Portrait of a Tender (#7) - Chris - Labor and Delivery

36 years ago, Chris started her first nursing job on an oncology unit, caring for cancer patients.  Three years later she moved on to labor and delivery and that is where she continues caring for patients today.  Chris has been working here in Charlottesville at the birthing center at MJH for the past 24 years.  Reflecting on what brought her to a career in nursing, Chris shifts in her seat a bit, ever so demure, and says "I don't really have an exciting story about how I became a nurse.  I was born the oldest of three children in my family.  I've been a caretaker my whole life.  It's just part of me, and nursing seemed like a good fit."  Three and a half decades later, one can conclude  that nursing was indeed a good fit for Chris.

Nurses have encountered a myriad of challenges while working through the pandemic.  Hospitals have struggled with adapting and implementing  evidence based policies that protect against an ever evolving novel virus while also maintaining consistency and support for staff.  It seems an impossible task.  Necessary quarantine restrictions have been particularly difficult on both patients and staff .  Depending on their Covid status and medical needs, it was necessary at times to separate babies from parents.  Symptomatic Covid positive partners were not allowed in the hospital, not even for the birth of their child.  Although necessary for the safety of everyone, it was hard.  Chris tells of one patient she had where this happened, and the mother was particularly saddened that her partner could not sign their baby's birth certificate. Chris took the birth certificate  outside to him, and he was grateful to have the chance to sign his name.  Sometimes the smallest act can feel the biggest at the time.

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