Nurses keep learning because they care

Published 9:00 pm Sunday, May 20, 2001

By Kathy Day

Herald Writer

BOTHELL — While some nurses lobby and march on the streets, seeking better wages and ways to combat a shortage in their field, another group of caregivers sits attentively at the University of Washington-Bothell working to improve the field through another channel.

They’re part of a group of more than 110 enrolled in a bachelor of science nursing program that will enable them to do bigger and better things with their careers, explained Andrea Kovalesky, an Everett resident recently named UW-Bothell’s Distinguished Teacher of the Year.

Those in the program, which also offers classes in Port Angeles, are either registered nurses with associate degrees who want a wider base of knowledge or students who enrolled in the four-year program to start. Some are in second careers, some just trying to advance in their first career.

Kovalesky spent 20 years as a pediatric nurse before obtaining a doctoral degree in nursing science at UW and focusing her career on teaching.

"Teaching is part of nursing, a natural part," she said. "You can exchange energy with others and give new ideas, then the students can go into the community and use them."

During a recent class, Kovalesky asked students in professor Suzanne Sikma’s class to explain why they are "the stayers … despite what we know about the conditions." The overriding answers were summed up by a couple of students:

Tony Moore, who has been a nurse for 25 years, said he has "always had a fascination with anything to do with health care."

Others pointed to the caring and nurturing part, while Derrick Evans gave part of the credit to the flexibility.

"There aren’t too many other jobs you can do part-time that pay fairly well and give you time to be with your family," said Evans. He started his nursing career 10 years ago as a certified nurse assistant and worked his way through military medic, licensed practical nurse and an associate degree in nursing. "It all builds on itself. It’s limitless."

It’s also a job, he said, where the interaction provides a "family-like atmosphere."

Some acknowledge coming back to school because they’re tired of the long hours and direct bedside care.

Charmayne Anderson, who has spent the past 10 years in critical care, wants to get away from patient care. Instead of throwing in the towel, she’s in the UW program so she can share her passion with others. Her goal, she said, is to become a teacher of nursing.

"I feel a need as an African-American to be a mentor and role model," she added. "I feel a strong pull to go into the community to show others what nursing can be."

Mirtha Cuevas-Boff, who worked for seven years as a medical interpreter before becoming a nurse, also shares her nursing career with her community. "I especially encourage bilingual students," she said. "You never run out of work. There’s so much you can do."

Willy Pachak took a different route. After 26 years in the Navy as an electronics specialist, he said, he realized his military retirement pay wasn’t enough o support him the way he was used to living.

"I wanted a job that I could do anywhere, and I like people," he said. "This is the ultimate in customer service."

He started his career with an associate degree in nursing, and is in his third year as a long-term care nurse. He said he hopes the UW degree program, which students can finish in one year if they attend full time or in seven quarters part time, will help him move into a career in mental health or health care informatics.

Evans said he already has mastered the clinical part of nursing. "This program is opening doors and showing us that there are ways to enact change through research and administration."

Their caring nature goes beyond worrying about how their patients are doing. They are doing something to change their working conditions.

Pachak, who works in a situation where he’s responsible for 48 patients on a midnight shift, has written to federal officials about his concerns about changes in health care regulations.

Nurses have become gatekeepers for budgets in hospitals, said Ellen Noel, adding that it’s up to them to fight for good quality care, to make hospital administrators listen.

Natalie Weatherby, who works in a birthing center and likes nursing because it gives her flexibility to have a career and family, said that that was part of what motivated her to return to school.

"I want to make a difference and have some power," she said.

You can call Herald Writer Kathy Day at 425-339-3453

or send e-mail to kday@heraldnet.com.