitt had home-like birthing rooms in the 1960s,&#8221; the article stated. &#8220;Fathers assisted in deliveries 20 years before it became common practice.&#8221;</p><p>Despite negative attitudes about unwed mothers in the late 1950s, Tribus emboldened certain moms to keep their babies, rather than choose adoption.</p><p>Her moxie, dedication and pioneering spirit no doubt inspired peers, contributing to the loyalty they expressed when she was removed from her post. Tribus considered their outspokenness on her behalf to be a gift. &#8220;You know,&#8221; she said at the time, &#8220;some people can lay in a casket and never know about how people feel about them.&#8221;</p><p>Tribus knew how many area residents felt; she was adored like a mother.</p><style>
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Our Opinion: Obstetrics nurse Dorothy Tribus influenced the Wyoming Valley for generations