“When you’re a nurse you know that every day you will touch a life or a life will touch yours.”
~Author Unknown
Sadly, this will be my last blog of this school year. Our final day of school is April 28, and I am astonished at how quickly that day is approaching. The seniors are so anxious to graduate and find jobs, and we juniors are anxious to become senior nursing students. The first day of Foundations in Nursing seems so far away: the class where we learned all the basics from how to put on a pair of sterile gloves to catheterizing to giving injections. Things that I was so nervous to do for the first time are now starting to feel not so scary.
So little time left yet so much to do. Isn’t that the way it always is? Yesterday, the whole team who went to Mexico had the opportunity to present our trip to the community. I believe it was a great success. It was so fun to be able to continue sharing our stories, experiences, and pictures with those who weren’t able to be there with us. That trip will stay with me forever. I hope I am giving the chance to go again next year!
- This is what happens when parents come to visit you on campus. Pictures of everything!
- Here I am with my fellow classmates presenting on Mexico.
I finished my clinical rotation last week. My final two days were spent outside of the hospital setting and in two very interesting places. One place was at the Medical Day Treatment Program hosted by Children’s Hospital where middle school and high school students who have chronic illnesses are able to go to school at Children’s itself. They are affiliated with Aurora Public Schools, so they hire teachers from that system. The kids who go there are struggling, for one reason or another, to go to school and manage their illness at the same time. So, by going to the MDT, they are able to have multiple nurses, a nurse practitioner, contact with their physicians, get treatments/medications, get psychological counseling, support from other kids going through similar struggles, and schooling all at the same time. Currently, they have around 20 kids in the program. I never knew something like that existed, and it was a fun time to assist them for a day.
The second place I went to finish my clinical hours was called Easter Seals Discovery Club. This is hosted at a few different places around town, and I was in Boulder at a church. This is also for kids with a chronic disease such as cerebral palsy, autism, Down’s Syndrome, etc where their parents can drop them off for a day in order to have a break to do errands or whatever they need to do. It goes on every Saturday, and volunteers, such as us Regis students, go and do crafts, play games, and take care of these kids for the day. The kids are so special and it makes you so grateful to be healthy. The parents of these children are so strong. God bless them. My buddy for the day was a sweet girl with cerebral palsy. She was nonverbal, which served to be a bit of a challenge, but she had such spunk. She was sixteen and had her own power wheelchair and loved to just go up and down the hallways and all around the sidewalk outside. She always made sure I was walking beside her, though, and when I went to take my lunch break and had a friend watch her, there is nothing like that laughter and smile she had on her face when she saw me walk back in to the room to join her again. It melted my heart that after only a few hours, she was genuinely excited that I came back to see her.
I’ll take a little time to update you on my summer plans as well, since I won’t be on here again until next year. In the middle of May I will be leaving for Europe where I will travel to Switzerland and Italy for 2 weeks. When I get home, one of my best friends will be getting married here in Colorado, and I’ll also start my summer job at Kaiser Permanente for the 4th summer. I work in the Pediatrics department there in an outpatient clinic and look forward to working alongside the nurses again. I love that job. I have a family reunion in July that just so happens to be in Cancun, Mexico! That will be for a week. In August, my other best friend is getting married in Vegas and her family is paying for all of us in her bridal party to join them. What fun! Lots of traveling, but if you don’t know that by now, it runs thick in my blood. I can’t stay still for very long before my hands find themselves searching the internet for flights to somewhere else.
There are so many things for me to look forward to this year…..
- Meet my lovely parents! They are the reason I am able to go to as wonderful a school as Regis, and I am eternally grateful.
- My friend Jessi and I hanging out. It’s so important to maintain friendships outside of nursing school and keep yourself balanced. It doesn’t seem possible at first, but it does get easier, I promise!
- My Uncle and new Aunt were married two weeks ago. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to attend due to my clinical schedule, but I will see them this summer in Mexico! And I wish them all the love and happiness in the world.
Regis University Traditional Nursing 