National Nurse's Day: OH nurses talk rewards, challenges, love for profession

May 6—Friday is "National Nurse's Day," and Owensboro Health nurses Gwen Roby and Chase Thomas said that, despite any challenges they face, they are proud of what they do and would not have chosen anything else.

Roby has been a nurse at OH for nearly 30 years. She began her career in the Emergency Department, working there for about 20 years before moving into the catheterization laboratory.

Roby was inspired to go into nursing by her mother, who was also a healthcare worker.

"With me, I think it was somewhat genetic," she said. "I was just fascinated with everything, from her white shoes, to her stories in orthopedics where she worked. So I chose to follow in her shoes when it came time for me to choose a career path."

Roby said her choice did not take a lot of thought, it was always simply a calling for her, one that has turned out to be rewarding every day.

"It was just what I was supposed to do," she said.

Thomas began his nursing career at OH in January 2020, working in the Emergency Department just before the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

Similar to Roby, Thomas said he was inspired to go into nursing because of his mother, who attended nursing school while he was in high school.

"I had never considered being a nurse until she went to nursing school, and I got to watch her go through and graduate and work in another ER," he said. "The stories she told me really just drew me in, made me pumped just to listen, and then I started working in the ER here about January 2020, and I fell in love with it. It's probably one of the best decisions I ever made."

Roby and Thomas said one of the biggest rewards of the job is simply helping others.

Roby said at first, she enjoyed the constant learning aspect of the job and the hustle and bustle of the Emergency Department. But now, she said it is the reward of being able to help others during a difficult time in their lives, especially through COVID-19.

When the pandemic hit, Roby said she was scared — scared for herself, her daughter and the many other healthcare workers that would risk exposure as they worked to help others who had been infected.

Choosing to work in the intensive care unit for several days, however, changed her perspective.

"It scared me to death, I'm not going to lie," she said. "(But) these people need us more than anybody at any time of my nursing career. I have never in my 30 years of being at this hospital ever seen anything like the two days I spent in the intensive care unit."

For many patients in ICU with COVID, she said, they were unable to see anyone else. Their healthcare providers became the only faces they got to see every day, so there was a different and new level of comfort healthcare workers had to work to provide for their patients.

Thomas said the highlights of his profession are similar.

Working in the emergency department, he said, he sees patients from all demographics and walks of life that are undergoing a crucial time in their lives that is scary and unexpected.

"That's a big thing for me, is just making an impact on that many people's lives," he said.

Now that he has moved into a more supervisory role, he said working with new nurses to help ease some of the same anxieties and fears he felt when he first began has become important for him.

"I remember that anxiety and stress of working in the ER straight out of college, and so being able to be there for newer nurses and people that are making those adjustments, like, 'Hey, it will all be OK, and you'll get used to it' — I think that's the thing I enjoy the most right now," he said.

Thomas said COVID-19 has also been a strange and sometimes difficult time, but he does not know anything outside of it at this point, and he has learned to embrace the constant changing environment surrounding the pandemic.

Though working in the emergency department, he said, presents its own unique set of challenges.

"There's days when we get such an influx of patients," he said. "We've got to weather that storm, and it's not going to last any longer than 12 hours, and that's the positive of it, but the challenging part is that there's families that, this is actually an emergency for them, and they have to be told to sit in the waiting room for four to five hours or more."

Balancing one's own emotions along with providing some level of comfort and care for patients and their families is also difficult, but a necessary part of it.

"You might have a patient die, and you have to put them into a shroud one minute, then you walk into another room and draw labs from a patient, then the patient across the hall from that patient just wants a blanket and pillow and is mad that they didn't get it 20 minutes ago," he said. "You have to be able to handle their emotions as well as your own emotions, as far as the stress you're undergoing, because it's nonstop. There's not really time to sit down and process."

At the end of the day though, the profession is always worth it, according to both Roby and Thomas.

Whether it is through spending time with family, practicing hobbies outside of work or having a good "venting" session with co-workers, friends or family members, both said they make it through the challenging parts and come back to work each day to do it all over again.

"At the end of the day, me and Gwen know why we chose to get into these professions," Thomas said. "While it can be frustrating at times, it's still rewarding."

Christie Netherton, cnetherton@messenger-inquirer.com, 270-691-7360