Nurses are the unsung heroes of society. As a travel nurse, you know you and your team work tirelessly to provide high-quality patient care. Even when you're facing your own personal battles, you head into the hospital ready to face whatever emergency arises. It can often be reassuring and heartwarming to see the stories of fellow nurses who have made sacrifices for their patients. Here are a few inspiring stories to start your day on the right foot:
Through sleet and snow
You've likely skipped a meal or missed out on a family party to get to the hospital, but nurse Chantelle Diabate takes making her shift to a whole new level. According to ABC News, Diabate walked through a blizzard so she could care for her nursing home patients. On that blistering Saturday in January 2016, Diabate was the only nurse to make it to the medical facility.
According to the nursing home director, David Pomeranz, this is just Diabate's way of being a dedicated nurse.
"Chantelle wasn't looking for a lot of attention, "said Pomeranz. "She just came to do her job and felt happy she was needed."
A life-long career
Alice Graber is a great example of a compassionate, dedicated nurse. She did, after all, commit 72 years of her life to this career. To put that in perspective, one of the babies she helped deliver is now 52 years old! The great-grandmother was featured on the Today Show in July 2016 when she retired from being the oldest nurse in South Dakota.
It's more than just the fact that Graber worked until the ripe age of 93 that makes this nurse so inspiring. It was her history of always putting her patients first even when she faced personal struggles. Her father died when she was 9 and her mother passed when she was 14, which left Graber and her two siblings under the care of other family members. She persevered and graduated from nursing school in 1944.
And her co-workers were certainly glad she did. Many colleagues spoke with Today, noting how much they appreciated Garber's energetic, compassionate personality and all the valuable lessons she taught them. Garber will continue helping others through her volunteer work at assisted living facilities.
Seeing the positive in negative experiences
Those in travel nursing, particularly oncology nurses, see the impact of cancer in their everyday work. Nurse Kristen Noles experienced it first-hand when she was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 35. She immediately began aggressive chemotherapy for the first six months of her two-year treatment, and she still cared for patients all the while, according to Parade magazine.
"Everything I did was about everyone who loved me and everyone I could positively impact," she said.
Noles and her mom, an oncology nurse and director of Birmingham's Women's Breast Health Fund, immediately thought about how they could use this experience to better relate to patients. This philosophy came despite facing liver failure, hemorrhaging after surgery and severe chemo side effects.
She uses her knowledge of what this feels like emotionally and physically not only when relating to patients but as teaching tools in her role at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Nursing. Noles went on to co-found a cancer survivor group, and her mom used her position to fund cancer research projects. Noles story shows that if anyone is a professional at creating something positive out of a negative experience, it's a nurse.
As a travel nurse, everything you do makes a patient's life easier or a colleague's day brighter. Your work does not go unnoticed by Aureus Medical!