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Dear Reader,

I have just finished watching a very truth seeking, touching movie called “Wit”. An excellent film to be sure, the closet to the realism of the health care system and patient’s experiences with Cancer that I have ever seen. It made me think about so many things..some of which I will write tomorrow but one thought for today….What does it take to be a great nurse?

In each profession I would say that you could train a person to learn skills and be competent in them. However, I believe that there must be some kind of intrinsic quality that allows that person to perform optimally. And I thought to myself, “What is nursing all about? What is the truth or the lesson of humanity that nursing truly contributes to make this world the way it should be?

You could train any person to hang an IV medication, teach a patient to change an ostomy, teach crutch walking or answer phones and take doctor orders. However, this is not what nurses add to the greater picture.

I walked up to a patient the other day who was sitting outside with her family. Remarkable to see her up, I went over to her as I was walking in for my shift and said hello, put my arm around her and conversed with her family. Motivating a person to get up an walk after hip surgery, offering coffee to a dying patients’family, making anyone on your unit smile for any reason, being able to work through terrible abuse from patients, going home and not crying every single day because sickness is not only your work but part of your life…singing a patient a song…..The list is endless but I believe that these qualities are what it takes to be A.) Be a nurse, B.) Be a great nurse, and C.) make a contribution to this work that seeks out what life is all about and offers it to others. It is not that I have given pain medication to a patient so that they may be strong enough to go for a walk…it is that I am the arm around their waist, walking with them, telling jokes and making them smile. That is what nursing is all about…

I wrote this letter in March of 2005 while in the Great White North. I just wanted to share a small segment of what I experience on a daily basis.

Hello Everyone,

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Especially to all you Irish out there, St. Patrick is one to be proud of! I just got off night shift and you might think I am really tired, but I had an amazing night. Three of my patients are palliative care, that means they are going to die within a short period of time. Sometimes people think night shift is boring, or really hard to get through, but I never find that.

Tonight a lady who probably only has days left, rang for me to come to her side. She kept saying she didn’t feel right, felt funny, and would make excuses to see me. The funny thing is, she didn’t have to make excuses, I would just go and see her anyway. We sat and talked about what dying meant to her and how she was ever going to get through her last days. She told me she wanted to see the priest in the morning, so I arranged for it. She asked me if there was anything else she could do for herself and I told her ” If you believe that God has a plan, and a time and a place for you, you will know in your heart everything will be alright and you do your part, and God will do his.” She smiled and went to sleep.

I don’t know if she will be there tomorrow or the next day, but I do know, God has a plan for her and God will touch her in ways before her death that not even she will know about until they arrive.

God sends us people from all different walks of life to change our lives. She told me that I may have changed hers, but I don’t think she realizes how much she has impacted mine… I think even more so. And I get these amazing experiences in my life everyday by just going to work. I am very fortunate in my practice and career to get to learn exactly what I should be doing right now so I don’t look back with any regrets. I get to learn the mistakes people made and not make them for myself. I get the knowledge of all the elderly I work with and I have learned so much about what’s really important in life. I guess the most common things I hear are ” Don’t drink, don’t smoke”, “Get to know your family”, “I wish I would have treated my spouse better”, “Have good clean fun”, and ” count your blessings”. I consider myself priviledged to get this information just in my daily work. It’s like I have a foresight that I let touch me so I can be a better person.

Believe that God is working in your life, even when you don’t feel it.

God Bless,
Grace

As a nurse who has had the flu shot for the last four years as part of my nursing obligations, my opinion on the flu shot is that it has become a way to protect ourselves in the 21 St Century against the possiblity of a pandemic that could take many lives.

Is it necessary? Well, if you look at the last time there was a flu pandemic in North America in the 1950’s, you will see that almost half of the population acquired the flu and nearly as many died. This is convincing however, some people are argue that putting a flu vaccine into your body is not natural. However, because we as humans have altered nature in so many ways, we must then adjust to the reprecussions of what it means to get the flu at a time where we are waiting for a pandemic (waiting 11 years now) to hit us, come anytime.

It’s really a personal choice, but for my part, I have already had my flu shot so I can prevent it’s spread, should a pandemic come about.

Join me tomorrow for: the UN culture vote!

Hello to all, My name is Grace and welcome to my website!! I find it very hard to tell people who I am and what defines a person as such but I will do my best. I am a child of God, a nurse by day and night, a sister 24/7. I spend my time hanging out with friends, being in love, singing, playing guitar, volunteering, and getting outdoors (plus many others). I hope you will enjoy this website and feel free to share any comments.