0:00:00.847,0:00:02.143
As patients,

0:00:02.143,0:00:05.783
we usually remember[br]the names of our doctors,

0:00:05.783,0:00:09.324
but often we forget[br]the names of our nurses.

0:00:09.697,0:00:11.273
I remember one.

0:00:11.610,0:00:13.904
I had breast cancer a few years ago,

0:00:13.904,0:00:17.428
and somehow I managed[br]to get through the surgeries

0:00:17.428,0:00:19.825
and the beginning[br]of the treatment just fine.

0:00:20.078,0:00:22.014
I could hide what was going on.

0:00:22.320,0:00:24.560
Everybody didn't really have to know.

0:00:24.560,0:00:26.760
I could walk my daughter to school,

0:00:26.760,0:00:28.787
I could go out to dinner with my husband;

0:00:28.787,0:00:30.570
I could fool people.

0:00:30.933,0:00:33.296
But then my chemo was scheduled to begin,

0:00:33.296,0:00:35.126
and that terrified me

0:00:35.126,0:00:39.753
because I knew that I was going to lose[br]every single hair on my body

0:00:39.753,0:00:42.311
because of the kind of chemo[br]that I was going to have.

0:00:42.683,0:00:45.155
I wasn't going to be able[br]to pretend anymore

0:00:45.155,0:00:47.400
as though everything was normal.

0:00:47.700,0:00:49.040
I was scared.

0:00:49.040,0:00:52.612
I knew what it felt like to have[br]everybody treating me with kid gloves,

0:00:52.612,0:00:54.624
and I just wanted to feel normal.

0:00:54.939,0:00:57.269
I had a port installed in my chest.

0:00:57.269,0:01:00.109
I went to my first day of chemotherapy,

0:01:00.109,0:01:02.133
and I was an emotional wreck.

0:01:02.410,0:01:05.512
My nurse Joanne walked in the door,

0:01:05.512,0:01:09.391
and every bone in my body was telling[br]me to get up out of that chair

0:01:09.391,0:01:10.971
and take for the hills.

0:01:10.971,0:01:14.680
But Joanne looked at me and talked[br]to me like we were old friends.

0:01:15.362,0:01:16.990
And then she asked me,

0:01:16.990,0:01:19.240
"Where'd you get your highlights done?"

0:01:19.240,0:01:20.244
(Laughter)

0:01:20.244,0:01:21.240
And I was like,

0:01:21.240,0:01:22.303
are you kidding me?

0:01:22.303,0:01:26.350
You're going to talk to me about my hair[br]when I'm on the verge of losing it?

0:01:27.028,0:01:28.870
I was kind of angry,

0:01:28.870,0:01:31.913
and I said, "Really? Hair?"

0:01:31.913,0:01:34.251
And with a shrug[br]of her shoulders she said,

0:01:34.251,0:01:36.127
"It's gonna grow back."

0:01:36.523,0:01:39.823
And in that moment she said[br]the one thing I had overlooked,

0:01:39.823,0:01:41.700
and that was that at some point,

0:01:41.700,0:01:43.639
my life would get back to normal.

0:01:43.763,0:01:45.401
She really believed that.

0:01:45.401,0:01:47.370
And so I believed it, too.

0:01:47.739,0:01:52.454
Now, worrying about losing your hair[br]when you're fighting cancer

0:01:52.454,0:01:54.226
may seem silly at first,

0:01:54.226,0:01:58.336
but it's not just that you're worried[br]about how you're going to look.

0:01:58.336,0:02:02.126
It's that you're worried that everybody's[br]going to treat you so carefully.

0:02:02.912,0:02:06.604
Joanne made me feel normal[br]for first time in six months.

0:02:06.604,0:02:08.427
We talked about her boyfriends,

0:02:08.427,0:02:11.300
we talked about looking[br]for apartments in New York City,

0:02:11.300,0:02:14.269
and we talked about my reaction[br]to the chemotherapy --

0:02:14.269,0:02:16.391
all kind of mixed in together.

0:02:16.660,0:02:18.770
I always wondered,

0:02:18.770,0:02:23.589
how did she so instinctively[br]know just how to talk to me?

0:02:23.691,0:02:24.901
Joanne Staha,

0:02:24.901,0:02:27.211
and my admiration for her,

0:02:27.211,0:02:30.866
marked the beginning of my journey[br]into the world of nurses.

0:02:31.595,0:02:32.638
A few years later,

0:02:32.638,0:02:34.097
I was asked to do a project

0:02:34.097,0:02:36.805
that would celebrate the work[br]that nurses do.

0:02:37.228,0:02:38.972
I started with Joanne,

0:02:38.972,0:02:42.277
and I met over 100 nurses[br]across the country.

