Where Are They Now?

When Debbie Harbin Steiner graduated from Dublin High School in 1973, she didn’t have a clear plan. “I really wasn’t sure what I wanted to do,” she said. “But I just stumbled into something that ended up being my life’s work — something I’ve really loved.”

That something was nursing. Debbie knew she liked taking care of people, so when she heard about a program at the Dublin Hospital where she could become a Licensed Practical Nurse, or LPN, she enrolled on a whim.

“I didn’t know that until I got into it, but once I started I just felt like I was meant to be a nurse,” she said. “I just lucked out.”

Three years later, in 1976, she joined the army, where she continued nursing — this time in the obstetrics unit of Fitzsimmons Army Hospital in Denver, Colorado. “That was where I started delivering babies,” she said. “It was a high-risk labor and delivery unit.”

She worked in that unit for two years of her four-year term, and then transferred to one of the hospital’s pediatric clinics. When she got out of the army, she took some time off work to raise her newborn daughter, and soon after, she and her then-husband moved to Pacific, Washington, where she had another child, a son.

She stayed home for a few years, but Steiner knew she wanted to get back into nursing. So when her children were old enough to go to school, she enrolled at Highline College in Des Moines, Washington to get her associates degree in nursing with her GI Bill.

Out of college, Debbie jumped right back into nursing, this time at Tacoma General Hospital in Tacoma, Washington, again in the labor and delivery unit. “I had a good experience there,” she said.

After 12 years at Tacoma General, Debbie moved back to Texas for a while, then back up to Washington to be closer to her daughter. Debbie worked at Valley Hospital in Spokane Valley Washington.

Five years ago, Debbie moved to Moscow, Idaho, a town surrounded by beautiful rolling hills and mountain views. She now works as a labor and delivery nurse at the Gritman Medical Center there.

Debbie’s days as a nurse are unpredictable. “It comes and goes,” she said. “You can have one of the busiest days where you never stop, or you can just be sitting there for a whole day. You never know who’s going to walk in the door.”

Her job in Moscow is not quite as dramatic as it was at bigger hospitals, but she enjoys the pace. Since the beginning of the pandemic, she’s seen parallels with the time

“I started my career 40 years ago with a mask on,” she said. “You had to wear a mask to go into the delivery room at all, but then we kind of got away from that. But now we wear our PPE all the time.”

Working during COVID has been less stressful since she got her vaccine, although she still has to be careful until a majority of the community is immune.

Debbie plans to continue working for another year or two, and then retire. Postretirement, she is looking forward to spending more time with her family. Throughout her life, she’s always been able to turn to them when she needs encouragement or inspiration.

“Whether my immediate family or family there in Dublin, they are very supportive,” she said.

Her parents, Troy and Fleda Harbin, still live in Dublin, and her three sisters live in the area as well. “My dad was a welder, and my mom took care of us growing up,” she said. “Four girls was a lot of work I’m sure.”

Steiner has two grown children herself. Her daughter Sandy, 40, works for Washington State University’s financial department, and her son, Scott, 37, works for a chemical company out of Boise, Idaho.

She also has two grandchildren: Evelyn, 9 and Ashley, 5. “One granddaughter is very creative,” she said. “You just hand her crayons and paper and she makes a masterpiece. And the other one right now likes to watch cartoons, but in her own way, her little personality is amazing. It’s just funny how they can be so different.”

In non-pandemic times, Debbie enjoys traveling in her free time. She gets home to Dublin at least once a year, and also travels farther afield. “I like to go to Hawaii,” she said. “It seems to have been my spot for the last several years.”

Throughout her life, Steiner has been grateful to have found a career that has let her have this freedom, as well as an enjoyable work environment. “Nursing has been such a good career,” she said. “Everybody has some kind of niche and I’m lucky to have stumbled into one that’s been really good for me.

Editor’s Note: This column chronicles what Dublin graduates have done since high school. If you have any suggestions for other graduates, email publisher@dublincitizen.com.