ANA Maine Journal - August 2018

Page 4 ANA Maine Journal August, September, October 2018
Sigma Theta Tau Kappa Zeta Scholarship Essays
Juliana L’Heureux, MHSA, BS, RN
FREEPORT, ME – Sigma Theta Tau is an international
nursing honor society. The mission of the Honor Society
of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International, is advancing
world health and celebrating nursing excellence in
scholarship, leadership, and service.
At April’s annual meeting of the Kappa Zeta
Chapter in Southern Maine, the members enjoyed an
evening of nursing networking, shared with inspiring
nursing students.
Several of the talented students read their
scholarship essays during the program. Two of the
essays are printed here.
All nurses can relate to the experiences shared by
Lauren Lecompte and Bruce Raymond.
Juliana L'Heureux BS, MHSA, RN,
Kappa Zeta member and Dr. Deb Kramlich,
past president of Kappa Zeta
We are looking for RN’s, LPN’s, CNA’s
Contact Ken Huhn at 207.667.9336 x517 or
adminseaport@firstatlantic.com
Newest Rehab Facility in Maine.
19 General Moore Way, Ellsworth • 207-667-9336
“Our Family,
Caring for Yours”
seaport-village.com
Nurse for Life
Bruce Raymond
An essay submitted to Sigma Theta Tau Kappa Zeta
Sorority’s scholarship committee and presented to the April
19, 2018 annual meeting of the Nursing Honor Society.
Being a nurse means that everyone you encounter is a
potential “patient.” It means that once you are a nurse,
you are always a nurse. Being a nurse extends beyond
taking care of a sick patient in a hospital bed. It means
helping to care for your community, living an altruistic
life. Nursing is a life-long commitment to education.
It means being part of a team, a world-wide team of
professionals that puts others before themselves, to help
improve the quality of people’s lives.
Being a nurse means living by a high set of standards
and values. I’ve embraced these as a CNA (Certified
Nursing Assistant) at Maine Medical Center. I’ve been
extremely fortunate to learn from a close-knit group of
nurses with literally centuries of experience between
them. Here are some things I see on a daily basis that I
believe help define what a nurse is: nurses always strive
to be advocates for patients and their families and
consider patient-centered care a priority in their daily
work. Patient’s families often have many needs and nurses
act as liaisons between patients and their families and
resources that are available. Nurses act with respect, not
only to patients, their families and other staff members,
but to everyone they encounter. They work diligently to
avoid negatively judging others, but instead try to learn
from everyone’s unique experiences. I watch nurses live
by the principle, “do the next right thing,” and living with
integrity adds great value to their lives. They set the bar
high and push themselves to achieve their goals. Nurses
have shown me that the only way to be successful is to
follow through, see the big picture, remain positive and
work as a team. A big part of being a nurse is being a
teacher and as a nurse, you are continually learning.
I have learned the most from one nurse in particular,
my mother. She was the woman that bathed, dressed
and fed us, bandaged up the neighborhood kids’ knees,
performed chest PT on my asthmatic sister and me and
then headed out to her RN job at the hospital. She was
the woman that would have my siblings and I set down
our own bags to help load up an elderly couple’s groceries
while she helped the frail woman into her car – and
then, later that day, went off to her job at the hospital.
And, she was the woman that had us miss our flight to
Florida in my 3rd grade year, because a pregnant woman
collapsed at the airport and she insisted on waiting with
her until the EMT’s arrived. She was the woman that
counseled me after I moved in with and cared for my
dying grandmother so she could stay in her home. Even
when my mother wasn’t at the hospital, she was a nurse.
I am very excited for my educational journey ahead.
I know my understanding of what it means to be a
nurse will evolve as my skills do. I am looking forward
to being part of the team of health care providers
that sees not only the person in the hospital bed as a
person to care for but sees every person as someone
worthy of respect, dignity, love and well-being. I made
the mistake, while introducing my retired mother, by
saying she had been a nurse. She quickly corrected me.
“I will always be a nurse.” Indeed, she will.
Kappa Zeta Nursing
Essay
Author Lauren Lecompte is a student at Saint
Joseph’s College in Standish, Maine
A scholarship essay sponsored by Sigma Theta
Tau Kappa Zeta, presented at the annual meeting in
Freeport, ME in April 2018
“I just amputated a finger…I just amputated a
finger!” I thought to myself. Sweat dripped down
my face and I had to take a few deep breaths as the
adrenaline started to wear off. It was nearing the end
of my week long stay in Haiti, while volunteering with
Saint Joseph’s College to help build houses and provide
medical care for those in need. On several different
days, we set up a travel clinical in a small church made
of tin, situated among the rubble of a city which was
created in a trash dump. We saw a plethora of illnesses,
many that we did not have the medications or supplies
to care for. One young boy stuck out to me above the
rest. He had a condition called Polydactylism, or in
layman’s terms, an extra finger one each hand, and one
of those fingers was extremely swollen and infected.
After a consult with our medical team, it was decided
that the best option for his boy was to amputate the
finger and I was the girl for the job.
In fact, the finger was nearly detached already,
having been overwhelmed by infection for so long.
After an injection of lidocaine and the swift movement
of a scalpel, the finger was removed entirely. The boy
had walked to the make shift clinic alone and went
through the entire procedure only with our team of
young, English-speaking nursing students. His mother
picked him up several hours later, preoccupied by her
eleven other children. He was only eight years old.
As I lay down to sleep that night, replaying the
scenario over and over in my head, I kept going back
to one thing. Despite the language barrier, we were
able to comfort this boy, slow his shuddering breaths
and stop his tears using only smiles, eye contact, and
physical touch.
I realized that our biggest asset as nurses is our
hearts. So often, in today’s health care world, patients
become just a name and a room number, providers are
focused on performing procedures and administering
medications and the basic human connection is
overlooked. To me, nursing is not IV drip rates, cardiac
monitors, and subcutaneous injections. Nursing is
spending an extra 10 minutes in the room of the heavy
call-bell ringer, realizing that they need a little extra love.
Nursing is laughing and making jokes with the patient
who is on one too many laxatives. Nursing is crying with
the patient on “1:1” care, with suicidal ideations.
We nurses are in this profession to care for patients
and families at sometimes the best and sometimes the
worst point in their lives. This is both a privilege and
an honor. It is our job to connect with patients, making
them feel heard and cared for on more than just a
physical level.
During this trip to Haiti, along with every single
patient interaction, I am reminded that nursing care is
less about the medicine, and more about the empathy,
and comfort you can provide with the way you carry
yourself and connect with the patient.
To be a nurse means to lead with a smile rather than
a job to do.
Bruce Raymond is student nurse who works as
a Certified Nursing Assistant at Maine Medical
Center. He was awarded a scholarship from
Kappa Zeta for his essay titled "Nurse for Life.”
He read his essay at the annual meeting of the
Kappa Zeta annual meeting on April 19, 2018, in
Freeport, Maine. Pictured with Christina Harris,
RN, MSN Director of Nursing Practice and
Education at Mid Coast Hospital, in Brunswick.
Lauren Lecompte and Suzanne Parkman, MSN,
RN, Assistant Professor of Nursing and Kappa
Zeta-at-Large Chapter Counselor, Saint Joseph’s
College of Maine