When a visiting nurse stopped by the family home to take care of her injured father, it made such an impression on 4-year-old Alene Duerk that she embarked on a health-care career so notable that members of Congress are now trying to get the U.S. Navy to name a ship in her honor.

“She saw how the nurse was helping her mom care for her father, and she wanted to be just like that,” said Patricia Ringos Beach, co-author of the 2018 book Capes, Caps and Caring: The Legacy of Diploma Nursing Schools in Toledo.

Her name kept popping up as the authors researched the city’s nursing schools.

“There were nine schools of nursing associated with hospitals in the Toledo area for most of the 20th century,” said Beth White, another of the book’s authors. “The last one closed in 1999, St. Vincent Schoo

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