Why I Became a Nurse

Alabama Nurse,  Sep-Nov 2003  by Wilson, Helen

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I cannot ever remember a time when I was not going to be a nurse. I grew up in New England, one of seven children in a less than affluent environment. Early on I drove the dogs, cats, cows, horses, pigs, etc. wild trying to put bandages on the poor critters where no bandage was needed for that matter wanted. I also did the same for some unsuspecting siblings, and they were even less receptive than the critters.

My mother tells me that I first told her that I was going to be a nurse when I was three years old. At that early age, I was really impressed with a second cousin that was a nurse. I can remember thinking how pretty and important she looked dressed in her starched white uniform with the white cap perched on her head. She worked at a hospital in the Emergency Room and as part of her duties, had to accompany the ambulance when it went out on call. I just knew that was the life for me.

I worked during high school as a gas station attendant, as a maid, as a babysitter, as a clerk in a store, and as a waitress, which were jobs that certainly impressed upon me what I did not want to do for the rest of my life. After high school I went directly into a diploma program at a general hospital, and the real world of nursing washed away all those years of fantasy.

The studying, the long hours, the miserably uncomfortable starched uniforms, and the realization that nurses were not considered all that important, especially by the doctors, did not sway my determination to be a nurse. It did cause me to take a good hard look at nursing and decide that I was going to make a difference one way or another in nursing and nursing care.

Here I am, some 40 plus years later, looking back on a career that I can honestly say I would repeat in a heartbeat. I think in my own small way I have made a difference to a few patients, their families, to student nurses, and I hope to some of my colleagues. The changes in nursing, education and practice, are too numerous to count, but have certainly changed the complexion of the profession. I believe that nursing has always been a caring profession and I hope, as my career takes another turn, that I never lose sight of that fact and that my primary purpose will continue to be that "I can make a difference."

Copyright Alabama State Nurses' Association Sep-Nov 2003
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