I do my best to make their dark days a little brighter, to help shape the future they deserve, and occasionally I have the privilege to bask with them in the sunshine of success.” It is such a gift to me that my warrior heart can fight for our patients every day, even if all I can lift is a phone. I know that can be devastating! I try to gently explain what happened, while searching for the next path, all without letting them give up hope. Sometimes, the first path we take for insurance authorization doesn’t pan out. My fervent determination to make a difference for our patients enables me to advocate for them to insurance companies, but also to stand with them through the storm. Now I get to spend every day helping folks get the services they need, and as a bonus, I occasionally get to interact with my sister! She has been and remains a dedicated ally, and a compassionate clinician. When I saw that there was an opening for a specialty nurse at JHCTH, I, metaphorically, jumped at the chance to apply. I knew I could not live with myself if I were to just stop being a nurse. As a nurse, the drive to care for those who are hurt, sick, scared or sad surpasses time and reason. I never expected to leave the bedside, but when an injury I sustained in the Marine Corps grew into a full-time physical disability, I was struggling to find a new path for myself, now confined to a body that could no longer do what I had trained to do. Ultimately, I was able to get that policy to change, and I continued working as an ER nurse, moving cities every few years following my husband’s Marine Corps career.Įverywhere I went, I would keep my eye out for any trans patients coming into the ER, because I felt that if I could be the one to care for them it would hopefully be a less traumatic experience. That hospital had a very harmful policy that patients had to be identified by their legal name, and I refused to deadname patients. “I worked for many years as an ER/trauma nurse, and I will never forget my first job. Ro Bowman, Specialty Nurse, left, and Helene Hedian, M.D., right
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