Our March Nurse of the Month is Nancy Wade, whose teammates call her one of the most compassionate and most fun nurses to work with. “Nancy’s kindness is evident as soon as you work with her,” says a fellow nurse. “She knows how to build that bridge of trust with patients. I always love working with Nancy.” From her photos below, you can see she lives a life of adventure too!
Hi Nancy! Thanks for talking to us. How did you connect with Tribal Health and how long have you been working with us?
A lady I was working with in North Carolina told me about Tribal Health and Pine Ridge. I was kind of tired of the big cities; I wanted to get away from that and I’ve always wanted to go to the northern part of the United States. I said it sounded like a beautiful opportunity. Today is my two-year anniversary!
I’ve been traveling since 2018 and trying to figure out where I wanted to live. That’s why I got into travel nursing because I had gotten a divorce and I’m single. I moved to South Dakota in January of last year – I think I found my place.
Happy work anniversary! How did you get into nursing?
I’ve always wanted to be a nurse since I was a kid, but when I was 19, I landed a job in a bakery. I was in pastries and wedding cakes and all that stuff for the first part of my life. Then I went back to school in my late 30s because I was tired of what I was doing and I said, I really need to be a nurse.
It took me 7 years to graduate because I was running my own bakery with my husband at the time. But I graduated with my bachelor’s degree after 7 years.
Did you know that you wanted to work in emergency departments?
Yes, pretty much. After you’re in clinicals, they do rotations like nursing home and OB and all that kind of stuff. ER always seemed to excite me because there’s something new and different every day.
Whenever I talk to somebody who’s on our Rosebud or Pine Ridge ED team, they always seem very close knit. Like they go through a lot together and it’s a bonding experience.
It’s truly a family because you see some things that people shouldn’t see in life, and you really, really have to support each other and know when somebody’s weak or when they might need to be pulled aside to vent. So you really bond and it’s a unique relationship that I’ve never had anywhere else. You don’t always have time to grieve or process, because you’re in an emergent situation. You have to know people to vent to, because the ER is very stressful and it can get to you.
But when you know your coworker so well, you can say, “Hey, let’s go in the Med room and chat.” We have to look out for each other.
Since you’ve been there two years, do you ever mentor any of the new nurses?
I love mentoring.
This is my first reservation. Pine Ridge is a unique entity, and it’s very, very challenging. Things are a little bit backwards from the big systems in Florida, California. So you really have to help people adjust because it can get frustrating. I love mentoring and helping everybody because it is very, very different from any other place I’ve ever worked at.
What about the patients? Do you have close relationships with them?
Coming up with unique ways of handling patient situations is so rewarding. I’ll take the time to figure out what their situation is in order to help them succeed. Knowledge empowers people and helps them take control of their lives.
I have so many people that don’t finish their antibiotics. It’s probably the number one thing. So I always ask and they’ll say that last time they forgot their pills at their auntie’s house or something. One patient was on a medication that comes in this huge bottle. So I went to the pharmacist and we got him a smaller bottle that he can keep in his pants and the big bottle can stay at home.
It’s about working with patients and trying to figure out what challenges they have to help them to succeed.
You remind me of what Dr. Barrows always says, that you have to ask questions and get to know the whole person.
Yes, and don’t pass judgment. You know, some of these people we see 4-5 times a week. You still sit there and hold their hand and say everything’s going to be alright.
Give them a little hope that somebody’s there to love them and support them. That’s all anybody really wants.
It sounds like you have some deep relationships with the patients.
I’m probably one of the oldest nurses there, but I’ve been in customer service my whole life. I’ve had some challenges in my life. I’ve been in low places in my life and the bottom line is people just want to be acknowledged and know that they’re cared for.
You have to be passionate about that. If you lose that, then you need to move on. And I hope I never lose that.
Since you’re not at work all the time, what do you like to do for fun?
I love to travel. Last year I had probably a record-breaking amount of travel. I went to South Africa and went to Johannesburg and Cape Town. It was beautiful to learn about the culture.
We went to Greece on a cruise and then back in November, I took three other ladies on a European cruise to the Christmas markets. We got to see the different cultures, the seasonal things that they do, and taste different holiday wines and dishes. We went to Budapest, Slovakia, Austria, and Germany and it was fantastic. We went to the monasteries, churches and castles, and all sorts of things.
At home, I love Custer State Park, the Black Hills. I like to go for hikes, anything outdoors and anything new and different.
Thank you for sharing your story, Nancy!
