Nominate your loved ones for a story:

Nominate your loved ones:

Jan Parker: The Most Honorable Thing in the World

by | Oct 2024

JOE’S (REAL name withheld for privacy) brain did not work. The man was unconscious. He had been that way for a while now in the trauma unit at Vanderbilt University Medical Center after suffering a serious injury, but this made no difference to Jan Parker. She read his favorite sports page to him. She sang to him, danced for him, and even told him corny jokes. The man did not laugh or sing back. He never responded to anything, but Parker believed he could hear her deep inside his spirit. Even the other nurses saw their bond and tweaked their schedules so she could attend to Joe. Their sessions continued this way for a while until doctors one day took him to another floor, and those meetings ceased. 

Anyone who has stepped foot in a hospital will say nurses play a vital role in every medical center. Unfortunately, projections show the United States will experience a shortage of registered nurses, according to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN). The aging of baby boomers and the growing need for health care both intensify the situation. Nursing schools across the country strain to increase capacity to meet rising care demands, AACN reported. Those demands call for large hearts, and people like Parker are running to meet them. 

Parker works as a registered nurse at the Lebanon Endoscopy Center, a place offering procedures to examine the inner body. She sets up examinations for patients and assists with their recovery, ensuring they are taking appropriate steps to return to normalcy. However, these tasks do not even begin to utter how this Tennessean pours her soul into the intricate parts of life through her profession. 

“I’m supposed to go to places into people’s lives that is usually very painful or very uncomfortable and very awkward, and I get to be the catalyst from point A to point B,” Parker said. 

For Parker, nursing is diverse and a fulfilling passion. Throughout her career, she has fielded level 1 trauma cases to provide comprehensive care for some of the worst injuries, handled case management, and served as a clinical coordinator. She has worked in wound care clinics, cardiac clinics, and hospice. She’s done it all. 

No matter the task, whether it was assisting with a baby’s birth or filling out patient charts, Parker worked the task with passion, because she was practically born to be a nurse. 

“I always thought I was a nurse,” Parker said. “… Even when I was just a kid, I took that role.” 

She obtained her Bachelor of Science in nursing at Middle Tennessee State University in 1992. With the degree, she accepted some of the hardest tasks anyone could imagine. Those came especially in the beginning years of her career. Parker particularly remembered in the early 1990s when one woman came to Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville pregnant with twins. She had been in a car accident where she was T-boned. 

The trauma team placed her on two ventilators, one for each lung, and attempted to save the twins. Parker’s team did everything right and tried their hardest. However, it wasn’t enough in the end, as the blossoming family died. 

Those are the type of days no nurse wants to face. Such stressful moments can often lead to fatigue, burnout, and then early departure for another profession. 

But even the most difficult parts of being a nurse did not break Parker, because her mother ingrained the passion into her. A woman who attended nursing school at the cusp of World War II, Mama Mac — as she was known to most — showed Parker how to live, instilling tremendous love for God, family, and honor. She had the greatest impact on Parker’s life. They were the best of friends until her mother’s passing. Thanks to her mother, Parker saw the true meaning of being present at someone’s birth and death. 

“It’s very similar,” Parker said. “It’s the most honorable thing in the world. You know you are in a place somewhere that is bigger than humans.” 

People remember the courage and heart it takes for nurses to step into that place. One man in particular recalled Parker very well. Months after he was removed from the trauma unit in the early 1990s where Parker worked, the man showed up at the medical center and requested to see her. 

“Can I help you, sir?” Parker asked. 

“Are you Jan?” 

“Sir, how do you know me?” 

“You tell the worst jokes,” said Joe, the man who Parker had faithfully entertained despite no one knowing whether he had awareness. 

But he heard Parker, a woman who gave him a light of hope amidst seemingly eternal darkness. This is the kind of power nurses like Parker hold and why they are called heroes. 

“I think nursing is absolutely the best, most basic fundamental human [form of] giving possible. I think it’s that intimate.” GN 

More Good News

A Give-Back Boutique

A Give-Back Boutique

THE WOOD floor and brick walls of Iddy & Oscar’s hold a wide variety of items, from clothing to jewelry to bags and decor, but that is only the surface of Joy Pine’s give-back boutique....

read more
A Cast Iron Community

A Cast Iron Community

SIZZLING STEW, sweet cobblers, and crumbling cornbread are all staple dishes for the Wilson County Cast Iron Community, and their commitment to teaching and serving means that anyone in Lebanon and...

read more
Ronnie Kelley: Dreaming to Serve

Ronnie Kelley: Dreaming to Serve

HELPING THE young and lost is what one man in Lebanon was inspired to do all his life.  Ronnie D. Kelley moved to Lebanon from Hartsville in the fourth grade. He grew up in the Wilson County...

read more
Sam Pfister: Rise and Shine

Sam Pfister: Rise and Shine

SAM PFISTER helms Rise Strength & Performance, a multi-faceted endeavor that serves as a gym, fitness center, coaching venue, and educational outlet.  Originally from Illinois, Pfister was no...

read more
Jennifer Steves: The Town Doctor

Jennifer Steves: The Town Doctor

IMAGINE A place where a visit with your doctor costs nothing — a place where your care navigator guides you seamlessly through the complexities of your individualized health needs and where the...

read more