Becoming A Nursing Assistant Essay

Helping others has been one of the most important values that my parents have shown me throughout the years. As I grew older and wiser, I learned that caring and showing it, gave me a great sense of satisfaction. I learned that by helping someone you could make their situation or day a much more pleasant experience. For these same reasons, I wanted to become a nurse. I knew that in the health care field, nurses and caregivers are always doing something to help a patient. Therefore, when it came down to selecting my elective classes in high school, I decided to give the health care field a try. I entered the nursing assistant program that they offered and completed the 3- year course program. After completing the course and doing my clinical

hours at South Florida Baptist Hospital and the Health Center of Plant City, I decided that I could become that nurse, that someone, that could help others feel better physically and emotionally by the little things we do for them.
Furthermore, what really showed me that the little things that we do for others can have a great impact on someone’s life was the day I was working in Coventry Assisted Living Facility.

At this facility, I took care of fifteen residents for almost two years and once you are around for that long you get to share holidays with them, you learn their likes and dislikes, you get to hear about their life experiences and learn from them as well and they become like family. There was a lady there in her mid- seventies, who was well known by others as one of the first Strawberry Queen’s in Plant City. She was such a lovely lady and she had many stories to tell. As I was listening to her concerns one night she ended with, “There is something special about you. You’re not like the other girls here because I can tell you actually care. You have all these other things to do, but you are here giving me your time.” What she had verbalized made me tear up, because I was only giving her not even ten minutes of my time and it meant a lot to her. This lady who had been known by many, had very little visitors. Her family were all caught up with their own life and she only had the staff to talk to. It was heartbreaking for me, because in my culture we have grown up taking care of our elderly instead of sending them elsewhere, and here I am taking care of this lady who was getting forgotten by her loved ones. Now as I am in a different position in my career, I get to hear and see things that have

made me realize that taking care of someone is not the easiest task, especially if you have children and work to tend to as well. So I understand now, why families agree to send their loved ones to a nursing home or assisted living facility.
I learned many values while working at Coventry, I learned that communication, family, relationships, and most importantly being there for someone and giving them your time can be so meaningful to them. In addition, working here at South Florida Baptist Hospital for the past couple months, I have had a couple experiences where patients have told me that they appreciate the little things that I do for them. Such as advocating for them and getting pharmacy involved with their pain management. Pharmacy did the work in changing medications, but the patient appreciated me for having consulted them. Team work is very important in this healthcare setting, because without it we would not be able to function as one in accomplishing our goal to make someone feel better. All in all, being a nurse can be quite challenging at times, but it is all worth it, because in the end I am able to help someone and families feel better and put a smile on their face.