0:02:42.571,0:02:47.614
I spent five years interviewing,[br]photographing and filming nurses

0:02:47.614,0:02:50.205
for a book and a documentary film.

0:02:50.723,0:02:51.741
With my team,

0:02:51.741,0:02:55.451
we mapped a trip across America[br]that would take us to places

0:02:55.451,0:03:00.389
dealing with some of the biggest[br]public health issues facing our nation --

0:03:00.389,0:03:04.414
aging, war, poverty, prisons.

0:03:05.059,0:03:06.497
And then we went places

0:03:06.497,0:03:10.286
where we would find the largest[br]concentration of patients

0:03:10.286,0:03:12.076
dealing with those issues.

0:03:12.522,0:03:16.696
Then we asked hospitals and facilities[br]to nominate nurses

0:03:16.696,0:03:18.654
who would best represent them.

0:03:19.095,0:03:21.892
One of the first nurses I met[br]was Bridget Kumbella.

0:03:22.304,0:03:24.202
Bridget was born in Cameroon,

0:03:24.202,0:03:25.907
the oldest of four children.

0:03:26.616,0:03:30.495
Her father was at work when he[br]had fallen from the fourth floor

0:03:30.495,0:03:32.114
and really hurt his back.

0:03:32.458,0:03:36.532
He talked a lot about what it was like[br]to be flat on your back

0:03:36.532,0:03:39.107
and not get the kind[br]of care that you need.

0:03:39.631,0:03:43.530
That propelled Bridget to go[br]into the profession of nursing.

0:03:44.169,0:03:45.885
Now, as a nurse in the Bronx,

0:03:45.885,0:03:49.359
she has a really diverse group[br]of patients that she cares for,

0:03:49.359,0:03:51.283
from all walks of life,

0:03:51.283,0:03:53.287
and from all different religions.

0:03:53.677,0:03:57.842
She's devoted her career[br]to understanding the impact

0:03:57.842,0:04:01.876
of our cultural differences[br]when it comes to our health.

0:04:02.514,0:04:03.912
She spoke of a patient --

0:04:03.912,0:04:06.655
a Native American patient that she had --

0:04:06.655,0:04:10.080
that wanted to bring a bunch[br]of feathers into the ICU.

0:04:11.198,0:04:14.129
That's how he found spiritual comfort.

0:04:14.378,0:04:16.784
She spoke of advocating for him,

0:04:16.784,0:04:19.414
and said that patients come[br]from all different religions

0:04:19.414,0:04:23.314
and use all different kinds[br]of objects for comfort;

0:04:23.314,0:04:26.781
whether it's a holy rosary[br]or a symbolic feather,

0:04:26.781,0:04:28.707
it all needs to be supported.

0:04:29.392,0:04:30.904
This is Jason Short.

0:04:31.143,0:04:34.509
Jason is a home health nurse[br]in the Appalachian mountains,

0:04:34.509,0:04:38.524
and his dad had a gas station[br]and a repair shop when he was growing up.

0:04:38.762,0:04:42.861
So he worked on cars in the community[br]that he now serves as a nurse.

0:04:43.760,0:04:44.926
When he was in college,

0:04:44.926,0:04:48.933
it was just not macho at all[br]to become a nurse,

0:04:48.933,0:04:50.774
so he avoided it for years.

0:04:51.000,0:04:52.988
He drove trucks for a little while,

0:04:52.988,0:04:56.791
but his life path was always[br]pulling him back to nursing.

0:04:58.451,0:05:00.495
As a nurse in the Appalachian mountains,

0:05:00.495,0:05:04.005
Jason goes places that an ambulance[br]can't even get to.

0:05:04.281,0:05:05.301
In this photograph,

0:05:05.301,0:05:08.058
he's standing in what used to be a road.

0:05:08.294,0:05:11.223
Top of the mountain mining[br]flooded that road,

0:05:11.223,0:05:14.497
and now the only way[br]for Jason to get to the patient

0:05:14.497,0:05:17.397
living in that house[br]with black lung disease

0:05:17.397,0:05:21.819
is to drive his SUV against[br]the current up that creek.

0:05:22.576,0:05:23.670
The day I was with him,

0:05:23.670,0:05:25.940
we ripped the front fender off the car.

0:05:26.247,0:05:28.299
The next morning he got up,

0:05:28.299,0:05:29.582
put the car on the lift,

0:05:29.582,0:05:30.663
fixed the fender,

0:05:30.663,0:05:33.337
and then headed out[br]to meet his next patient.

0:05:33.819,0:05:37.127
I witnessed Jason[br]caring for this gentleman

0:05:37.127,0:05:40.060
with such enormous compassion,

0:05:40.060,0:05:45.155
and I was struck again by how intimate[br]the work of nursing really is.

