ON BEING A NURSE . . .

I missed Nurses Day, International Nurses Day, and Nurses Week. Nonetheless, I do want to wish my colleagues all the best belatedly! Below is a picture of my mother on her graduation. While a kid, I had not considered being a nurse, although I greatly admired my mother's decision as my grandmother had been against it. It wasn't until 1943 when the government established the Nurse Cadet Corps, that my mother was able to risk my grandmother's ire and follow her dream. I know she loved being a nurse, and I'm certain her education proved valuable in raising her nine kids! While she enjoyed pediatrics, she worked both adult and skilled nursing care, until regretfully retiring her license when she was nearly 80. It was in caring for my grandfather, that she met my father's family, and with prodding from his mother, that she met my father after the war.

My own path was considerably different. As a kid, I dreamed primarily of travel and thought I might be an airline stewardess (who originally were nurses). Later on, I thought I would be a missionary nun, or possibly a doctor. In time, I discovered I enjoyed the social life of college more than the study aspect, although I did manage to survive that. The only job I could get my first summer away from school was as a hospital nurses aide. I liked the combination of patient care and science, but I felt that nurses were too subservient. When I looked into the nursing program at Ohio State, I expressed that view to the dean, who happened to say: "Nursing is like anything else you'll do; it's what you make of it." Fortunately, my application was accepted.

Nursing is an amazing profession in that it can take one in so many directions. I did get to travel and have worked on both the East and West coasts and in the Midwest, as well as in Ireland. I started in pediatrics, but moved on to skilled nursing when I went back to school, moving to a place where there was no pediatric hospital. I went on to work for a state nurses association as a labor rep, back to long-term care, followed by acute care (infectious diseases), and hospital administration---running the patient classification/staffing system for two hospitals. I then went back to general med-surg, nursing supervision, home-health, and adult day care, finishing up with learning how to insert PICC lines at an infusion program.

Having new and different to opportunities to work when life took me in different directions was a significant advantage. At times, I often worked part-time in a variety of settings, allowing me to schedule my availability to help with family matters. I now volunteer at a community health program, providing services to the working uninsured. I have been extremely fortunate and I've learned something from every experience, not to mention the making of good friends! The variety of all these very different settings has also now provided me with fodder for my venture into the world of writing.

Everyone should be so lucky!