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Year of the Nurse Feature: Beth Bates, LPN

As 2020 has been declared Year of the Nurse by the World Health Organization, we would like to take this time to focus on our great nursing staff. They are arguably the most important people in the organization, whether they think so or not. We appreciate the sacrifices they make to take care of us and our loved ones. From working nights and holidays, to being on call and making home visits- they do it all with integrity and courage. They are selfless, caring, innovative, fierce, and much more than we have time to describe. So, nurses, thank you. You do what others cannot, we appreciate you.

With that, BBGH would like to share with you, our community, a little bit more about our nurses; who they are and why they do what they do.

Meet Beth Bates. Beth was initially going to be an Elementary Education teacher, but decided to go into nursing after attempting to read a book to a 3rd grade class. “Thank goodness I decided to go into nursing, as I have been a nurse for 24 years, (oh wow, that’s scary to say!) and still completely enjoy taking care of patients. I don’t believe it will ever get old,” she said. Beth has been working in the Dialysis department at BBGH for 13 years.

Beth said, “Nursing has been very good to me! I truly appreciate the patients and their families. It is so wonderful to see kidney failure patients walk out the door to live their everyday life doing the things they enjoy. Nothing can give you the satisfaction of knowing you are helping keep someone alive, while doing a great job.”

When Beth has some free time, she enjoys spending it with her family and friends, camping, cruising on the boat, and running half marathons, “which has been a challenge this year due to COVID,” she said.  

Florence Nightingale, popularly known as the ‘founder of modern nursing’ mentioned in her personal diary in the 1870s, “It will be 150 years to see the kind of nursing I envision.” We hope to continue her vision, 150 years later and 150 years from now. Beth said, “Nursing keeps advancing and changing for the better. I cannot even begin to imagine what it would be like in 100 years. Robots and computers will probably be an even bigger part in healthcare, but nothing will ever replace the hands-on care or compassion that a nurse can give to a patient, especially one that is actively dying alone and the nurse is the only one there to hold their hand.”

As 2020 continues, keep your nurses in mind. They have families, hobbies, and feelings just like the rest of us. The main difference is they are courageous enough to do what we cannot, or choose not, to do.