I spent a good part of early June interviewing local nurses for HealthSource and Florida Doctor Magazine – it was one of the best assignments I’ve ever had. The love and caring and commitment oozed from theses nurses; they truly live and love nursing.
It made me think of when my father died 20 years ago after spending close to three months in a Maryland hospital. The nurses became family as they cared for our father as well as us. Several nurses came to his funeral and my mother continued those friendships.
I felt that same love and caring from the nurses I spoke with this summer. Jennifer Randolph is a great example.
Getting to know the patients is important to Jennifer Randolph, Assistant Nurse Manager of the Women’s Services Unit at Baptist South. She remembers caring for a patient, with lymphoma, during the Christmas season. “I cared for her for two of the 14 days that she was with us,” says Randolph, “and during those two days I learned a lot about her and what was worrying her.”
The patient’s biggest concern was how she could provide Christmas for her children. She shared her fear with Randolph, who immediately made a holiday plan. “I rallied my co-workers and asked them to help donate gifts to help relieve the burden for the patient and her family,” says Randolph. “We delivered everything to her house and she was just overjoyed and so appreciative,” says Randolph.
“It meant so much to me too because I learned what she really needed just by talking to her and caring about her,” she says. Just by doing what a nurse does.
It’s always good to be a nurse though there are a lot of responsibility, I do believe that nursing is not just a job and a profession but also a privilege to help many people (different kinds of people actually). With so many patients and many of these patients didn’t just suffer physical pain, but also psychological, emotional and spiritual weariness, nurses could help a lot to ease these pain and to share the love that these people really need.