Thirty Four Years in Nursing
My StoryI have worked in the ER, the ICU, the OR, and the hospital manager's office but my passion for patient advocacy started long before my nursing carreer.
It All Started with My Father
When I was 16 years old, my father had a heart attack. We were in Texas at the time, and I sat with him in the emergency department while the nurses took care of him. He looked over at them, and then he looked at me. He told me he wanted me to be a nurse, “just like these girls.”
I told him I didn’t even like shots.
It took me a while to get there. I got married, had a son, tried accounting. Nothing I tried professionally really interested me much. Eventually, a friend of mine asked me to go with her to take the nursing school entrance exam. I decided to take it myself just for fun. To everyone’s surprise, I passed.
After the very first day of classes, I couldn’t wait to go back. I thought about my father. I thought about how proud he would be.
I Have Worked in Nearly Every Corner of the Hospital
I started as an LPN at a small rural hospital in Greensboro, Alabama. That place shaped me more than I realized at the time. People came in scared, in pain, and unable to communicate in the language their care team was using.
I had to learn what patients meant when they asked for help "making water."
I learned to understand patients were referring to the ambulance when they mentioned the "sick wagon."
The health literacy gap was not something I had read about, it was the room I was standing in. I became an RN and moved to the emergency department, where I spent six years.
From there, I spent twenty-five years at DCH Regional Medical Center in Tuscaloosa, working through medical ICU, surgical, total joint replacement, inpatient rehabilitation, and same day surgery. In most of those areas, I eventually became the manager. I really and truly stayed in nursing because I loved it.
I loved helping people. And I can’t deny that I loved the pace of it too.
Everyone is Family
A few weeks before COVID, a friend of mine came into the ER with pneumonia. She was active, mid-fifties, and a non-smoker. Her condition deteriorated quickly and the provider wanted to put her on a ventilator.
Her family called me, scared, because they could not understand why or what this meant for her. I explained it and did my best to answer any other questions they had. Over the next nine or ten days I helped them understand her lab values, her ventilator settings, what the X-rays were showing, and what came next.
Not medical advice. Just making sure the people who needed the information could actually use it.
Thankfully, she made a full recovery. Her family still reaches out to me on occasion and every time, what they say is the same thing: they weren’t afraid because they actually understood what was happening. That is what I want for everyone sitting in a waiting room right now not knowing what to ask.
My Background & Training
Key Roles
Emergency Department RN
Medical ICU RN
Surgical Unit Circulator and Team Leader
RN Nurse Manager, Total Joint Replacement Unit
Inpatient Rehabilitation Nurse Manager
Same Day Surgery Manager
Credentials
Registered Nurse, RN, BSN
Bachelor of Science in Nursing — Post University, 2018
Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS)
Basic Life Support (BLS)
Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS)
Alabama Nursing License No. 1-07709
Navigating Something on Your Own Right Now?
You do not need to come in with the right questions or a clear plan. Just reach out and let me know what’s going on. We will figure out the rest together.