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Bridgette Picou, LVN, ACLPN
Stakeholder Liaison, The Well Project
ANAC Director-at-Large
Hey! Nurse!
I remember the first time I heard "Hey, Nurse!" as an official shiny new nurse with an actual license. A patient needed a nurse - me - and not only that, but I knew how to help. It wasn't just the thrill of the license. It was that I had made a commitment and was seeing it through. It honestly took a while for the thrill of that to wear off. Even when I didn't know the answer, I knew where to ask and get folks the help they needed. There have been times when hearing "NURSE!!!!" yelled at the top of someone's lungs made me want to throw up my hands and holler, or roll my eyes, or get somebody else to do it, but even in those times, I remember my commitment.
Nursing is a lot of things. A nurse learns, teaches and guides. Its exciting and intense. Its encouraging your patients and pushing yourself. It evolves and grows, and makes you grow. Nursing is expansive and knowing a little bit about a lot. Its lessons in treating people with broken bones, to cancer, to Alzheimer's, to HIV and knowing the common denominators are care and trust. Its shouldering the responsibility of being the adult in the room and knowing your choices can have far reaching consequences - both good and bad. Often, more good than bad which is a beautiful thing. Being a nurse means a career that says you can stay and do the same specialty for thirty years, or thirty specialties in twenty years. People often talk about the doctors who specialize in Neurosurgery, or Infectious Disease, but forget the nurses expertise in those specialties, and forget just how special nurses are.
I didn't become a nurse until late in life, and I regret not doing so sooner. What I don't regret is having had the opportunity at all. There is a saying that what's for you is for you, and will find it's way to you no matter what. The wild set of circumstances that brought me to nursing at forty years old are proof of that. The way my world opened up through nursing reinforces that. In these times where everything is on fire, and the world feels so uncertain, I also find comfort in that.
Hey, Nurse! Thank you for all your sacrifices, tears, hard work and for showing up. You matter. Be well.
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