0:05:46.182,0:05:47.895
When I met Brian McMillion,

0:05:47.895,0:05:49.343
he was raw.

0:05:49.472,0:05:52.068
He had just come back from a deployment,

0:05:52.068,0:05:56.225
and he hadn't really settled back in[br]to life in San Diego yet.

0:05:56.669,0:06:00.307
He talked about his experience[br]of being a nurse in Germany,

0:06:00.307,0:06:03.812
and taking care of the soldiers[br]coming right off the battlefield.

0:06:04.205,0:06:07.951
Very often, he would be the first[br]person they would see

0:06:07.951,0:06:10.423
when they opened[br]their eyes in the hospital.

0:06:10.771,0:06:13.363
And they would look at him[br]as they were lying there,

0:06:13.363,0:06:15.172
missing limbs,

0:06:15.172,0:06:19.581
and the first thing they would say is,[br]"When can I go back?

0:06:19.581,0:06:21.546
I left my brothers out there."

0:06:22.163,0:06:23.937
And Brian would have to say,

0:06:23.937,0:06:25.517
"You're not going anywhere.

0:06:25.517,0:06:27.829
You've already given enough, brother."

0:06:28.399,0:06:32.936
Brian is both a nurse and a soldier[br]who's seen combat.

0:06:33.412,0:06:35.564
So that puts him in a unique position

0:06:35.564,0:06:40.034
to be able to relate to and help heal[br]the veterans in his care.

0:06:41.813,0:06:43.481
This is Sister Stephen,

0:06:43.481,0:06:47.624
and she runs a nursing home[br]in Wisconsin called Villa Loretto.

0:06:47.866,0:06:51.729
The entire circle of life[br]can be found under her roof.

0:06:52.022,0:06:54.583
She grew up wishing they lived on a farm,

0:06:54.716,0:06:59.230
so given the opportunity[br]to adopt local farm animals,

0:06:59.346,0:07:02.338
she enthusiastically brings them in.

0:07:02.582,0:07:03.664
And in the springtime,

0:07:03.826,0:07:05.771
those animals have babies.

0:07:06.009,0:07:11.175
Sister Stephen uses those baby[br]ducks, goats and lambs

0:07:11.346,0:07:15.275
as animal therapy for the residents[br]at Villa Loretto,

0:07:15.465,0:07:18.855
who sometimes can't[br]remember their own name,

0:07:18.986,0:07:23.139
but they do rejoice[br]in the holding of a baby lamb.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
The day I was with Sister Stephen,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I needed to take her away[br]from Villa Loretto

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
oto film part of her story.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And before she left,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
she wnt into the room of a dying patient.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
She leaned over and she said,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
"I have to go away for the day,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
but if Jesus calls you,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
you go,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
you go straight home to Jesus."

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I was standing there and thinking,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
this is the first time in my life

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I witnessed that you could show[br]someone you love them completely

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
by letting go.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
We don't have to hold on so tightly.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I saw more life rolled up[br]at Villa Loretto

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
than I have ever seen at any other time[br]at any other place in my life.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
We live in a complicated time[br]when it comes to our health care.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
It's easy to lose sight of the need[br]for quality of life,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
not just quantity of life.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
As new life-saving[br]technologies are created,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
we're going to have really[br]complicated decisions to make.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
These technologies often save lives,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
but they can also prolong pain[br]and the dying process.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
How in the world are we supposed[br]to navigate these waters?

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
We're going to need[br]all the help we can get.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Nurses have a really unique[br]relationship with us

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
because of the time spent at bedside.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
During that time,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
a kind of emotional intimacy develops.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
This past summer,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
on August ninth,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
my father died of a heart attack.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
My mother was devasted,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and she couldn't imagine her world[br]without him in it.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Four days later she fell,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
she broke her hip,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
she needed surgery,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and she found herself[br]fighting for her own life.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Once again I found myself[br]on the receiving end

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
of the care of nurses --

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
this time for my mom.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
My brother and my sister and I[br]stayed by her side

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
for the next three days in the ICU.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And as we tried to make[br]the right decisions,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and follow my mother's wishes,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
we found that we were depending[br]upon the guidance of nurses.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And once again,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
they didn't let us down.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
They had an amazing insight[br]in terms of how to care for my mom

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
in the last four days of her life.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
They brought her comfort[br]and relief from pain.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
They knew to encourage my sister and I[br]to put a pretty nightgown on my mom,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
long after it mattered to her,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
but it sure meant a lot to us.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And they knew to come and wake me up[br]just in time for my mom's last breath.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Then they knew how long[br]to leave me in the room

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
with my mother after she died.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I have no idea how they know these things,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
but I do know that I am eternally grateful

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
that they've guided me once again.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Thank you so very much.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
(Applause)