shifts,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Jolley said that from her earliest recollections, she knew she wanted to work in the medical field and more specifically to work as a nurse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI think it was the hospital environment,\u201d she explained. \u201cWhile I never was exposed to the emergency room or nursing so much, but just the friends they had and the family. They took me in as one of the family, even as a child. Nursing was what always drew me. Not medical school, lab techs, or radiology. I always wanted to be a nurse and to help people and take care of people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Upon graduating from Middle Tennessee State University in 2007, she would take a job with Med-Surg in Murfreesboro. Not long after, she would find herself returning to her hometown to work at Southern Tennessee Regional Health System in Winchester where she has been for the last 14 years as an ER nurse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While she didn\u2019t exactly see herself working in the ER in the beginning, she said she loves the fastpaced environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI love the pace and the not-knowing,\u201d said Jolley. \u201cYou get so much of the same everyday, but you still have that uncertainty of what\u2019s going to come through the doors. It can be stressful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The same thing that she loves about working in the ER is also what has caused her stress and to be aware of what she is doing at all times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI struggle with the fear of not being prepared for something,\u201d she explained. \u201cWe are always learning and are always prepared. We always tell each other, \u2018If you ever get comfortable being in the ER, then you need to leave.\u2019 Because getting too comfortable is where mistakes happen. But it\u2019s still the fear of what\u2019s going to come through the door. Am I prepared, and do I have what it takes to take care of that person?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Such uncertainty was taken to a whole new level during the time of COVID, in 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cCovid was crushing,\u201d she said. \u201cWe were scared to walk through the doors at the beginning of the day. There for a long time we were locked to the ER. It was just the fear that I wanted to come to work and take care of these people, but am I taking it home to my family, and what happens if I do?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jolley said that getting through that time really challenged herself and the entire ER staff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe first wave, we learned as a group and took care of each other as a group,\u201d she said. \u201cThe second wave, last fall, was so bad. It was probably the hardest for me. People we knew, and that was in our age group, were dying. We had 30 to 40-year-olds that were coming in and not leaving. It got as personal as it could be. It was scary, and it was heartbreaking, because as a nurse you are there to take care of people, and I think one of the important things is being able to make those people feel comfortable. And we weren\u2019t able to really do that with COVID.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jolley said that what ultimately helped her get through that time was her deep appreciation and love for her line of work and the core group of nurses she works alongside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThat\u2019s where the core, the group of people I work with, comes in,\u201d she said. \u201cWe know our strengths and our weaknesses. We know what room I should be in versus what room another one should be in. They have become my second family. I know without a doubt that whether it is personal or work life, that they have my back.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n While the job continues to offer its challenges, Jolley said she can\u2019t imagine doing anything else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAs of right now, I can\u2019t imagine doing anything else,\u201d she said. \u201cThe independence it provides and the doctors we get to work hand-in-hand with. I think that independence and the fact that the doctors trust us to take care of the patients, and they\u2019re not standing over us. You should have confidence, but don\u2019t be overconfident. I can\u2019t imagine not doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOne of the top things we\u2019re after as emergency service workers is to make life a little better every day for somebody. One of my biggest desires is to leave it better than I found it every day, whatever it is. Whether vacuuming the bedroom at the station or holding your hand and talking to you, giving you a sense of comfort, that\u2019s leaving it better than you found it.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n We can leave things better than we find them, too. GN<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Winchester ER nurse Heather Jolley gives 100% to her profession and talks about the effects COVID had on medical professionals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":9227,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9218","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stories"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/goodnewsmags.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/DSC06062-683x1024.jpg\")
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