My Nursing Story

Nurses and the nursing profession hold a special place in my heart. I’m always reminded of that during May, which is Nurses Month. Recently, I announced my plans to retire in early January 2024 after a 40-year career in health care. As I am reaching the end of my full-time professional career, I am proud to have gotten my start in the health care industry as a nurse working in the city of Chicago. Throughout my career and throughout my life, I have felt immense gratitude for nurses. They have supported me as a professional nurse, as an executive health care leader – and as a patient.

When I was a young nurse working in inner-city Chicago, I had a bad reaction to a medication I was taking that left me unable to speak. My family quickly helped me dress and took me to the emergency department at the hospital where I worked. Overhearing the ER doctor talking to his colleagues, I heard him refer to me as “another drug addict.” Because I was unable to speak, I could neither defend myself nor tell the health care team what was going on. 

At that moment, a nurse happened to walk by. She was someone I knew and who knew me. We had gone to nursing school together and now worked as colleagues in this very hospital. Seeing me in distress, she immediately spoke up and told the physician who I was – and who I was not. She spoke up for me when I couldn’t speak for myself.

I will never forget this nurse who helped me at such a vulnerable time. She helped restore me to good health, and she helped me realize what kind of nurse I should be and the purpose I should strive to achieve in my career.

This nurse was such a powerful advocate because she knew me. To be sure, our preexisting relationship helped in this moment. However, as nurses, we always have a responsibility to speak up for our patients, to get to know them, and to ensure that their voices are heard, so that they receive the best care available to address their health care needs. The knowledge, insight, and perspective nurses demonstrate when patients first show up to a medical facility sets the tone for the rest of the care delivery team and enables them to provide compassionate, individualized, and culturally appropriate care to each person.

When I worked as a clinical nurse, I learned so much about patients, the profession of nursing, and the health care industry in general. I learned from my peers, veteran nurses, physicians, and other members of the health care team. I often say, “Everything I needed to know to become a successful executive leader in health care, I learned as a nurse.” Being a nurse taught me how to think critically, quickly, and strategically. Being a nurse helped me to make good decisions based on my assessment skills. Being a nurse helped me learn to communicate with all people, from patients and their families to doctors and hospital administrators. Being a nurse taught me to work as part of a larger, broader team of health providers and how to set priorities to tackle the most urgent challenges without overlooking long-term needs. My experience as a nurse also gave me insight into the inner workings of the health care industry so I could understand intimately what worked well and what needed to change. To be sure, as my career advanced, there were skills that I needed to hone and develop; there was knowledge that I needed to acquire. However, it was undoubtedly my experience as a nurse that empowered me to become the leader I aspired to be.

Being a nurse and seeing how effectively our diverse teams were able to work together also helped me realize just how important representation is in any workforce. Delivering patient-centered care and achieving equity, inclusion, and diversity in the organizations I led and the communities I served became central to my mission in health care.

In honor of Nurses Month, I want to offer my most heartfelt gratitude to each and every nurse who works in the health care industry. Whatever role you play, whether you work in care delivery or administration, I hope that you know how appreciated you are by all patients, especially those who come from minority communities, and especially those who cannot speak for themselves.

I also want to share a few resources from the Kaiser Permanente Mid-Atlantic region to help us celebrate Nurses Month. First, we have launched a wonderful KPMAS nursing website to highlight the incredible work nurses in our region do every day. And second, I want to share a video that our region created to recognize our nurses and give them their much-deserved moment in the spotlight. I hope you enjoy our Nurses Month video!

Thank you once again to all our nurses. Keep speaking up. We need to hear your voices now more than ever.