Yearbook Saying

Middletown  . . .  U.R.I.  . . .  
likes the good times during class and lunch  . . .  hates tests and studying  . . .  
remembers the "learning" atmosphere in class  . . .  enjoys all sports  . . .  
"I'll drink to that."

Activities:  Second Honors

Current Info

Frank and his wife June live in Middletown where they have raised three children.  Frank does case management for patients who are being discharged from the hospital, helping them transition back to their homes.   He and his wife June (who is a nurse) also like visiting with their two grand children.

Newport Daily News - June 3, 2017

NEWPORT — On Friday afternoon at 3:30, Frank and June Martin walked out of Newport Hospital for the last time as employees.

After 42 years working together at the hospital, the Middletown couple made the decision to retire together. Their decades of dedication to the patients and the hospital community were recognized by staff and colleagues, who gathered Friday to honor them.

Frank worked as a transition coordinator, helping patients as they prepared to leave the hospital. June was an acclaimed nurse, winning the national Press Ganey Nurse of the Year award in 2016.

To honor June, her fellow nurses on the second floor wore traditional white uniforms — as she did every day on the job — something that brought a tear to her eye walking into work for the last time at 6:45 a.m.

“I saw one of them in the parking lot and then another and realized what was going on,” said June, 64, talking about her last day. “I couldn’t believe it.”

“I knew,” Frank, 65, said in response.

“You kept that from me?” June asked. “I had no idea.”

“It’s what we have to do here, with patient confidentiality,” Frank said. “I could be in the CIA with some of the secrets we have to keep.”

A native of Bristol, June started her career at Newport Hospital in 1974 after completing the hospital’s nursing school. Frank, who was born and raised in Newport, began a year later after earning a degree in sociology from the University of Rhode Island.

Looking back on the start of their careers, both said their jobs seemed rudimentary compared to the technology and sophistication of today’s medical world. June said she remembers monitoring patient drips from glass bottles by pressing a rubber button while looking at her wristwatch, work that’s handled by machines today.

“If you think about it back then, I don’t know how we did it,” June said. “The amount of equipment that’s here today, it’s much, much safer, especially with how we disperse medicine. Now, you scan the patient’s bracelet, (a bar code for) the medicine itself and it better be right because if it’s not, you can’t do anything, and that’s the way it should be.”

“One of the best innovations has been the electronic record keeping,” Frank said. “There’s no confusion about what a doctor wrote, whether that’s an ‘E’ or an ‘I,’ or what an order says. It’s all there and it follows the patient from the moment they get here to the day they leave.”

The couple met while working on the fourth floor of the hospital and got married in 1980. They have three children, Alison, Sean and Elizabeth. Despite being married, the Martins said they always tried to keep things professional when on the job.

“We had jobs to do here and we always wanted to keep it professional,” Frank said. “Our roles were our roles here and I always laughed when someone said, ‘I can’t believe you kept it a secret.’ It wasn’t a secret, it just wasn’t part of our jobs here.”

“I remember one time when a doctor walked by my locker and saw a picture of Frank inside and was like, ‘You’re married to Frank?’ And I said, ‘We’ve been married for 30 years. Where have you been?” June said. “That still makes me laugh.”

Working weekends, nights and other nontraditional times, June said the bond among nurses is very tight.

“When you work here, it’s not a 9-to-5 job,” she said. “There are a lot of nights, weekends, holidays, and you bond as friends and become a family. That’s probably one of the biggest things I’m going to miss.”

“I was talking to someone the other day about leaving and it really hit me,” Frank said. “I’ve been here since I was 23. A lot has changed over that time, but I always liked what I was doing and saw no reason to leave. It was a good career.”

As much personal enjoyment as the Martins got out of their jobs, staff members said the hospital benefited from their presence, too.

“Anyone who knows Frank and June are quite aware of the passion they bring to their jobs and the love they have for taking care of patients,” said Orla Brandos, Newport Hospital’s vice president of patient care services and the chief nursing officer. “Their Newport Hospital colleagues have benefited from their wealth of experience, kindness and willingness to teach best practices. It’s been a pleasure to see their unwavering commitment to ensuring that the patient and family are at the center of everything we do as healthcare professionals.”

Asked about what they plan to do in retirement, both said their priority is to spend more time with family and friends, particularly their grandchildren.

June also talked about having more time for crafts and gardening, while Frank said he looks forward to studying history and visiting some National Parks with his wife.

All that free time seemed a little bit hard to believe Friday for the Martins, who have been coming to the same place almost every week for more than four decades.

“I want to say that the staff here has been wonderful and made the years just fly by,” June said. “I wouldn’t change a thing.”