Your World By Holly Wheeler


Natalie Prater of Riley Hospital in Indianapolis, takes time to play with three-year-old Aayla from Gary.


with


directed them to the triage area. Norris-Stojak tended to patients’ lacerations and broken bones. Her husband, who also works for Methodist Hospitals, but as a plant operations manager and has no medical training, carried patients to ambulances on boards and folding tables. Norris-Stojak said her experience with


hospital disaster drills helped her get through the evening — and handle the emotional challenges that followed. “Any time there is a disaster drill I’ll


participate, because it’s good experience,” she said. “I know now that I would never hesitate.”


Training + adrenaline Lori Postma, RN, medical care branch


director for Franciscan Physicians Hospital in Munster, said disaster drills are a good way for all nurses to prepare for situations like the one that occurred at the Indiana State Fair. She regularly organizes such drills, which she described as teaching people things she hopes they’ll never have to use. “Knowledge is always the key when it


comes to things like that,” she said. “The more you learn and know how to handle situations, it makes it a lot less scary.” Postma also recommends a nursing


certification called Pre-hospital Trauma Life Support. The class addresses practical skills as well as the emotional challenges faced by first responders. Postma said even nurses who never encounter large-scale disasters likely will use the training at some point — whether they happen upon a car accident or encounter an emergency situation in their community, they’ll be prepared. “That adrenaline kicks in, and you do what


you have to do to help people survive,” she said. “You’re not a nurse if you don’t have that sort of thing in your mind.”●


About me Position:


Staff nurse, palliative care and oncology, Richard L. Roudebush VAMC


Education: Ivy Tech Community College What did you do before


enrolling in nursing school? “I used to be in a band. I played guitar


and was a singer. We did a lot of rock and a little bit of funk and a little bit of improv. We played all over the place — The Patio in Broad Ripple, we played in Terre Haute a lot, the college towns, Bloomington and St. Louis. We did it full time. We all had our little side jobs, but what we did was music.”


Why did you become a nurse? “One night toward the end of 2003,


it hit me all at once: ‘I think it might be time to move onto something else.’ Then, on New Year’s Eve, I stopped what I was doing and said, ‘I am going to become a nurse.’ The next day [Ivy Tech] was open, I drove up and enrolled. “It also came about because I


converted to Catholicism and I wanted to do something completely different. I had considered nursing before, but I wasn’t ready.”


Why did you choose to work


at the VAMC? “I felt very at-home there


immediately — I pretty much knew that was where I wanted to work. I worked


Tell us about your world


Danny Ball


in surgery the first year then went over to a new unit called palliative care and oncology. I absolutely love it.”


How do you cope with caring for patients who are near


death? “I’m acclimated to it, but it can be


difficult at times because you do get attached to the patients and their families. That’s part of the job I like, part of what makes it worth it. “Palliative care and oncology are


two different sides of the same coin. In oncology, every once in a while a success story will walk through the door just to thank us. That really makes you feel like you’re making a difference.”


What challenges do you face as a man in a female-


dominated profession? “The male nurses on the floor


usually get the more combative patients, because they will respond differently to a male nurse. [But] it seems to me that people are accepting.”


What’s the most important


thing in your life right now? “I have a 3-year-old daughter —


who’s really the main focus of my life right now. She’s pretty much why I do everything I do. I was fortunate enough to be able to switch from 12-hour shifts to 8-hour shifts so I can be there every evening for her.” ●


Send an email to pubs@indystar.com Indiana Nursing Quarterly • indystar.com/nursing • Fall 2011 23


MARC LEBRYK / Custom Publications


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