I started my career in Health Care when I was still in High
School by working at Sells Nursing Facility, first as the night and weekend
cook. I moved from the Kitchen to Activity Director. Upon graduation I went to
college and became a Speech and Hearing practitioner. I worked several years with severe behavioral
and mentally disabled children and young adults, developing specialized hearing
testing and nonverbal communication programs.
When the regulations changed for my field, I went back to school and
became a Registered Nurse. I just knew my career had to be in a health
related field, my mission was to be a care giver.
I started my Nursing career in the hospital setting, with
Orthopedic and Infectious Disease as a specialty. After several years in this
setting, I moved on to Home Health which became my favorite arena for
nursing. Being able to go into a
patient’s home and taking care of their needs was the most rewarding aspect. Not
only did I enjoy doing nursing in the home for the patient but family education
was equally as rewarding. Home Health in
rural Kentucky, you were not just a nurse providing care, you became part of
the family.
Once I relocated to South Florida, I thought I would learn
so much more about Home Health Nursing and was shocked to learn that in the
hills of Kentucky we were doing far more in the home setting than was being
conducted in the large metropolitan area of South Florida. The most
discouraging aspect of doing Home Health in South Florida in the late 1980’s was
that I never got to see the same patient twice. I did not have the same
connection with my patients that I had back in Kentucky where you were assigned
a patient/family and you were their primary nurse till discharged from
services.
Becoming discouraged with the Home Health arena in South
Florida, I came across an advertisement asking nurses looking for a change in
their career. I went to the open house this company was having and became a
Field Case Manager with a company called International Rehabilitation
Associates, which later became Intracorp.
I was hooked in a matter of months with this new aspect of nursing
handling Workers’ Compensation Injuries. I was able to assist the individual to
ensure the appropriate medical care was being obtained and move the individual
back to a state of health prior to being injured on the job.
I have moved around
in this arena from Field Case Manager, Field Supervisor and Unit Manager. I
even took a break from case management and went back to Home Health as an Administrator
of an agency for a few years. I missed case management so returned to
Intracorp.
The Case Management industry has changed over the 24 years I
have been doing Medical Case Management. I personally don’t feel that the connection
with the individual that was once a big part of the position is a primary focus
in today’s corporate arena.
I have been wondering for several years if was time to get
out of the Medical arena altogether. I just did not feel that connection with
the profession that I had 31 years ago when I first obtained my license. That
was until recently when I became friends with an individual that was diagnosed
with cancer not long after we had met and developed our friendship. This friend
asked me to be his cancer buddy and now care giver. After 5 months, I remember
now why I fell in love with nursing, skills I have not used in years simply
surfaced as if being in hibernation for all these years.
Sure I had taken care of other friends’ minor health issues
over the years, took on care giver for my mother when she was diagnosed. This
time it was different in some way, someone I had not known very long was
depending on me to assist with the most critical health issue that he had ever
encountered.
I have experienced a renewal of why I became a nurse and a
case manager, to assist someone in dealing with the complexity of the medical
profession and to ensure the best care possible if provided by all those
involved. I am a Nurse.
Keep Dancin’ Larry B
