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Former dean of nursing at Samuel Merritt College in Oakland, Calif., Sarah Keating, Ed.D., RN, FAAN, remains invested in the profession by teaching part-time for several institutions and helping develop nursing faculty programs.

Vivien De Back's irrepressible retirement pace-which includes editing an international nursing journal, lobbying for nursing causes and speaking at nursing meetings-often has inspired family and friends to quip: When is she really going to stop working?

"I just tell them, 'Never,' " said the 69-year-old, who retired in 1995 after 41 years in nursing.

"The people I know in nursing, when they leave their jobs, they do other things that enhance nursing," said De Back, Ph.D., RN, FAAN, of Franklin, Wis., a suburb of Milwaukee. "Nursing is so much a part of our lives that we have to stay involved in it. Itin our soul."

De Back is part of a dynamic cadre of nurses who are busier than ever in retirement. They're using their skills to volunteer and work part time in myriad capacities in hospitals and classrooms, leading community support groups and parish health programs, recruiting new nursing students, lobbying for political causes and helping professional nursing organizations.

With a severe nursing shortage looming-and the average age of nurses higher than ever-retirees like De Back are fast becoming a crucial link in the nursing profession.

"The older nurse is essential to the workforce. That is a person who brings vast experience and wisdom," said Betsey Snow, MPH, director for workplace advocacy at the American Nurses Association in Washington, D.C. "To lose that person is going to be a very difficult thing because it will be hard for nursing to fill that gap."

De Back credits a nursing mentor with planting the seed for an active retirement in her mind. Thirty years ago, just after De Back was named dean of the nursing school at Alverno College in Milwaukee, the dean of nursing at University of Wisconsin-Madison, Val Prock, introduced herself.

"She very much welcomed me into the group," De Back said. "I learned a lot of things from her about how to mentor people."

De Back also was impressed when Prock retired in her 60s and joined the Peace Corps. "I thought she was a really good role model for retirement," she said. "That stayed in my mind."

De Back has a paid part-time consulting position with the International Council of Nurses, editing the International Nursing Review-an extension of the nursing education work she did in the 1980s and 1990s in Eastern Europe. She also volunteers in the political arena, working with Rep. Jerry Kleczka, D-Wis., on nursing issues, and speaking at professional gatherings, such as the Wisconsin Nurses Association meeting Oct. 24-26.

De Back and her husband manage to squeeze kayaking, biking, hiking and traveling into their retirement, as well as spending time with their four children and seven grandchildren.

"I try hard to control my time so I can do all that," De Back said. "But I also like to work and help make the world a better place, and get the money needed for the most vulnerable among us. Those are the things that really turn me on."

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