Why I Am A Nurse, or Why Am I A Nurse?

\















I didn't always plan to be a Nurse - it just never entered my mind when I went to College! In fact, I wasn't sure what I wanted to be "when I grew up!" I only went to College because it was "the thing to do."

My dad's philosophy - "Why does a girl need College?" - was all I ever heard on the subject. But he was willing to pay for one year. After that, I was on my own! So there wasn't much encouragement there. You see, I grew up in an age when girls were supposed to be thinking about marriage and babies, not careers.

And so, I set off to College in September of 1957 with no idea of what my major would be. When I got there, I had to declare a major, so I chose "Business." I had already had some experience in an office in my summer job, and I had taken typing and a business course in High School, so I figured that was where a "girl" should be. Secretarial training is more what I had in mind.

Gerry changed all of that! I met him on the first day of registration in the Field House. It wasn't "love at first sight," but there was something about him that I liked. He was 8+ years older , and that was a bit unnerving. But, unlike most of my boyfriends up to this point, he was a nice man and he was LDS.

From that very first day, school was a blur. I couldn't concentrate on much, but Gerry got me through and at the end of that first year, we were married. My dad's philosophy proved to be the right one. At least for now.

None of this has anything to do with why I am a Nurse, but it did put me on a path to a boatload of experiences that would lead me there. I found that when you are a wife and a mother, you have many opportunities to practice nursing skills within the four walls of your home. Children get sick and they fall down a lot and scrape knees and elbows. Sometimes they break bones and cut themselves. Caring for minor wounds came naturally for me, because my mother was good at these things. Fevers scared me though, and I found I needed Doctors to tell me what to do.

Husbands need nursing too, sometimes. They cut themselves; they get sick; and sometimes they need to go to the Hospital.

I honestly believe that Nursing is a calling and sometime in my 35th year I heard the call. It came through a friend of mine when we were living in Rowland Heights, California. I was having a difficult time in my life and needed something more than "motherhood" and "wifehood" to make me feel fulfilled. I have been told I was selfish and that may be correct, but something else was calling me.

My friend had just finished Nursing School and I asked her about it one day. Her answer surprised me and got me to thinking. She told me her experiences and asked "Why don't you try it?" That was all it took. Yes, why not?

And so my adventure began. At first it was a step off the ledge of uncertainty into pure darkness, but I didn't fall headlong into nothingness. No. I fell into a love affair with compassion, caring, skills I never knew I possessed and the greatest fulfillment outside of marriage and family I will ever know. And it has lasted over 34 years!

Why am I a Nurse? Because I was called to be someone who feels deeply the wounds of others and wants nothing more in life than to ease their pain. I have found that I can't always heal their wounds or cure their illnesses or even prevent their ultimate battles at the end of their lives. But I can be the salve to take away some of the pain, the listening ear when no one else wants to hear, the hand to hold when life is at its end, and the comforter in the dark of night when tears come easily.

I am a Nurse because no other calling on earth has lifted me so high or challenged me intellectually, mentally, physically or spiritually as much as this one has. My gift came from my creator and I am grateful for the ability I have been given to magnify this calling.

I am a Nurse because where there is need, I need to to be there to fill it.

I am a Nurse because somewhere in the back of my mind I hear my dad's voice saying, "Choose for your life's work something you love to do, and you will always love your work." I have found this to be so true.

I love my work, and therefore it is NOT WORK! It is a labor of love.


Sorry for the really bad picture quality here, but this is a copy of my "Nurse of the Year" picture from Dixie Regional Medical Center, St. George, Utah, 1996. The honor came to me after 21 years in Nursing, and 4 years after receiving my Bachelor of Science Degree in Nursing from Weber State University, Ogden, Utah in 1992.