Nurses are on the frontline of medicine; they will be the first person you see for care and the last. What does that mean for us as patients? It means we are desperately looking, needing someone to help alleviate our pain and fears. They comfort us mentally, emotionally, and physically and that nurse, my friend, is Haley Koebel. She over exemplifies every great quality of a nurse. Her first job last shift was to clean up a degraded patient (myself) that had mistakenly wet my entire self. I was scared of what she would say, what she would think, but she never missed a beat. Within the first five minutes, we were both laughing in tears. I had forgotten what I had done.
Haley made me feel like a real person and not an invalid. Nursing is so much more than baths and bedpans, they're on the frontline of our care and in my 13 days of experience, I trusted Haley with my entire being. Emotionally, she cried with me and while laughing she laughed with me. She showed me compassion and kindness I've never experienced before, and I've had 10 surgeries. She is more than a nurse, she's a professional that shows kindness and compassion. I watched her teach others under her the true calling of nursing. Some nurses got it and some didn't but to those that did; they will forever be thankful for Haley paving their way to a rewarding career.