This was what Charlie Browne's friend told him in Peanuts series, when asked about her preference for white shoes!!
She did wear white shoes and a white coat too. At about four feet plus and bit thin, she gave me the impression of a school girl who wants to 'play' nurse. Well, this was not so...she IS a nurse...I couldn't un-believe... for we were in the hospital room where my friend was admitted for an operation and she had come with the battery of equipments that only nurses bring around in hospitals. She must have realised that I was actually staring at her in wonder. She broke an infectious smile and asked:
"would you mind?", holding out a prescription, " get this from the pharmacy, please".
I shook my head and returned with the medicines. By then she had struck a lively conversation with my friend; knew that I had come over to give him company; could not speak local language and had a son in a medical college!! My turn to know. She had finished her nursing training and joined this hospital a year back; belonged to the place; enjoyed being a nurse; and yes, she can speak a smattering of my mother tongue!
In the next three days that I was with my friend, she was there every one of her shifts on time and usually left a little later after her shift. I kept seeing her smile infectiously at every patient, sometimes pampering them and sometime chiding them. While her pampering managed to touch a cord in the patient, her chiding never stung. She would know exactly what the patient wanted and seemed to materialise with a shot-tablet-pain reliever-a pot-whatever, just when they needed it.
As I kept seeing her, I wondered what the patients would do had there not been a nurse like her? Doctors will prescribe medicines, operate on, come on rounds to say encouraging words and of course bill you handsomely, irrespective. It is a nurse who actually takes the patient through the fears, anxieties, traumas and shudders with her smile, encouragement and enthusiasm. What will we do without good nurses? How will we ever come back to health if they aren't there? Oh, how many of us actually care to even say thank you to them? We keep praising our family doctor and his referral doctors for keeping us in good shape. Lest we forget, it was the nurses in their clinics and hospitals who actually gave the courage to stand through our bad health. They deserve our gratitude....do not forget to thank them the next time you are attended to by one of them....
She did wear white shoes and a white coat too. At about four feet plus and bit thin, she gave me the impression of a school girl who wants to 'play' nurse. Well, this was not so...she IS a nurse...I couldn't un-believe... for we were in the hospital room where my friend was admitted for an operation and she had come with the battery of equipments that only nurses bring around in hospitals. She must have realised that I was actually staring at her in wonder. She broke an infectious smile and asked:
"would you mind?", holding out a prescription, " get this from the pharmacy, please".
I shook my head and returned with the medicines. By then she had struck a lively conversation with my friend; knew that I had come over to give him company; could not speak local language and had a son in a medical college!! My turn to know. She had finished her nursing training and joined this hospital a year back; belonged to the place; enjoyed being a nurse; and yes, she can speak a smattering of my mother tongue!
In the next three days that I was with my friend, she was there every one of her shifts on time and usually left a little later after her shift. I kept seeing her smile infectiously at every patient, sometimes pampering them and sometime chiding them. While her pampering managed to touch a cord in the patient, her chiding never stung. She would know exactly what the patient wanted and seemed to materialise with a shot-tablet-pain reliever-a pot-whatever, just when they needed it.
As I kept seeing her, I wondered what the patients would do had there not been a nurse like her? Doctors will prescribe medicines, operate on, come on rounds to say encouraging words and of course bill you handsomely, irrespective. It is a nurse who actually takes the patient through the fears, anxieties, traumas and shudders with her smile, encouragement and enthusiasm. What will we do without good nurses? How will we ever come back to health if they aren't there? Oh, how many of us actually care to even say thank you to them? We keep praising our family doctor and his referral doctors for keeping us in good shape. Lest we forget, it was the nurses in their clinics and hospitals who actually gave the courage to stand through our bad health. They deserve our gratitude....do not forget to thank them the next time you are attended to by one of them....
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