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 Janelle Trickler RN, BSN. Janelle was born and raised in Alliance and has lived here most her life. She’s worked at Box Butte General Hospital for over 10 years. “In those 10 years BBGH has played a large part in the development of my nursing career. I started as an Admissions Clerk and Nurse Aide while attending WNCC to become an LPN and eventually an RN. After becoming an RN I continued to work at BBGH and was able to obtain my BSN through WGU [Western Governors University],” Janelle said.
Janelle has wanted to be a nurse as long as she can remember. In high school she took as many anatomy and biology classes as she could and got her degree in Health Information Management Systems before realizing something was missing. She needed to be more hands on; she needed to be a nurse. “I enjoy being a nurse because I love helping people; whether that be taking care of a patient and seeing them get better after an illness, to teaching another nurse a new skill. My favorite thing about being a nurse at a critical access hospital like BBGH is the ability to develop skills in many different areas. I love being able to cross-train and help out various departments,” Janelle said. She added, “I love being able to help give patients the medications they need to stay out of the hospital. I also enjoy being able to get to know and build relationships with my patients since most of them I see regularly for infusions.”
When Janelle isn’t taking care of her patients, she enjoys camping, fishing, traveling, playing games, and doing puzzles. “Outside of work I love to spend time with my family and friends,” she said. Every Sunday her family has ‘family game day’ where they cook together and play card/board games all day.
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. Janelle said, “In the next 100 years I would like to see an improved integrated care system for patients; not only interdepartmental, but throughout the healthcare system. Patients are seeing more specialists and other healthcare professionals for their
conditions. I feel nurses and care teams need to have the whole ‘picture’ to provide the best patient care and to improve overall patient outcomes.”
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.