Q: What is your name and where do you work?

A: I'm Xy. I work in Adventist Health Lodi Memorial, a community hospital in Northern California.

Q: What made you decide to be a nurse?

A: I think one of the biggest things about the profession that I gravitated to is the fact that you can make an impact on a person's life in their most vulnerable moment. And not a lot of people can say that! Nursing is important work. It's work that is not noticed all the time, but it's work that makes a difference.

Q: What does a typical day look like for you?

A: My main focus is now on a lot of administrative stuff and advocating for nurses. I feel like I'm now in a position where I can really make an impact for my fellow nurses. Most of my day is spent making sure that they have the tools they need to do their job and make their days easier.

At the end of the day, I wanna make sure that they are spending the most time with patients and not just looking at the computer or trying to figure out a workflow. I think I'm very lucky to be in that position – to make sure that nurses are able to do the job that they're supposed to do and the job that they really want to do.

Q: What do you wish people outside of healthcare knew or understood about nurses?

A: I think a lot of times, nurses are depicted in movies or in TV shows as just following the doctor around as an assistant, or doing things for the patient as if it's in a hotel setting. But it's greater than that.

There is a whole scope of practice in nursing that’s very independent from all other providers in a hospital setting. We are able to provide patients with the care that they need at their very sickest, hold their hands, and make sure that they are okay. Not a lot of people realize that nursing is an art and a science in itself. It's a meeting point between psychology, science and medicine. That is that middle part of the Venn diagram that we live in as nurses.

Q: What is your superpower?

A: I think one of the biggest things is that I'm very patient, though it does not come naturally to me. I feel like that's the one thing I've really had to make sure I'm good at because it's very, very difficult to be patient all the time. Having to work that hard on something is a superpower in its own right, I think.

Q: Can you tell us about a moment or story that reminds you why you love being a nurse?

A: Recently, I have been project managing mass vaccination sites. I think one of the biggest things I've seen lately was a developmentally delayed patient that was brought into the clinic by his caregivers. You could see that the patient was not very excited about it. But the caregivers that were with that patient advocating for him to get that vaccine were so amazing because these individuals are one of the groups most affected by the pandemic. They can't advocate for themselves. If they get sick, somebody has to take care of them.

Seeing people advocate for those who do not have a voice and being part of a situation where that service makes a direct impact is magical. Moments like that remind me that despite the craziness we've been through this entire year, every single moment is worth it.