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by Dale Grauman

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Multnomah Welcomes Jana Poling, the New Nurse

Jana and Dan Poling air up their bikes for a Saturday ride.
Aubrey the dalmatian looks on. --Dale Grauman, photo

Jana Poling, Multnomah's new wellness center director, knew she wanted to be a nurse at age 6 when her parents bought her a toy doctor's kit. "I've always wanted to help people feel better," she said.

After high school, Mrs. Poling postponed nursing school to attend the Montana Institute of the Bible in Lewistown, Mont. At the time, she enrolled mainly to satisfy expectations within her church, but Mrs. Poling said she believes the experience has helped her as a nurse. "Not only do [nurses] care for [patients'] bodies," Mrs. Poling said, "but we also care for their hearts and their souls and their minds."

At age 21, Mrs. Poling finished Bible college and enrolled in a nursing school, Northern Montana College, in Haver, Mont. Here she met Dan Poling, who was working at a radio station in Haver.

The two struck up a friendship. When the couple met, Mr. Poling was a member of the Mormon church. "He was a really nice guy," Mrs. Poling said. "I think every girl should convert a Mormon."

That school year during spring break, Mrs. Poling wrote Mr. Poling a 32-page paper explaining why she could not share his Mormon faith. "I was nervous because I really liked him, but I knew we were going to make [the relationship] or break it on this issue," Mrs. Poling said. "I handed it to him and said, 'I don't want to see or talk to you until you have read and digested this' -- and it was the longest week of my life."

Mr. Poling said that reading about God's grace in the paper was "a breath of fresh air." Over time, Mr. Poling converted to Christianity. The couple was married in the summer of 1980, just over a year after Mrs. Poling wrote the paper. The Mormon church excommunicated Mr. Poling, and two weeks after the wedding, Mrs. Poling took tests for her nursing license.

Mrs. Poling began her career at the Good Shepherd Rest Home in Haver, Mont. At different times during the next 25 years, she worked on the medical-surgical floor of a hospital, in an emergency room and at children's and women's clinics. She also spent many years as a telephone consultant at pediatric clinics.

As a telephone consultant, Mrs. Poling had to keep records on every call she took. Paperwork included records of the patients' personal information, their symptoms and what advice they received from the nurse.

In 2004, while working at The Children's Clinic in Tualatin, she asked her husband to write a computer program to help cut down on the tedious, repetitious paperwork.

A seasoned software designer, Mr. Poling wrote the program in a weekend. The program, called Chart-It, speeds up record-keeping by allowing the advice nurse to point and click instead of handwriting medical records. Using Chart-It, Mrs. Poling said she can easily take twice as many calls in a day and save reams of paper.

When the clinic administrator asked if all of the advice nurses could use Chart-It, the Polings decided they should start a small business. The software business is called eSential, and it has two employees: the Polings. Mr. Poling writes and maintains the software, and Mrs. Poling demonstrates the software to potential customers.

To date they have demonstrated the software to four clinics in the Portland area, and each demonstration has resulted in a sale. The couple plans to eventually expand eSential and sell to a larger region. Mr. Poling is writing a version of the software for Mrs. Poling to use at Multnomah's wellness center.

This semester is Mrs. Poling's first experience as a school nurse. Amy Provenzola, office manager of Multnomah's music department, called Mrs. Poling in September and encouraged her to apply for the open position in the Wellness Center.

"When [Amy] called me about the position, I just kind of laughed and said that I didn't want it," Mrs. Poling said.

Riley and Miriam Gibby also began pressuring Mrs. Poling to apply. After some fretting and sleepless nights, Mrs. Poling decided to turn in an application. She said that she felt incredible peace after she did. "It's like I knew this is where God wanted me," she said.

Today Mrs. Poling works full-time at Multnomah, sporadically demonstrates Check-It and teaches child-birthing classes at Adventist Medical Center on Sundays. She attends Central Bible Church and works in the nursery on Sunday mornings.

Professor Gibby, head of the music department, met Mrs. Poling more than 15 years ago at Community Bible Fellowship in Portland. She described Mrs. Poling as level-headed and tough but also tender. "I told her when she took this job," Professor Gibby said, "'I don't know if students are going to get by with phony excuses for illnesses.'"

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