Nurses at Ascension are serving up hard work and hope in hard times | Opinion – Tennessean

Teresa Collins, Marco Fernandez-Schklar, Michelle Robertson, Joanna Slagle and Sam Stratton, Guest Columnists Published 4:47 p.m. CT May 11, 2021

Tim Adams and Gordon Ferguson, executives for Ascension and Saint Thomas in Middle Tennessee spoke with Tennessean opinion editor David Plazas. Nashville Tennessean

Nurses are demonstrating a high level of resolve, creativity, and attention to detail despite working more hours than ever before.

America has always honored those who serve society as nurses. In recent years, however, we have come to appreciate more than ever the complex and expanding role which nurses play in our health care system.

Those lines sound as if they were written about the unique challenges of 2020 and 2021, but that paragraph is actually from the spring 1974 proclamation in which President Nixon declared May 6th through 12th the first National Nurse Week.

As we celebrate nurses this year, Ascension Saint Thomas wants to highlight a few of the many deserving associates serving Middle Tennesseans with bravery in times that nursing school could have never predicted.

Daily, these caregivers demonstrate grace under pressure, willingness to adapt in extreme circumstances, and profound commitment to hopefulness.

Nurses are serving as role models and sources of inspiration while carrying unprecedented personal burdens.

Emergency Department Nurse Becky Styll receives a COVID-19 vaccine from Debbie Mahoney, R.N., at Ascension Saint Thomas Hospital West in Nashville, Tenn., Thursday, Dec. 17, 2020.(Photo: Andrew Nelles / The Tennessean)

Registered Nurse Therese Miller of Ascension Saint Thomas Hospital West works with compassion and eagerness despite losing two of her loved ones to Covid-19 complications.

When she got vaccinated, she clutched a black-and-white photo of her beloved mom and aunt. Therese feels proud to have been vaccinated in their memory and she wants to share their story as a way to combat vaccine hesitancy.

At Ascension Saint Thomas River Park, behavioral health nurse manager Mandy Gay and occupational health nurse Carrie Freeland have devoted hours to coordinating and staffing vaccine clinics for colleagues and community members alike.

Jill Guiness and Melissa Flemming have been leading similar initiatives at Ascension Saint Thomas Hospital Midtown, where clinic offerings have included dedicated vaccine clinics for pregnant women.

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Meanwhile, at Ascension Saint Thomas Rutherford, RNs Michelle Hawkins and Deanna Bratcher managed some of the first vaccine clinics in the state specifically for school teachers. Nurses Glenda Meredith of Murfreesboro and Peggy Okuneff of Nashville both came out of retirement to serve on the front line and help run vaccine clinics.

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Determined to bring cheer to worried parents for the 2020 holidays, RN Kim Meek of the Ascension Saint Thomas Hospital Midtown campus spent hours hand-crafting beautiful Halloween and Christmas costumes for each NICU baby.

She began this tradition in pre-COVIDtimes, but decided against allowing the pandemic to halt her creativity. Instead, Kim recruited her coworker Olivia Horne and the two worked in tandem to create the most adorable batches of costumes yet.

As history-making snow and ice descended upon Middle Tennessee this February, nurses Wesley Green and Tiffany Jones drove on precarious roads for hours in order to safely deliver colleagues from their doorsteps to Ascension Saint Thomas Hospital Midtown.

At sevenmonths pregnant, Emergency Department nurse Lauren Wilcocks hiked to the end of her hilly subdivision with boots and ski poles so that she could be picked up and driven to work at Ascension Saint Thomas Hospital West.

Jim Pegel brought a blow-up mattress so that he could stay at the West campus for five days and nights to care for patients in departments across the hospital.

Nurse practitioner Franklin Grauzer receives a high-five from his daughter, Emerson, 5, after he received a COVID-19 vaccine at Ascension Saint Thomas Hospital West in Nashville, Tenn., Thursday, Dec. 17, 2020.(Photo: Andrew Nelles / The Tennessean)

At the Ascension Saint Thomas Rutherford NICU this spring, Jocelyn Curada hung dozens of colorful Easter decorations across the unit walls to bring symbols of hope to parents and her fellow caregivers.

Meanwhile, Kayla Cochran, Sarah McGowan, and Abigail Martin orchestrated a beautiful baptism ceremony for an end-of-life patient at Ascension Saint Thomas Rutherford a day before he peacefully passed away.

And nurses are demonstrating this level of resolve, creativity, and attention to detail despite working more hours than ever before.

Ashley Hillis and Kaytlyn Franklin of Ascension Saint Thomas River Park, for example, have been working days, nights, and weekends in every department of the hospital.

Nurse-in-training Amber Underwood often drives to work at Ascension Saint Thomas Rutherford with her mom, RN Wendy Underwood.

Wendy says, laughing: After every shift, Amber gushes about how much she loves her job and how great her coworkers and patients are. I have to remind her that I already know from years of first-hand experience.

Instead of being intimidated by the pressures facing todays caregivers, student nurses like Amber seem inspired by present realities and optimistic about the part they will play in establishing the new normal.

As that 1974 presidential proclamation asserted, nursing is a role that is evolving and has become increasingly complex in recent history. Willingness to assume new tasks, to adopt changing best practices these are trademarks of the career. But it is hopefulness that is the guiding principle of so many nurses actions and perhaps their most notable attribute.

Ascension Saint Thomas thanks our nurses, and nurses everywhere, for the ways they are serving us, inspiring us, and giving us hope.

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Co-authored by: Teresa Collins, chief nursing officer, Ascension Saint Thomas Rutherford; Marco Fernandez-Schklar, chief nursing officer, Ascension Saint Thomas Hospital Midtown; Michelle Robertson, chief operating and chief nursing officer, Ascension Saint Thomas; Joanna Slagle, director of nursing, Ascension Saint Thomas River Park; and Sam Stratton, chief nursing officer, Ascension Saint Thomas Hospital West.

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Nurses at Ascension are serving up hard work and hope in hard times | Opinion - Tennessean