As I quietly looked down towards my warm bowl of oatmeal and slowly forced spoonful bits of food into my mouth, I realized eating offered no relief. Occasionally, my watery eyes would make contact with my grandmother’s half open eyes as my mother fed her bits of food. This was the last time I would have breakfast with my lovely grandmother. When I reminisce about the moments we spent together cooking, and countless hours talking during her medical appointments, I become extremely grateful for the grand inheritance she left for me. She modeled kindness, hard work and a superhuman joy for service. As these virtues slowly matured in me it began to form the foundation of my nursing career.
I embraced my passion for studying health and my natural ability to connect with people. Naturally, I found myself working in various clinical settings. Globally, I interned at a humble village clinic in the mountains of Oaxaca and various mobile clinics in Honduras. In my community, I was fortunate enough to participate in Compassion South East, an annual health clinic in Portland, OR and volunteer with beautiful children in the hematology and oncology department of a children’s hospital for three years. A fiery desire emerged for a holistic health care approach and soon enough I was on my journey to becoming a nurse.
As I remained true to the core values my family and peers have helped to build, my commitment and dedication to nursing became stronger. These invaluable experiences have tailored my approach to patient-centered care. I refused to reduce nursing down to job security and a list of duties.
I believe nursing is an act of love through healing of body, mind, and soul. We have the privilege to serve society in the most vulnerable states. The body is broken, mind discouraged, and soul simply tired. Nurses exercise creativity, humor, knowledge, and courage to care for their patients. Involving a radically different unconditional love in our patient-nurse relationship strengthens trust and ultimately permeates through every delicate layer of the body, mind, and spirit that fuels the healing process.
*Luis is a member of the Steering Committee of the NCIN Scholars Network. For more information, please visit, ncinscholarsnetwork.org/
