{"id":22135,"date":"2024-10-19T01:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-10-19T01:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/goodnewsmags.com\/lebanon\/?p=22135"},"modified":"2024-10-17T19:32:35","modified_gmt":"2024-10-17T19:32:35","slug":"jan-parker-the-most-honorable-thing-in-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/goodnewsmags.com\/lebanon\/jan-parker-the-most-honorable-thing-in-the-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Jan Parker: The Most Honorable Thing in the World"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

J<\/strong>OE\u2019S (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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u00a0experience 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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m supposed to go to places into people\u2019s 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,\u201d Parker said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019s done it all.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

No matter the task, whether it was assisting with a baby\u2019s birth or filling out patient charts, Parker worked the task with passion, because she was practically born to be a nurse. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI always thought I was a nurse,\u201d Parker said. \u201c… Even when I was just a kid, I took that role.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The trauma team placed her on two ventilators, one for each lung, and attempted to save the twins. Parker\u2019s team did everything right and tried their hardest. However, it wasn\u2019t enough in the end, as the blossoming family died. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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 \u2014 as she was known to most \u2014 showed Parker how to live, instilling tremendous love for God, family, and honor. She had the greatest impact on Parker\u2019s life. They were the best of friends until her mother\u2019s passing. Thanks to her mother, Parker saw the true meaning of being present at someone\u2019s birth and death. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very similar,\u201d Parker said. \u201cIt\u2019s the most honorable thing in the world. You know you are in a place somewhere that is bigger than humans.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCan I help you, sir?\u201d Parker asked. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAre you Jan?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSir, how do you know me?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou tell the worst jokes,\u201d said Joe, the man who Parker had faithfully entertained despite no one knowing whether he had awareness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think nursing is absolutely the best, most basic fundamental human [form of] giving possible. I think it\u2019s that intimate.\u201d GN <\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

JOE\u2019S (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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":22137,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22135","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-feature"],"yoast_head":"\nJan Parker: The Most Honorable Thing in the World - Lebanon, TN Good News Exchange<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/goodnewsmags.com\/lebanon\/jan-parker-the-most-honorable-thing-in-the-world\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Jan Parker: The Most Honorable Thing in the World - Lebanon, TN Good News Exchange\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"JOE\u2019S (REAL name withheld for privacy) brain did not work. 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