End of Shift: An Unexpected Gift
Luverne Blair, RN, as told to Teri Blair
Monday May 7, 2007
Luverne Blair, RN, is a retired nurse from Glacial Ridge Hospital in Glenwood, Minn.
(PHOTO COURTESY OF TERI BLAIR)
The funny thing is I never had any intention of becoming a nurse. I had my heart set on being a school teacher from the day I set foot in my one-room schoolhouse. The chalk, the big desk at the front of the room, the children's classics lining the shelves ... these were the things I wanted.However, the Great Depression had hit our family hard, and when it came time for me to make my post-high school plans, there was barely enough money to keep our family fed and clothed. Instead of college, I packed my bags and headed to a nearby town where I had secured a job in a hospital kitchen.Months passed and I grew restless. I decided to strike out for the city, so I wrote letters to metropolitan hospitals offering my services as a semi-skilled employee. Later on, I heard back from one that I could work as a nurses aide, and I was off. At the time, I wasn't aware that I was heading to a hospital that trained registered nurses.During my time working, as an aide, the staff nurses began to notice my skills. Seasoned RNs encouraged me to set my sights higher, to push at the door marked "nursing" to see if it might swing open.Soon after their comments, I took an aptitude test and met with the director of nursing for the RN training program. I was accepted and the next three years revolved around the hospital where I was trained.At dawn, I was up to bathe and feed patients. Then I went to class. After a full day in the classroom, I was back on the hospital floor. Studying was squeezed in late at night or early in the morning. I received only one vacation week per year. Otherwise I ate, drank, and slept nursing.After graduation, I began working in a small-town hospital. I worked in every department with every sort of patient and spent many glorious years working as a nurse —— years I look back on fondly.I am now 78 years old and have long since retired from my position at the hospital. Instead of spending my days answering call lights and checking blood pressures, I enjoy more leisurely pursuits. However, when I sit near my window creating an afghan from bright blue yarn, I find myself reflecting on my life and choices —— examining my life as Socrates urged us to do. My path to becoming a nurse happened quite by accident, and if I had taken a few different turns on the path, my nursing career likely wouldn't have occurred. So I have to ask myself, did my life as a nurse make a difference?Still living in the same small town where I worked, I encounter former patients, patients who remember small kindnesses done at the right time. It's satisfying to know this is the case, but there is more. Being a nurse changed my life and the way I view it.As nurses, we understand in our best moments that we should let the little troubles of life go. We know to appreciate each day and to view others with compassion and forgiveness. We remember these things easily when we're on vacation and resting by a calm lake.These insights can quickly dissolve when we're back in the mix of life, but, as a nurse, I've found these truths were only reinforced. I have scenes indelibly etched in my mind that I will never forget —— all nurses do. My memories include parents bending down and talking gently to their little boy, who was filled with cancer, whom they soon would lose. Or babies who were born deformed and the immediate wave of pain, love, and fear that came over the parents. Like all of us in this profession, I have my share of stories.I would end my shifts with deep conviction of how I wanted to live. Even though I was too tired to formulate these thoughts into words, it was something I carried with me.Every day I saw people who were suddenly facing illness, death, and sadness of all varieties. I saw people who were being brought to the edge of their lives. And seeing that helped me live my life close to the edge, too. It kept me awake to experience my life.I don't take the precious smile of a grandchild for granted or underestimate the importance of reaching out to those I love while I can. I don't live under the illusion that there is always going to be another chance. The gift of learning how to live, at least in some part, I owe to walking through the corridors of a hospital.Years ago a few people took the time to tell me of talents I possessed that I didn't know I had, and it led to an unexpected gift —— my life as a nurse.Luverne Blair, 78, is a retired nurse from Glacial Ridge Hospital in Glenwood, Minn., and Teri Blair, M.Ed, Luverne's daughter, is a freelance writer in Minneapolis. To comment on this story, e-mail hcygan@gannetthg.com.
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