Tina T. is from Washington, and was one of forty finalists chosen out of the over 1,000 entries to our “What Advice Would You Give to a Fellow Caregiver?” Contest. You can find our grand prize and runner up winners here.
What advice would you give a fellow caregiver?
I have been an RN for 12 years now and prior to that I was a medic in the Air Force for seven years. It doesn’t feel like I’ve been in health care for nearly 20 years – time surely has flown by. I remember the feeling of being so new that I didn’t really understand the acronyms and terminology being used by those senior to me. I remember feeling unsure and scared; afraid that I would one day be in a situation where someone’s life would depend on my knowledge and actions as a medical professional and that maybe I’d be the only one around. It would almost paralyze me. Though others would try to assure me that “it will just come to you,” it seemed that nothing anyone said to me eased this nervous feeling. If given the opportunity to give advice to a coworker today, to a new nurse, a nursing student or extern, I’d tell them, “It will come to you, but don’t wait for it to. Go to it first. Jump in and get involved. Volunteer for committees, go to seminars and classes whenever you can. Submerge yourself in caregiving and you will put those insecure feelings on the shelf faster than if you didn’t, but also recognize that you will never know it all. Every day in this field you will learn something new. That’s the magic of caregiving.”
Click here to head to the contest home page and read more advice.
Finalists were selected by the Marketing Team at Shield HealthCare. Those finalists were submitted to a panel of independent judges who picked three grand prize winners and five runners up. The judges included: Sandra Mitchell, Award-winning KCAL 9 news anchor and breast cancer survivor, and the Landers family: actor and comedian David Landers (“Laverne & Shirley”) who is living with MS, his wife Kathy and his daughter Natalie (“The Middle”). Click here to learn more.
