A tribute to nurses
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0:01 - 0:02As patients,
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0:02 - 0:05we usually remember
the names of our doctors, -
0:06 - 0:09but often we forget
the names of our nurses. -
0:10 - 0:11I remember one.
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0:11 - 0:14I had breast cancer a few years ago,
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0:14 - 0:17and somehow I managed
to get through the surgeries -
0:17 - 0:19and the beginning
of the treatment just fine. -
0:20 - 0:22I could hide what was going on.
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0:22 - 0:24Everybody didn't really have to know.
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0:24 - 0:27I could walk my daughter to school,
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0:27 - 0:29I could go out to dinner with my husband;
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0:29 - 0:30I could fool people.
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0:31 - 0:33But then my chemo was scheduled to begin
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0:33 - 0:35and that terrified me
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0:35 - 0:39because I knew that I was going to lose
every single hair on my body -
0:39 - 0:42because of the kind of chemo
that I was going to have. -
0:42 - 0:45I wasn't going to be able
to pretend anymore -
0:45 - 0:47as though everything was normal.
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0:47 - 0:49I was scared.
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0:49 - 0:52I knew what it felt like to have
everybody treating me with kid gloves, -
0:52 - 0:55and I just wanted to feel normal.
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0:55 - 0:57I had a port installed in my chest.
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0:57 - 1:00I went to my first day of chemotherapy,
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1:00 - 1:02and I was an emotional wreck.
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1:02 - 1:05My nurse, Joanne, walked in the door,
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1:05 - 1:09and every bone in my body was telling
me to get up out of that chair -
1:09 - 1:11and take for the hills.
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1:11 - 1:14But Joanne looked at me and talked
to me like we were old friends. -
1:15 - 1:17And then she asked me,
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1:17 - 1:19"Where'd you get your highlights done?"
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1:19 - 1:20(Laughter)
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1:20 - 1:22And I was like, are you kidding me?
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1:22 - 1:27You're going to talk to me about my hair
when I'm on the verge of losing it? -
1:27 - 1:28I was kind of angry,
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1:29 - 1:31and I said, "Really? Hair?"
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1:32 - 1:34And with a shrug
of her shoulders she said, -
1:34 - 1:35"It's gonna grow back."
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1:36 - 1:40And in that moment she said
the one thing I had overlooked, -
1:40 - 1:43and that was that at some point,
my life would get back to normal. -
1:43 - 1:45She really believed that.
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1:45 - 1:47And so I believed it, too.
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1:48 - 1:52Now, worrying about losing your hair
when you're fighting cancer -
1:52 - 1:54may seem silly at first,
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1:54 - 1:58but it's not just that you're worried
about how you're going to look. -
1:58 - 2:02It's that you're worried that everybody's
going to treat you so carefully. -
2:03 - 2:06Joanne made me feel normal
for the first time in six months. -
2:06 - 2:08We talked about her boyfriends,
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2:08 - 2:11we talked about looking
for apartments in New York City, -
2:11 - 2:14and we talked about my reaction
to the chemotherapy -- -
2:14 - 2:16all kind of mixed in together.
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2:16 - 2:18And I always wondered,
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2:18 - 2:23how did she so instinctively
know just how to talk to me? -
2:23 - 2:27Joanne Staha and my admiration for her
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2:27 - 2:31marked the beginning of my journey
into the world of nurses. -
2:31 - 2:34A few years later,
I was asked to do a project -
2:34 - 2:36that would celebrate
the work that nurses do. -
2:37 - 2:39I started with Joanne,
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2:39 - 2:42and I met over 100 nurses
across the country. -
2:42 - 2:47I spent five years interviewing,
photographing and filming nurses -
2:47 - 2:50for a book and a documentary film.
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2:51 - 2:52With my team,
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2:52 - 2:55we mapped a trip across America
that would take us to places -
2:55 - 3:00dealing with some of the biggest
public health issues facing our nation -- -
3:00 - 3:04aging, war, poverty, prisons.
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3:05 - 3:06And then we went places
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3:06 - 3:10where we would find
the largest concentration of patients -
3:10 - 3:12dealing with those issues.
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3:12 - 3:16Then we asked hospitals and facilities
to nominate nurses -
3:16 - 3:18who would best represent them.
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3:19 - 3:22One of the first nurses I met
was Bridget Kumbella. -
3:22 - 3:24Bridget was born in Cameroon,
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3:24 - 3:26the oldest of four children.
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3:26 - 3:30Her father was at work
when he had fallen from the fourth floor -
3:30 - 3:32and really hurt his back.
