This story was originally published on Oct. 24, 2014.
I can picture her on the day she first realized she would be taking care of an Ebola patient. Surely the young nurse was a little bit nervous as she donned her protective clothing.
Of course, if she really feared for her life, there were other options. She could walk away, maybe even quit her job.
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But Nina Pham, a devoted Catholic, had prepared for this moment since she first decided to specialize in critical-care nursing. So on that fateful day she walked into the room and began tending to Thomas Duncan, the first person diagnosed with Ebola in the United States.
Nina later came down with Ebola herself and has been battling this dreadful disease for weeks. Fortunately, she has recovered – and I am confident that in the future she’ll continue tending to patients whom others might fear.
After all, a long-time friend said Nina comes from a family dedicated to serving other people. And she is a lady of very strong faith who always puts other people’s interests first.
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It seems nursing is not merely a job for her. It’s more than that – it’s a way to put her faith into practice. A way of conveying God’s love to frightened and desperately ill people.
I’ve been in the hospital a few times, and I can attest that the best nurses aren’t just there to get a paycheck. The ones I’ll never forget dropped by even when it wasn’t necessary, just to check on me. To talk for a few minutes so I didn’t feel alone.
People battling a really serious illness are often gripped by a searing fear. In the case of patients with infectious diseases, there is also isolation from loved ones.
This means no family member at the bedside, no friend to kiss your brow or to whisper words of comfort. No one to take your hand and pray with you.
The nurse comes in and cleans you up, feeds you, changes the bed clothes and positions the various tubes.
But some nurses do far more than this. They become your mother, your brother, your best friend – and perhaps the only angel in the world for you.
If the nurse instead is someone grumpy, distracted, frightened, or merely doing a job, things will go differently. There won’t be comfort where it’s needed. There won’t be someone to say a prayer.
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But if the nurse is like Nina, someone who sees her job as a calling —as a way of fulfilling God’s will for her life— then how fortunate you are.
And if the nurse embraces the perspective that we find Christ in the suffering and the dying, then in your final moments you will know something beyond tubes and medicines. Something beyond the cold whir of machines.
You will know that someone cherishes you. And this someone is following in the footsteps of Christ, who said: “Whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.”
Let’s pray for the continued health of Nina Pham and all the nurses who see Christ in their patients. And who do their jobs as a way to channel God’s love.
AJC contributor Lorraine Murray’s latest book is “Death Dons a Mask.” Her email is lorrainevmurray@yahoo.com
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