GLENWOOD SPRINGS, Colorado — Peggy Ball has a strong sense of family, whether it’s the family she raised or what she knows as the Valley View Hospital family.

She was a single mother who moved herself and three sons West to Colorado in 1976 and made Rifle her home after an abusive relationship forced her make the decision to start a new life.

She worked at what was then Clagett Hospital for three months before she landed a job as an operating room scrub nurse at Valley View Hospital, when Valley View had only one operating room. Now the hospital has four operating rooms. Peggy has seen a huge amount of change in the medical profession and the hospital.

“We’ve gone from making a large incision and using ties (sutures) to now using four real small incisions, all through laporoscopy, and doing the work with specialized instruments. Surgery isn’t so invasive, and people are back to work within three or four days. It’s a challenge, and certainly with the new medical technology and different types of changes — whoever would have thought we’d be doing craniotomies at Valley View?”

Peggy, just a little more than 5 feet tall and 70 years young, thoroughly enjoys working with everyone at the hospital. Since her sons are grown, she thinks of the hospital as her life.

Things have been tough for Peggy at times, and that meant a lot of extra on-call work.
“I was making $4.20 an hour when I started taking extra call to make ends meet. I started working March 3, 1976. In May, I had to have a hysterectomy and had to go on welfare and food stamps for three months because I couldn’t work. I had no child support. I went back to work and things were tight, there were times when I couldn’t have a candy bar or a soda pop or anything extravagant.”

“I had to support my boys, and I wanted to give them a half-way normal life. I didn’t have a choice, I had to take the call.”

But working extra hours came with a cost.

“I wasn’t able to attend all the boys’ games like other parents. It was very hard to not see them play, but I did go when I could.”

The hard work and extra hours paid off when her sons took responsibility for their own futures.

“I helped put all my boys through college,” she said proudly. “They were going to get a college education or else. Of course, they took jobs themselves and got student loans, and they all went to college.”

She finally stopped making herself available for on-call work about 2 1/2 years ago because of a weak tendon in her right foot.

“I can’t physically stand for the duration of a surgery. Now I’m the equipment manager for surgery. I make sure surgery is stocked with supplies, and order everything for all the total joints, hip and knee replacements, all the instruments and equipment.”

She names all the major parts needed for a total hip replacement off the top of her head without hesitation. “Femoral stem, acetabular cup, femoral head and the cup liner.”

Terry, her oldest son, worked at Valley View for a few years, cleaning surgery rooms after the day’s surgeries had ended. Now her three boys all do more sophisticated work.

“Terry is the Chief of Criminal Investigations for the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. John is a pilot for Continental Airlines, and Greg is a sales manager for Air Liquide in Denver. They are very successful men, they did very well in school, in sports and in their lives,” she said, proudly.

For Peggy’s 70th birthday, two of her sons surprised her with a party at the hospital. Little did they know the hospital was also planning a surprise birthday party for her that same day.

“My coworkers, who had heard stories about my boys, got to meet them. And what was meaningful to me was that two people who saw the expression on my face and what it meant to me, decided to go see their mothers.”

During her surprise birthday party at the hospital, Dr. Ross, one of the surgeons, intimated that during a particular emergency situation, he knew everything would be OK when he saw Peggy scrubbed in. That statement means a great deal to her.

Her nursing career has given her strength and pride, and has earned her the respect and admiration of her coworkers.

“I felt I grew up in the operating room. Ever since I began working as a nurses’ aide, I wanted to work in the operating room. I was a little romantic about it, putting the operating room on a high pedestal. I wanted to work side-by-side with some of the best surgeons I know. At the end of the day, I know I’ve done the best job I could, and I feel good about myself.”

Valley View Hospital Director of Inpatient Surgical Services Tim Gay is one of her biggest fans. He appreciates all the extra things she does that help the staff feel closely knit.

“In an unofficial capacity, there’s not a birthday she forgets,” Gay continued. “She’s always baking stuff, she always takes the younger people under her wing to train them, and get them started on the right foot.”

“Peggy is an absolutely wonderful human being,” said Dr. Robert Derkash. “She took call for 30 years, at all hours of the day and night, and was always there when you needed her and never complained. Everybody can learn from Peggy.”

Her son Terry said, “Her struggles and ability to overcome overwhelming odds have been an inspiration to us. I’m sure that her own experiences have made her weary of what the unknown can mean. She has shown that much can be accomplished even when you doubt yourself.”

Peggy is learning how to handle her days off, and not taking on-call duty. She gardens and tinkers in her yard, and reads in the winter.

“I like being able to go to Denver and see my son and his family, my grandson who is 19 months old. I have five grandkids — two granddaughters and three grandsons. It’s fun to take vacations and watch my granddaughter at her soccer games in Missouri.”

Every October, Peggy and her best friend from high school take a trip to Arkansas for a gigantic craft sale. Sometimes she brings home an addition to her collection of more than 100 roosters and chickens.

She also likes fishing and admiring the wildflowers on the Flat Tops on her days off. A couple years ago, her sons gave her a Garmin GPS unit so she wouldn’t get lost up there.

The idea of retirement is circling above her head, but it is not in her realm of reality and she’s not seriously ready.

“I love my job,” Peggy concluded. “I landed in a good place, Valley View Hospital. I don’t want to retire and then not know what I would do. And Tim (Gay) told me he would need a year to train someone to take my place.”

For now, Peggy is happy to continue being a vital part of Valley View Hospital, and everyone involved is grateful for her conscientiousness, reliability and sense of family.