I arrived to the Founders 10 CICU in November 2017 and was getting to know the staff. One day we had an unruly, loud, obnoxious patient yelling at his RN and CNA. He was a scary looking tattooed guy demanding narcotics for pain and getting more agitated by the minute. I noticed this nurse named James walking down the hall to talk to this guy. James confronted him and took it upon himself to station himself at the computer in the hall outside his room. It wasn’t his patient, but James wasn’t going to take his BS or let him talk to the other staff this way. “Who is this tough guy?” I thought. My second thought was “I need to make sure this young nurse knows how to DE-escalate a crazy patient, and not get him more riled up,” though I appreciated his selflessness and efforts to protect others. Again... who IS this tough guy new nurse? Someone told me he used to be an EMT... ah, that explains it - toughened by his experience out there under stressful emergency situations... I have to find out more about this guy. Assertive, outspoken, a little rough around the edges... then I found him at the back nurses station a few hours later to talk. I had to find out what made this guy tick. Turned out he was an artist who discovered nursing to be his calling after a winding road of soul-searching. Our tough guy bodyguard, the artist! Turns out James the tough guy had the softest, sweetest heart, and over the next few years we got to see more and more of that soft, sweet loving side. I didn’t get to see everything he did for his patients, but I heard about it here and there. And I’ll never forget watching him clock out after his shift, then turn around and go back to spend time talking to a patient who almost died at least 3 times while he was with us for about 6 months. He went back in to talk and pray with the patient. That’s James. I’m glad you found your calling James, and I’m glad you felt called to share your gifts with us on Founders 10, CICU! ❤️🙏
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Edited: Mar 05, 2021
Our Tough Bodyguard
Our Tough Bodyguard
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I don't know you but you've described James to a T. Thanks so much for sharing this.