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3:32 - 3:36And he talked a lot about what it was like
to be flat on your back -
3:36 - 3:39and not get the kind
of care that you need. -
3:39 - 3:43And that propelled Bridget
to go into the profession of nursing. -
3:44 - 3:46Now, as a nurse in the Bronx,
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3:46 - 3:49she has a really diverse group
of patients that she cares for, -
3:49 - 3:51from all walks of life,
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3:51 - 3:53and from all different religions.
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3:53 - 3:58And she's devoted her career
to understanding the impact -
3:58 - 4:01of our cultural differences
when it comes to our health. -
4:02 - 4:04She spoke of a patient --
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4:04 - 4:06a Native American patient that she had --
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4:06 - 4:10that wanted to bring
a bunch of feathers into the ICU. -
4:11 - 4:14That's how he found spiritual comfort.
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4:14 - 4:16And she spoke of advocating for him
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4:16 - 4:19and said that patients come
from all different religions -
4:19 - 4:23and use all different kinds
of objects for comfort; -
4:23 - 4:26whether it's a holy rosary
or a symbolic feather, -
4:26 - 4:28it all needs to be supported.
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4:29 - 4:31This is Jason Short.
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4:31 - 4:34Jason is a home health nurse
in the Appalachian mountains, -
4:34 - 4:38and his dad had a gas station
and a repair shop when he was growing up. -
4:39 - 4:43So he worked on cars in the community
that he now serves as a nurse. -
4:44 - 4:45When he was in college,
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4:45 - 4:49it was just not macho at all
to become a nurse, -
4:49 - 4:51so he avoided it for years.
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4:51 - 4:53He drove trucks for a little while,
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4:53 - 4:56but his life path was always
pulling him back to nursing. -
4:58 - 5:00As a nurse in the Appalachian mountains,
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5:00 - 5:04Jason goes places
that an ambulance can't even get to. -
5:04 - 5:08In this photograph,
he's standing in what used to be a road. -
5:08 - 5:11Top of the mountain mining
flooded that road, -
5:11 - 5:14and now the only way
for Jason to get to the patient -
5:14 - 5:17living in that house
with black lung disease -
5:17 - 5:21is to drive his SUV
against the current up that creek. -
5:22 - 5:25The day I was with him,
we ripped the front fender off the car. -
5:26 - 5:29The next morning he got up,
put the car on the lift, -
5:29 - 5:31fixed the fender,
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5:31 - 5:33and then headed out
to meet his next patient. -
5:34 - 5:37I witnessed Jason
caring for this gentleman -
5:37 - 5:40with such enormous compassion,
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5:40 - 5:45and I was struck again by how intimate
the work of nursing really is. -
5:46 - 5:49When I met Brian McMillion, he was raw.
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5:49 - 5:52He had just come back from a deployment
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5:52 - 5:56and he hadn't really settled back in
to life in San Diego yet. -
5:56 - 6:00He talked about his experience
of being a nurse in Germany -
6:00 - 6:04and taking care of the soldiers
coming right off the battlefield. -
6:04 - 6:08Very often, he would be
the first person they would see -
6:08 - 6:10when they opened
their eyes in the hospital. -
6:10 - 6:13And they would look at him
as they were lying there, -
6:13 - 6:15missing limbs,
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6:15 - 6:17and the first thing they would say is,
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6:17 - 6:21"When can I go back?
I left my brothers out there." -
6:22 - 6:24And Brian would have to say,
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6:24 - 6:25"You're not going anywhere.
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6:25 - 6:27You've already given enough, brother."
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6:28 - 6:33Brian is both a nurse and a soldier
who's seen combat. -
6:33 - 6:35So that puts him in a unique position
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6:35 - 6:40to be able to relate to and help heal
the veterans in his care. -
6:42 - 6:43This is Sister Stephen,
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6:43 - 6:47and she runs a nursing home
in Wisconsin called Villa Loretto. -
6:47 - 6:52And the entire circle of life
can be found under her roof. -
6:52 - 6:54She grew up wishing they lived on a farm,
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6:54 - 6:59so given the opportunity
to adopt local farm animals, -
6:59 - 7:02she enthusiastically brings them in.
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7:02 - 7:06And in the springtime,
those animals have babies. -
7:06 - 7:11And Sister Stephen uses
those baby ducks, goats and lambs -
7:11 - 7:15as animal therapy
for the residents at Villa Loretto -
7:15 - 7:18who sometimes can't
remember their own name, -
7:18 - 7:22but they do rejoice
in the holding of a baby lamb. -
7:23 - 7:25The day I was with Sister Stephen,
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7:25 - 7:27I needed to take her away
from Villa Loretto -
7:27 - 7:29to film part of her story.
