---

E-mail to a friend | Print This | Select Text Size:

Before Christopher Frank, RN, graduated from nursing school in 2006, at age 39, he had spent nearly 10 years in the U.S. Air Force, as part of an elite combat search and rescue aircrew for Black Hawk helicopters.

Retired New York City firefighter Edward P. Moriarty, RN, BSN, saw nursing as an extension of his 27 years with the fire department and, at age 55, is celebrating his first year as a nurse.

After working as a computer programmer for about a decade, Kei Cheung Chow, RN, decided he would make it his goal to combine a knowledge of computers with a nursing career. Chow, age 42 and a year into his nursing practice, is well on his way.

All three men chose to start their new careers in home health with the Visiting Nurse Service of New York (VNSNY).

From combat to bedside

Frank, a VNSNY public health nurse, was a pararescueman for The United States Air Force Special Operations Command, the only Department of Defense specialty specifically trained and equipped to conduct rescue operations.

"A pararescueman's primary function is as a personnel recovery specialist, with emergency medical capabilities in humanitarian and combat environments. They deploy in any available manner, to include air-land-sea tactics, into restricted environments to authenticate, extract, treat, stabilize and evacuate injured personnel, while acting in an enemy-evading, recovery role," according to the U.S. Air Force website (http://www.af.mil/factsheets/ factsheet.asp?fsID=177).

Frank didn't originally choose nursing as his second career. In fact, he took classes to become a medical laboratory technician and worked in the field, only to discover that working in a lab wasn't his calling. He shifted career gears and went to nursing school. While his previous experience as a paramedic helped him in nursing school, Frank maintains that the two careers are extremely different.

"A paramedic is very task-oriented and practical...," he says.

Nurses, on the other hand, view patients holistically, conduct much different assessments, and advocate. Frank says that a year into his nursing career, he's immersed in learning and gaining confidence in what he calls a challenging profession. He doesn't like what he thinks is excessive documentation, but says that's a small annoyance compared to the gratification he gets from his work. He feels, as he did in the military, that he can go into a situation and make a difference.

"It's a good feeling," Frank says. "I have a new patient ... a relatively young guy who had a stroke. His wife and young daughter are just totally overwhelmed and in just two days I've gone in there and made a huge difference — just in minor tasks, like helping them with medications, advocating," he says.

Frank particularly enjoys the synergy of his VNSNY team, which is associated with a visiting MD team from Mount Sinai Hospital. That gives Frank and other nurses immediate access to doctors when they need them.

Frank says that making the leap from a predominantly male career to one with a majority of females has been seamless.

"I was never one to be a chauvinist. I grew up with sisters. The women that I've been involved within VNS are very powerful women ... they have so much knowledge. Being a man in home care doesn't [sway me]," he says.

This male nurse is comfortable where he is in his career, because, he says, he likes being out in the trenches. For now, he is pursuing his BSN (after having graduated with an associate's degree) and is considering becoming certified in areas such as wound care and diabetes.

---

Lisette Hilton is a frequent contributor to Nursing Spectrum.

To comment, e-mail editorNY@nursingspectrum.com