Another Great Medical Nursing Story
I found this on a recent Facebook link. It encompasses real authentic caring. It will remind you of all that is good in our healthcare system:
Nicole, 30, spent much of her infancy in the 80s stuck inside a hospital. She was born with twisted intestines. For the first few years of her life, she was supplied with nutrition intravenously.
Lynn Bartos was Nicole’s primary ambulatory nurse for years at Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin.
Lynn and Nicole shared a special bond. When Nicole was two years old, she and Lynn were even featured in a 1988 article in Children’s Nurse magazine.
Over time, Nicole’s health began to improve. She was eating solid food, gaining weight, and decreased her trips to the hospital.
In the early 90s, Lynn took a new job at another hospital. It was unlikely she’d ever see little Nicole (or “Nini” as she called her) — but she never forgot her.
When Nicole was in high school, she decided she wanted to be a nurse. She had such fond, powerful memories of Lynn and the care she received as a child.
For the past two years, Nicole has been a registered nurse at Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin.
This past summer, something incredible happened at the infusion clinic where Nicole works.
Every few weeks, an elderly woman receives medications to relieve her symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis. She and Nicole got to talking, and the woman told her that she’s also a nurse at Froedtert — but she used to work at Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin. Things started to snowball, and the lightbulb went off.
“Nini?” Lynn asked.
“Oh, my God, yes,” Nicole replied.
Incredible. The little girl who Lynn once cared for so long ago was now the same woman taking care of her as a 66-year-old.
“When you get to be my age, you look back and think: Did all that stuff I do matter? Did it make a difference?” Lynn told the Journal Sentinel. “What I did mattered, and now here’s someone who can follow in my footsteps and other nurses my age as we reach retirement.”
This story is about people and not numbers. It is real and it keeps you coming back to work. What nurses (and doctors) do matters!
Nice story.
Reminds me many years ago a fellow by the name of “Mr. T” was visiting someone in town where
I was training. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._T)
He came in unannounced to visit the children at a local Catholic hospital. I thought it was great because he wasn’t a jerk. He proceeded to go the the presidents office, who was a nun, to ask
permission if he could visit the kids. I bet sister was taken aback by his persona and the kids enjoyed his visit. This was at the height of the “A” Team on NBC.
Kurt