5-7-20 Bulldogs Make Great Nurses

Yesterday, we shared that it was National Teacher Appreciation Week. I hope that you took some time to connect with your teacher and let them know that you appreciate the hard work and creativity that they put in to helping you learn.

But there is even more to celebrate. This week is also National Nurse Appreciation Week. Nurses work hard to keep you well, and to comfort and care for you when you are sick or hurt. At this time of a world wide health crisis, nurses are on the front line, risking their own health and safety to help others. Throughout history, nurses have been brave warriors who risk a lot to help others.

Miriam Witt is a Mount Vernon High School Graduate who is currently working on her Master's Degree in Nursing and has used her skills and compassion to serve people in need all over the world. Read about her work in her own words.

Miriam Witt

I am a nurse.

I am a disaster response nurse.

I have traveled to areas on this planet where earthquakes hit, caring for patients sitting outside of their crumbled homes. I have traveled to war zones, changing bloody dressings of wounds caused by bombs. I have worked in refugee camps, providing nursing care to malnourished and anxiety ridden patients. The type of anxiety where you see their bones shaking through their skin. That kind. I have lived through a major fire in Southern California, driving through flames to get to work the next day. And I have walked with refugees crossing the Venezuelan border, entering into Colombia for basic human rights.

And here I am. Working as a hospice nurse in the time of Covid. People thought I was crazy when I put my backpack on my shoulders and bought a last minute ticket to Nepal after a major earthquake hit. I was called ignorant when I let my friends know I was headed to the border of Syria to care for victims of the Syrian war. Some people didn’t quite understand why I would travel to Colombia to provide medical care to refugees fleeing Venezuela.

I listened to my heart when it called me to these places. And you know what all of that prepared me for? Right now. I learned through these lived experiences that courage emerges when I stare fear in the face and take one step toward it.

Lately, I have been taking huge leaps forward, lunging into fear. I put the same scrubs on I wore in Nepal and the same danskos on I wore throughout nursing school and I step into homes with a mask covering my smile and a gown covering my body and I hold a Wife’s hands as her Husband passes away in front of our eyes and I just know that through the mysteries of life, every step has led me here. I used to think that sometimes, kismet happens. I now know kismet is continually happening, it just takes us a little longer to see it.

I’m not only proud to be a nurse. I’m empowered to be on the front lines providing care in the midst of this horrible virus. Covid is swirling all around me like a hurricane and I won’t let it stop me from caring. I won’t.

Miriam Witt: Mount Vernon Bulldog

Watch this video that shows some of the accomplishments nurses have made throughout history.

  

How can you say thank you to a nurse you know who has helped you or helps others?  

Here are some ideas:

• Write a letter or make a card to say Thank You.  
• Create Hearts to put in your windows to show nurses you care and you are thinking of them.
• Bake cookies and share with nurses working in a hospital or clinic.  
• Would you like to be a nurse?  Find out what you need to do to become a nurse.  

Martha Thornburgh: Mount Vernon Teaching and Learning