Author's posts
How a Zoom nursing interview killed my self-worth
I have dedicated 35 years of my life as a nurse: in the ICU for 33 years and behavioral health/intensive management for the last two. I thought it would be time to take a break from ICU nursing. Surely behavioral health would be a lot easier — kind of …
A daughter is dead. The mother is silent.
Mom wept silently as she stared at her dead daughter — quiet, near catatonic. I was prepared for a sharp scream. But she sat there quietly. She was staring at her beautiful but lifeless daughter. Young with long black hair and 21 years old. She was mom…
Tears from heaven: a nurse’s tribue to Dr. Robert Lesslie
Recently, a former NFL football player, Phillip Adams, murdered Dr. Robert Lesslie, his wife, his two grandchildren ages 5 and 9, an air conditioning appliance man, and critically injured a second man. The NFL player had gunned down these innocent peop…
A death in the work family
At an early age, Tasha remembered looking up to her mama dressed in a crisp white uniform and a nursing cap placed perfectly upon her head — one bobby pin at a time. Tasha learned what sacrifice, responsibility, and dedication were all about. She also …
A beloved COVID ICU patient turns to comfort care
Everyone loved Mrs. Maria. She was everyone’s mom, grandma, teacher. Maria grew up in poverty. Though her family was poor, she knew her parents and siblings loved her and loved each other. But the one thing she knew her passion was at was school. Every…
The truth about Alzheimer’s
Her son went to visit her at her house of 52 years. The sound in the bathroom indicated that the faucet in the tub was running and overflowing onto the floor. A series of events piled one on top of the other. A totaled car, candles burning in the house…
A child’s cry through haunting eyes
The emergency department. A haven for cardiac arrests and gunshot wounds and respiratory distress and overdoses and auto accidents and children’s sniffles and fever and coughs that won’t go away. The ED was easy access to many. And at times, it was an …
Create a positive light in nursing
I was an assistant nurse manager (ANM) in a 24 bed ICU in my younger, energetic years. Before that, I was a manager in a very small emergency department. I must say, I loved it. I loved the thrill and the challenge. I was able to work with the Joint Co…
COVID doesn’t matter to them. Until it matters.
As I take the pups on their daily walk around the neighborhood. I come upon eight adults outside their houses, near the street, laughing and coughing and sneezing and smoking their cigarettes and huddled up close together. They didn’t say hello to me, …
Schizophrenia: They are on an island of their own
I knocked on his door. It was 8:30 pm—medication time. Jerome slowly opened his door. He was easily over 6 feet tall. Towering over my 4′ 11.5″ self. Naked. Eye to eye with his penis. He chanted, “You ain’t a bitch. You ain’t a ho … y…
