HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN A CAREGIVER?
I have been working with BrightStar Care since February 2017, and as a Registered Nurse since January 1987.
WHAT MOTIVATED YOU TO BECOME A CAREGIVER?
Initially I graduated with a bachelor degree in Criminal Justice. Besides my internship, I never worked in the field because I realized prior to my graduation that I did not have the personality for it. I think that if a criminal had said "boo" to me I would have fainted or run away crying. So I started to take all the prerequisites for nursing school and then got prepared for starting the nursing program. When I was in 8th grade we had a class called "Careers" where we had to do a project on what we wanted to be when we grew up. The project that I selected was interviewing a Registered Nurse. I should have realized my 13 year old self knew where my heart was.
WHAT ASPECT OF YOUR JOB ARE YOU MOST PASSIONATE ABOUT?
I am very passionate about teaching patients as much information about what they absolutely need to know in regards to their illness, tests, procedures, surgeries, and recovery that I can give them.
HOW ARE YOU MAKING THINGS MORE POSSIBLE FOR YOUR BRIGHTSTAR CLIENTS?
I am very passionate about teaching patients as much information about what they absolutely need to know in regards to their illness, tests, procedures, surgeries, and recovery that I can give them.
WHAT ADVICE DO YOU HAVE FOR OTHER CAREGIVERS?
The advice that I would give to other nurses is to take the time to get to know your patient, talk to them, listen to them and give as much encouragement as possible.
DO YOU HAVE A FAVORITE CAREGIVER STORY/MOMENT?
My favorite nursing story happened during Covid. I worked in the hospital on the first Covid unit that opened there. Myself and a few of the other nurses worked 5-12 hour shifts a week during that horrible time. I had a young man who was my patient for many days. Everyday I would go in to see him and would remind him to try to do exercise whenever he could...get up, walk around, sit in a chair instead of just laying in bed the whole time. Everytime I passed his room, I knocked on the window and motioned to him to try to do his exercises. Even though he was very sick, he would give me the thumbs up sign and he would do what I asked him. Eventually he got well enough to go home. Later in the week, I received a card from his family, thanking me for giving him so much encouragement that he fully recovered...mostly they thought, due to me encouraging him to get better. This really made working with all of the covid patients worth it.