Family Ties
Lyn Bate, a site supervisor at Langley Memorial who spent more than 36 years as a nurse in the Critical Care and Emergency units, has a hot tip for children of health care workers: “The kids knew that when Mommy was on night shift, they’d better be quiet because she’s not going to be happy when she wakes up.”
Such is the fate of a nurse’s family on night shift. It’s a lifestyle that demands patience and understanding from spouses and children alike. But for Ron Bate, those childhood lessons in the realities of health care work became the foundation for his own nursing career and an extraordinary working relationship with his mother.
A Legacy in the Making
The perks and pitfalls of working with a mother, sibling or spouse are many and varied - if you’re Ron Bate, however, it’s nothing but upside. “She calls me her legacy,” says Ron, manager of the hospital’s Emergency Department.
What a legacy it is.
Ron has been working at Langley Memorial off and on since 2004, spanning over 20 years in health care. While he spent the majority of his career in pediatrics, he transitioned to emergency care in 2013, and took over as manager of the emergency department in 2023.
Working together daily presents unique dynamics that most families never navigate. As Lyn oversees patient flow, working closely with emergency services to move patients efficiently, she crosses paths with her son regularly.
“When we first started working consistently together, it was a little bit awkward - I called her by her first name for a while, and then it just didn’t feel right,” Ron explains. Now, though, it’s straightforward: Ron and Mom.
They’re not alone among staff at Langley Memorial Hospital, where siblings, married couples and parent-child ties among health care workers are common.
Patients are often charmed by the connection when they notice the family resemblance, Ron says. “If someone’s working with their child, obviously they see it as a good place to work. They wouldn’t want their kid to come work in a place that’s not safe or that’s not giving good care,” says Lyn.
Ron values having someone who truly understands the pressures of health care, not to mention intimate knowledge of the hospital’s politics and personnel. “She’s coached me well,” he says.
Lyn, who started at Langley Memorial in 1979 and officially retired after 36 years before returning as casual staff, has earned deep respect throughout the hospital. Her philosophy has always been simple: “If I could go home at the end of the day and say, ‘I actually helped somebody today,’ then I feel that I did a good job.”
That respect has transferred to Ron in unexpected ways. When staff learned he was the new emergency manager, the response was overwhelmingly positive: “Everyone was like, ‘Oh, that’s Lyn’s son - we’re in good hands.’”
Mother and son maintain professional boundaries, keep patient confidentiality paramount and avoid gossip. At family gatherings, work talk stays generic.
A Better Era
It may have taken decades, but Lyn says she’s glad her son works in a health care environment as collaborative and hospitable as Langley Memorial Hospital today.
As a young nurse, she was often intimidated by the strict hierarchical hospital culture of the 1970s, when nurses had to stand when physicians entered a room and never dared call a doctor by their first name. “It was terrifying,” she recalls. “But you learn and you grow, and here we are today. I love seeing nurses with independence and nurses who know their rights.”
Today, Lyn’s reputation as “mom” extends far beyond her actual son. “I’ve reached the stage in my career where everybody calls me mom or mother,” she says, “because I seem to be able to smooth and fix things for the staff and the patients. When people know that if something’s wrong, I will be there to try and support them. Whether I can fix it or not doesn’t matter. I’m there for them.”