By Joseph Slacian
jslacian@thepaperofwabash.com
WABASH, Ind. – A Wabash woman who can be described as a pioneer in Wabash County healthcare will be honored Nov. 11 during the Parkview Wabash Hospital Foundation Gala.
Jean Leakey will receive the 2017 Healthcare Hero Award during the annual event at the Honeywell Center’s Legacy Hall.
Lori Miller, RN, Parkview Wabash’s Nursing Service Manager, and Kerri Mattern, the hospital’s manager of Patient Experience and Volunteers, notified Leakey of the honor earlier this month. It was Miller who nominated Leakey for the honor.
Actually, Leakey thought there was a mistake when the pair showed up at the home she shares with her elder sister, Gwen, who turns 99 on Oct. 30. When Miller and Mattern showed up at their home, Leakey thought it was an early birthday present for her sister.
“I was shocked,” Leakey said, when she learned the gifts were for her and the reason behind it.
For the last 18 years, Leakey, 91, has been a volunteer at Parkview Wabash and Wabash County Hospital.
“I work with the chaplaincy program,” she said. “I go visit patients, pray with them and talk with them.
“Sometimes it’s very difficult. But 99 percent of the time it’s very rewarding. If they know who the Lord is, it’s very rewarding.”
Miller, in her nominating letter, noted, “Jean came up to me the other day and along with two of the oncology nurses said the most heartfelt prayer. Knowing that I and my staff have Jean and others praying for our co-workers, physicians and especially our patients, makes me so proud to be at Parkview Wabash.”
But Leakey’s work in the healthcare field goes much further than that.
For 23 years she served as a medical assistant for Drs. Robert Rauh and Stephen Fassino, retiring in 1994.
Prior to that, she and her husband, Dale, started the Friendly Nursing Home on Quaker Street on Wabash’s south side. They also opened homes in Huntington, Peru and Logansport.
The facilities were purchased by a group of local businessmen, who later sold them to the group that operates Miller’s Merry Manor.
“We just saw the need for a regular nursing home,” Leakey said of the couple’s decision to open the facility.
After selling to the local businessmen, she said, she worked for them for a few more years.
“Then they must have decided they didn’t want me anymore and they fired me,” she said with a laugh.
Between the time she left the nursing home and before joining Dr. Rauh’s practice, Leakey worked at Wabash City Hall in the administration of Mayor W.D. Bryant.
Perhaps Leakey is best known around the community as “The Hat Lady.”
When she lost her husband to ALS in 1991, Leakey decided she needed something to do to help her keep her piece of mind. It was then she decided to take her collection of hats and present programs at various civic and church organizations.
“It was an early form of mental well being,” Mattern noted, for both Leakey as well as for those to whom she was speaking.
She would travel throughout northern and central Indiana and Ohio presenting what is estimated to be several hundred programs.
Leakey had more than 600 hats in her collection at one point. That has been pared down to 100, she said, “and I can still give programs with my favorites.”
Tickets are still available for the annual Gala on Veterans Day, Nov. 11. Proceeds will benefit the Prenatal Education Fund.
Because of Veterans Day, those attending are encouraged to show their patriotism by wearing their best semi-formal red, white and blue. Military veterans are encouraged to wear their uniforms. Red, white and blue accent pieces will also be available at Ellen’s, where a portion of the sales will be donated to the Prenatal Education Fund.
Seating is limited. Early Bird Reservations are due by Oct. 27; after that tickets are $75.
For questions, please visit Parkview.com/WabashGala or contact Beth Squires Stein at Lizabeth.Stein@parkview.com or 260-569-2254.