I am the oldest of 13 children, so I think I have always been a caregiver. From a very early age I knew I wanted to be a nurse.

I love it when patients who have been critically ill recover and come back to visit the nurses who took care of them. It is so gratifying to see them walk into the unit. Also, since I moved to a university hospital 2 years ago, I have a renewed enjoyment of the learning process and how we can all work together to benefit patients and their families.

Everyday seems extraordinary. After 40 years of being clinically active I still enjoy what I do, and I love when a patient or family member asks me, expectedly, “Will you be back tomorrow?”

Many years ago, we had a patient who came in with a myocardial infarction. She was taken to the catheterization laboratory,...

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