It’s a question I’ve always wondered about. How do nurses, who care for the sick, injured and dying, stay well? How do they avoid getting the flu? What does it take to manage the stresses of the job and find balance? How do they stay on their feet for long shifts, year in and out, without running themselves into the ground?
It’s National Nursing Week, so what better time to satisfy my curiosity? With camera in hand, I roved the various departments at Sunnybrook to ask nurses the same question over and over: what are your secrets to staying fit, happy and healthy?
The answers were as varied as the nurses themselves. There are the obvious approaches, like fantastic hand hygiene. But the less glaring tricks are the ones that often ground these exceptional professionals. One nurse, who works with critically ill cancer patients, finds balance in horseback riding. And while that might not be your preferred activity, the message from the method is: caring for something other than yourself helps relieve stress.
As I went along, I found other common threads that can easily be woven into daily living: prepare your meals, move your body and laugh. And there were a few surprises, too. Let’s just say, fishing rods and belly dancing have much more in common than I’d ever have guessed!
So I got my answers, and then some. This is the kind of medicine that’s easy to swallow.
Monica, this is my favourite story so far! It’s great to get some practical advice that we can all apply to our daily lives.
The previous blog entries have been very interesting…it’s neat to get little glimpses of Sunnybrook’s inside world. This story also gave us glimpses of Sunnybrook’s staff’s inside worlds. And now I’m left wondering who all the bellydancers are!
Thank you so much, Laurie! It was a fun piece to work on. It’s inspired me to try bellydancing, too! It just goes to show, every person has a story!
Absolutely! Hey…maybe you’ve found the subject for a secondary blog…maybe? LOL! How much time do you have on your hands? 🙂
Enjoy the bellydancing!