I wish you all had attended the first annual ajcjobs Nursing Excellence Awards banquet last month. The event - called Celebrating Nurses - fully lived up to its name. It was, indeed, a celebration and a well-deserved recognition of all that nurses are and do.
Some of you may have heard about the heartfelt keynote speech, delivered by Ike Reighard, chief people officer of Home- Banc, but, if not, I'd like to pass on a little of his message. A minister, Reighard related the incident from the Bible (Mark 5: 25-34) of the woman who had suffered from a bleeding disorder for 12 years. In a crowd of people, she touched Jesus' cloak and immediately found herself healed. Jesus realized instantly that power had gone out of him and asked who had touched him. The woman came forward to confess, and he told her that her faith had healed her.
Finalist Cindy Deminsky watches her video during the awards banquet.
"Every day, with the power of your touch, the power flows out of you, as well," Reighard told the nurses in his audience.
He felt that healing power at work personally, when he lost his first wife and baby in childbirth. "The doctors and nurses who walked with me through that time will always be heroes to me," he said. Throughout his speech, Reighard referred to the book "How Full is Your Bucket?" by Tom Rath and Donald Clifton. He explained how we all have buckets inside us where we carry our emotions. Positive things and kind words fill our buckets; negative stressors drain them. Nurses fill people's buckets every day with their commitment, skills, listening and caring.
"I know that, at work, there is a constant pull on your energy, so, for all the millions of people you touch every day, I'd like to say 'thank you'," he said. Reighard ended by reading a poem by Maya Angelou; the last lines read, "I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."
As we listened to the nominations written by patients or co-workers of the 10 award finalists, we heard 10 different ways of how a nurse had made patients and their families feel better through his or her compassion, kindness, respect, comfort, grace, faith and hope. Their stories were an affirmation of what nurses know about their profession: It's not a job but a calling, and that it has to come from the heart.
"To patients, it doesn't matter how much book smarts you have," said finalist Tom Plante.
It's the little things you do for them that count, he explained. "I go home at night knowing I made a difference in someone's life, and that's a pretty cool thing."
After listening to such inspiring stories, we all went home with our buckets full!
I know you'll enjoy reading the pro- files of all the finalists in this issue, and I invite you to view their videos and see photos from the event at ajcjobs.com.
- Do you have any story ideas for Pulse? We'd love to hear more about your career and what you do after hours. Send e-mail to pulseeditor@ajc.com or call 404-526-2078.