When Martha Walsh finished college, she had no idea the impact she would make on the lives of so many people. Martha graduated from the Mount in 1957 with a bachelor’s degree in nursing. A call to serve the Lord led her to join the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati soon after graduation. One classmate wrote of Sister Martha that she “lives out the values of the College, expanding on the meaning of service to God and humanity.”
Sister Martha’s professional career has been devoted to the field of health care as a nurse, educator and lecturer. She began her career in the nursery and maternity units at Good Samaritan Hospital, where she worked as a head nurse, supervisor and then assistant director of nursing. In the 1970s, Sister Martha earned a certificate in nurse-midwifery along with a graduate degree. She traveled to Africa where she taught midwifery to the native women and promoted maternal and child health care.
She has participated in numerous conferences and courses on ethics, such as the United States-El Salvador Third Annual Colloquia on Health Care and the Health Care Ethics Institute at the Mount. She has served on the ethics committees of Good Samaritan, Mother Margaret Hall and Bayley Place. She currently serves on the National Board of Catholic Health Initiatives and Bayley Place, and is an advocate for the working poor locally and nationally.
For compassionate service, dedication to God and devotion to the field of health care, the College of Mount St. Joseph presents the 2007 Sister Mary Lea Human Service Award to Sister Martha Walsh, class of 1957.