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7:29 - 7:31And before we left,
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7:31 - 7:33she went into the room of a dying patient.
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7:34 - 7:37And she leaned over and she said,
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7:37 - 7:39"I have to go away for the day,
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7:40 - 7:41but if Jesus calls you,
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7:41 - 7:42you go.
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7:42 - 7:45You go straight home to Jesus."
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7:45 - 7:48I was standing there and thinking
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7:48 - 7:50it was the first time in my life
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7:50 - 7:54I witnessed that you could show
someone you love them completely -
7:54 - 7:55by letting go.
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7:56 - 7:58We don't have to hold on so tightly.
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7:59 - 8:03I saw more life rolled up at Villa Loretto
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8:03 - 8:08than I have ever seen at any other time
at any other place in my life. -
8:09 - 8:13We live in a complicated time
when it comes to our health care. -
8:13 - 8:18It's easy to lose sight
of the need for quality of life, -
8:18 - 8:19not just quantity of life.
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8:20 - 8:24As new life-saving
technologies are created, -
8:24 - 8:27we're going to have really
complicated decisions to make. -
8:27 - 8:30These technologies often save lives,
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8:30 - 8:34but they can also prolong pain
and the dying process. -
8:36 - 8:39How in the world are we supposed
to navigate these waters? -
8:39 - 8:41We're going to need
all the help we can get. -
8:42 - 8:45Nurses have a really unique
relationship with us -
8:45 - 8:48because of the time spent at bedside.
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8:49 - 8:50During that time,
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8:50 - 8:53a kind of emotional intimacy develops.
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8:55 - 8:57This past summer, on August 9,
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8:57 - 8:59my father died of a heart attack.
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9:01 - 9:02My mother was devastated,
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9:02 - 9:06and she couldn't imagine
her world without him in it. -
9:07 - 9:09Four days later she fell,
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9:09 - 9:11she broke her hip,
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9:11 - 9:13she needed surgery
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9:13 - 9:16and she found herself
fighting for her own life. -
9:17 - 9:19Once again I found myself
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9:19 - 9:22on the receiving end
of the care of nurses -- -
9:22 - 9:23this time for my mom.
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9:24 - 9:27My brother and my sister and I
stayed by her side -
9:27 - 9:29for the next three days in the ICU.
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9:30 - 9:33And as we tried
to make the right decisions -
9:33 - 9:35and follow my mother's wishes,
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9:36 - 9:39we found that we were depending
upon the guidance of nurses. -
9:40 - 9:42And once again,
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9:42 - 9:43they didn't let us down.
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9:45 - 9:49They had an amazing insight
in terms of how to care for my mom -
9:49 - 9:52in the last four days of her life.
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9:52 - 9:55They brought her comfort
and relief from pain. -
9:56 - 10:02They knew to encourage my sister and I
to put a pretty nightgown on my mom, -
10:02 - 10:03long after it mattered to her,
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10:04 - 10:05but it sure meant a lot to us.
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10:07 - 10:13And they knew to come and wake me up
just in time for my mom's last breath. -
10:14 - 10:16And then they knew
how long to leave me in the room -
10:16 - 10:18with my mother after she died.
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10:19 - 10:23I have no idea how they know these things,
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10:23 - 10:26but I do know that I am eternally grateful
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10:26 - 10:28that they've guided me once again.
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10:29 - 10:30Thank you so very much.
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10:30 - 10:35(Applause)
- Title:
- A tribute to nurses
- Speaker:
- Carolyn Jones
- Description:
-
Carolyn Jones spent five years interviewing, photographing and filming nurses across America, traveling to places dealing with some of the nation's biggest public health issues. She shares personal stories of unwavering dedication in this celebration of the everyday heroes who work at the front lines of health care.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDTalks
- Duration:
- 10:48
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for A tribute to nurses | ||
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for A tribute to nurses | ||
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for A tribute to nurses | ||
Brian Greene approved English subtitles for A tribute to nurses | ||
Joanna Pietrulewicz accepted English subtitles for A tribute to nurses | ||
Joanna Pietrulewicz edited English subtitles for A tribute to nurses | ||
Joanna Pietrulewicz edited English subtitles for A tribute to nurses | ||
Leslie Gauthier edited English subtitles for A tribute to nurses |