Nursing assistants create environment of caring
By DELORES MORSCHING,Avera St. Luke’s Marketing & Public Relations
Nursing assistants become key players in the lives of the people in their care, and each nursing assistant is called on to create an environment of caring. The annual observance of Nursing Assistants Week, June 11-18, and National Career Nursing Assistants Day , June 11, is a special time to celebrate and recognize the efforts of nursing assistants.
“My role is a very important one. We as nurse assistants do work a lot closer with the patients, doing their personal care, walks, bathroom care, etc.,” said Karen Dunker , who has worked at Avera St. Luke’s for nearly five years. “I have a good working relationship with my patients. When not real busy, which is not very often, I go into their room and visit with them or their family members to get to know them better. I have made some good friends by doing this.”
“I'm very fortunate to have these wonderful nurses to work with,” Dunker added. “They ask me to help with all kinds of things when they need a second set of hands.” Dunker always wanted to work in the medical field, “and Avera St. Luke’s has made my dreams come true.”
This special week keys in on the theme “Yes, WE can! Teamwork.” Nursing assistants have dedicated their lives to the well-being of others and have developed a wide repertoire of soft skills for bringing resources, time and services together. It takes a very special person to be a nursing assistant, requiring qualities such as patience, compassion, passion, respect, caring, humor and understanding.
“I enjoy being able to meet new people and take care of them in their most vulnerable state — being sick,” said April Neugebauer , a nursing assistant for Avera St. Luke’s Surgical Care Division. “Working at the hospital is like adopting another family. My co-workers are always there for me and each other. Being an aide has also convinced me to pursue my education in nursing.” Neugebauer is working toward an associate degree in nursing at Lake Area Tech in Watertown.
“I really enjoy being a CNA, because I enjoy the one-on-one patient care,” added Missy Nelson of Avera St. Luke’s Medical Care Division. “I have really learned to work as part of a team, and many patients have touched my heart. That is what keeps me coming back to work.”
Avera St. Luke’s has 79 certified nursing assistants, 75 nursing assistants and 26 homemakers working in its three divisions: Hospital, Clinics and Long-Term Care. Nursing assistants include the home health aide/homemaker, who works with people in their homes, providing care in the patient’s environment. This provides an extra opportunity to meet individual needs, and many times the aide/homemaker in the only person a patient may see during the day.
Sarah Yonkovich , a 2009 Aberdeen Central grad who has been a CNA at Avera Mother Joseph Manor for more than a year, likes it so much that plans to go to school to be a doctor or a nurse and specialize in gerontology. “The residents make me smile every day at work, and being around them never gets old. What I didn't realize when I started was how much the nursing home and residents really would influence me. All of the residents are so friendly and appreciate everything I do for them.”
National Nursing Assistants Week provides a timely opportunity to foster and showcase the wonderful things that can happen for patients and workers when they work together for quality care and respect. Can WE do this?
“Yes, WE can.”
