On January 4, 2013 I made the 6.5 hour long move from Sioux
Center to Davenport, Iowa. The first few days I did not really meet anyone
besides the other people who would be working all over in Genesis. Then one day
as I was about to leave for the grocery store I met my neighbor Tatiana, a
middle aged woman who is divorced and teaches Spanish at Scott Community College. The next day, through the grace of
God, I found out that one of my friends (Sarah Vander Schaaf) has a childhood
friend who lives the building down from me! Friday night (a week after I
arrived to the date) I met Becca and her husband Sam along with their friends
Mackenzie and Rev. Since then I have been introduced to MANY more of their
friends, church, and attended their missional group (a super bible study like
group) on Wednesday nights. It has been great to get plugged into a small group
where I feel I can be 100% real and vulnerable if I need to be. I have already
gained some pretty awesome friends and I’m excited to see how God continues to develop
these relationships and bring new ones into being.
A little history
about Genesis...Genesis first was St. Lukes and Mercy Hospital…some of you may be saying
why is this important? Well maybe it isn’t but to me it reminds me of home a
little because in Sioux City there is a St. Lukes and Mercy Medical Center. It
was originally started by some nuns and has continued to stick to its Catholic
values and refrains from performing elective abortions. (HUGE plus) Genesis is the third largest employer in the Quad City area (John Deere is #1). It employs over 5,000 people and around 2,500 volunteers. It has 665 beds over the four main campuses.
I am currently working on the pediatric/adult surgical unit.
It is a 16 bed unit that is designated for sick kids and we also take “easy”
surgical procedures such as hysterectomy or mastectomies that require little
risk to having complications even though there is a risk for complications with
every surgery.
This is my second full week on the floor and I’m already
pretty much handling a full patient load with some assistance with some things
like IV’s and orders/phone calls from doctors. I successfully started my first
IV attempt on a child, managed to get blood splattered in the face while
discontinuing an IV and get to do the routine HIV testing, got yelled at by a doctor but have also had
many positive interactions with doctors, caught a patient from receiving too
much blood pressure medication due to having a low pulse rate as it was not
indicated in the medication record to hold if pulse was under 60, and I also
had to run home quickly after arriving at work to find I did not have my
badge.
I absolutely love my job though. I have seen a few developmentally
delayed kids and out of the few different people in the room they lock eyes
with me and just stare into my eyes as if I have something special to me. I
hope and pray that God’s love and compassion for them is shining through me. You
can just feel God’s presence when they hug you while you try to somehow listen
to their lungs, heart, and bowel sounds while they cling to you. It’s the hugs
that I need during the day to remind me to stop getting wrapped up into the
things that need to be done in the next few hours and just love on the people I
am called to serve. I also need to become better at stopping by the door of the
child’s room and praying for them. God has and can do so many things through
prayer and many times throughout my day I rely on the medicine to make the
child’s lung function to improve or the antibiotic to cure the infection and
forget about the ultimate Healer.
Another thing you can be in prayer for is for me to find
ways to minister to the families that have no faith. I have done a few
admission histories (aka asking the family a lot of questions about the
symptoms leading up to their stay in the hospital, previous illnesses, ect.)
and when I get to the question would you like a chaplain, church, or pastor to
be notified for support the answer has always been ‘no.’ My heart physically
feels like it is breaking inside while I must remain composed and continue to
ask the questions, but really I want to yell out “YOU NEED JESUS!!” I have been
feeling really convicted/like I need to do something about this, but do not
really know how to.
