I’m a nurse. I volunteered at a recent medical/dental/vision event. Nope, I missed the photo op because I was busy “doing it”.
I was grateful they allowed me to participate because I wasn’t aligned with a hospital, organization or school. I had no insider information about the event such as updates, directions, and the like. Secondarily, I didn’t want to appear as a braggart (I know, it’s ridiculous to the tenth degree).
Would I have loved to get a photo of myself with a man who has made his life’s work volunteering bringing access of services to those that need it? Yep. I’m still miffed I didn’t get the photo to show my children how awesome this event was and why and how it affected me so greatly?
Let me be clear. I have never worked ER as an RN so I hadn’t a clue about doing “triage”– heck, I didn’t even realized it was triage until the next day! Yep, I figured that out on day 2 (duh). The last time I nursed in an organization, I checked peoples stories (hello social media) — it wasn’t often, but I did. I tend to believe patients when they are sick. Yep, I’m that kind of nurse. Maybe the other triage nurses were used to hearing convoluted stories? I wasn’t.
I spent most of my almost 23 years in cardiovascular surgical and intensive care, step down, and short term rehab. I wasn’t there being all “judgy” and when treating patients in a hospital, their illness is evidenced by a multitude of factors such as vital signs, labs, and the like. Again, I was almost ridiculously happy just doing it.
Was I impressed by the young man from El Salvador who sat in line for 6 hours to get his teeth cleaned? uhmm, yeah. Did I get a little ticked when the lady who was obviously high and had high blood pressure knocked over her coffee on her paperwork? Yes. Was I blown away by the numbers of young people wanting dental work and glasses? Yes, that too.
Nurses have a certain way of disconnecting when emotions try to take over. Seriously, I can put my head down, “shake it off”, swallow my tears and my words, and move onto the next like a boss. I may have done that during the 2 day event.
Was I scratching my head when person and person came thru and were telling me really personal stories of how and why they ended up at this event? A resounding yes.
Would I volunteer again… yep. I’m a nurse and next time – I’ll get that photo op, and perhaps “brag on”.
judysrn 