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National Nurses Week is the perfect time to celebrate our team of amazing nurses who provide incredible care to every patient and their family. Enjoy the nurse’s story who shares not only what it means to be a Woman’s nurse, but a Woman’s patient too.
I first walked into Woman’s Hospital as a nursing student in the late 70s. I was offered the unique experience of watching three babies being born and the experience of working in the newborn nursery. The nurses were great preceptors; kind, professional and caring and really seemed interested in sharing their knowledge. This clinical rotation was one of my favorites.
In the early 1980s I was rolled into Woman’s Hospital in a wheelchair for the birth of my first child. The nursing care I received here motivated me to apply for an open position in Surgery. There was something different in the air here. Everyone had a smile on their face and seemed happier than at my present place of employment.
There was a severe nursing shortage at this time, and I was hired for the job without even having an interview; I was just referred by a current employee, my sister Kahne. After a great orientation, I was released to practice perioperative nursing on my own with the knowledge of always having colleagues available if I had any questions or ran into any difficulties. My colleagues were kind, professional and caring.
In the late 1980s, my second sister Kim was hired here at Woman’s Hospital also working in Surgery. Yes, we now had three sisters employed in Surgery here at Woman’s!
In the early 1990s, my husband and I had three more children added to my family—all born here at Woman’s Hospital. I continued to work in the perioperative setting specializing in the care of neonatal infants needing surgery.
During my children’s high school years, they all served as Junior Volunteers at Woman’s. All four qualified for additional college scholarships based on their volunteer service.
In the late 1990s, I was once again a patient here at Woman’s for GYN surgery. The nurses who cared for me were kind, professional and caring, and I was back to work just six short weeks later.
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