“Ever seen a woman who’s just been raped, just had a 3-hour forensic exam, had every surface of her battered body swabbed, photographed, and inventoried for the police walk out of a hospital wearing oversized hospital scrubs and postpartum hospital underwear, her arms wrapped tightly around her chest, ashamed, because she doesn’t have a bra to wear? I have. And I absolutely refuse to ever see it again.”
‘This is $150 of underwear. My team and I are no longer willing to let our survivors go home without a bra, or decent pair of underwear.’: Sexual assault nurse examiner shares act of kindness for rape survivors
‘We come home empty. We don’t want to talk. The hardest work you’ll ever do is love a nurse.’: Nurse pens ‘thank you’ letter to those who ‘love us and let us do this work’
“We get up early, no time to drink coffee over the newspaper. We come home late, too tired to cook. We work extra because we know there’s sick people who need us. We miss events, holidays, birthdays. It may seem we’ve left all our caring, heart, and love at work, and come home to you empty. We probably have. But we need your understanding. We need to know you ‘get it.'”
‘You cannot get the flu from the flu vaccine. Ever. No matter what anyone’s told you.’: Certified medical professional urges us to ‘save one another,’ breaks down flu shot myths and facts
“I’ve put a grandfather on a ventilator who couldn’t breathe. I’ve held a newborn with fever while the doctor does a lumbar puncture. I’ve put the final drape over a mother-of-3’s face after she beat breast cancer, but died of the flu. I did all of this knowing full well it was preventable. We had the ability to save those people as a society, and we failed.”
‘Please quit, that’s enough.’ I leaned over you as we tried to pump life back into your soul again.’: Nurse pens emotional tribute to patients lost, admits she loses ‘a little of myself’ every time
“The look in your eyes said you were already gone. Your family wept, told us to keep trying. They didn’t want to let you leave. So, we continued on. Medications. Shocks. Pumps. Sweat poured down my face. I tried to hide my tears by staring at my shoelaces. We watched the life leave your body and go to a place none of us know or understand. We tried so hard to save you. We just couldn’t do it that day.”
‘I couldn’t focus on anything but this infant lying still in the bed. Stressed? Not the word.’: Nurse-in-training ‘overwhelmed’ by responsibilities, realizes keeping ‘peace’ is most important for the family
“Don’t let the baby lie in a wet diaper. Does she have a pulse? How many times does he breathe in a minute? Throw in 2 anxious parents trying to survive the scariest time of their lives, and 1 older sibling who needs Paw Patrol stickers ASAP, and you have a very long 12-hour shift. What else would I be responsible for? How about peace.”
‘They called. My husband thought I was crazy. I hopped on a plane by myself. 1,500 miles from home, I sat on a stretcher, determined to help someone become a mom. I was REALLY doing this.’
“I waited, patiently, for someone that needed me. I honestly never really expected to hear back. Then, it came. Before she was even able to tell me all of the risks associated with the surgery, I knew I was all in. This was my purpose.”
