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| Media Contacts Mary Jo Wich Lois Kendall 314-525-4005 |
Release Date: 1/21/2009
Nurse brings empathy, compassion to every patient
Janie Glass, R.N., center, observes as David Schultz, R.N., a recent nurse graduate, inserts an IV into patient Donna Fannon’s arm.
Janie Glass, R.N., describes herself as “an old-time nurse” and her career as “my calling.”
“I always liked taking care of people, and I believe that being a nurse has made me a better person,” Glass said.
Drawn to the profession as a young girl, Glass volunteered as a candy striper at a local nursing home when she was in the eighth grade. She enrolled in a pre-nursing program in high school, training at the Greenville Health Center in Greenville, Mo. She spent one summer working as a home health nurse assistant, visiting homebound patients and helping them with their personal and household needs.
After high school, Glass attended a one-year vocational program to earn her LPN. For the next nine years, she worked part time at a doctor’s office and a part time at a nursing home. She also trained for and served as (on a stand-by basis) both an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) and deputy coroner for Wayne County, Mo.
“I know a little bit about a lot of things,” Glass said with a laugh. “But I knew I wanted to become a registered nurse, so I needed to move on and continue my education. All my life I had wanted to work at a big hospital; so, in 1990, I joined the staff of St. Anthony’s. Four years later, I earned my R.N. from the St. Louis Community College at Meramec.”
Glass started out at St. Anthony’s on a medical/surgical floor; moved to oncology for several years; then spent 10 years as a float pool nurse, working in a variety of areas, including critical care. Six months ago, she began working on the Telemetry unit and acting as preceptor to newly graduated nurses.
Besides teaching new nurses, Glass attends to other educational needs of the department, checking that competencies are met and that necessary coursework is scheduled. She sometimes serves as charge nurse, handling scheduling, making rounds and troubleshooting any problems that arise; other times, she takes patients.
Glass works full time, but her hours fluctuate. When she’s performing the duties of an educator, she works eight hours a day, 40 hours a week; when her duties revolve around caring for patients, she works 10-12-hour shifts. She recently began classes that will lead to attaining her BSN.
“I figure the more I know, the better nurse I’ll be,” she said, adding, “One of these days I might go for my master’s degree.”
Being a “better nurse” is Glass’ continuing goal. “If you can’t be nice to people when they’re sick and patient with them when they’re crabby, you shouldn’t be in this profession,” she said. “It’s important to listen to the patient and to make sure her hair is combed and his teeth are brushed. When I walk into a room and look at the person in that bed, I see my mother there. That’s what nurses do – treat patients like we’d want to be treated. Compassion is the key to good nursing.”
For Glass, compassion comes naturally. When a man from her hometown of Poplar Bluff was diagnosed with lung cancer, he and his wife stayed at a local motel because he was unable to make the daily drive to St. Anthony’s for treatment. When he expressed how much he missed a good, home-cooked meal, she invited the couple to her house for a dinner of fried chicken and mashed potatoes.
Another time, she was visiting with a dying patient who expressed only one wish – that someone could sing him a gospel song. Glass, who used to sing with her family members in a gospel group, quietly got up, closed the door to his room and sang him a song.
And Glass doesn’t stop being a nurse when she walks out the hospital’s doors. When a fellow restaurant patron went into cardiac arrest, Glass performed CPR until the EMTs arrived. When she saw a woman fall outside a fast-food place, she cared for her until the ambulance came.
“My patients are just like my family,” Glass said. “They teach me to be kinder, more caring and compassionate. I always put the patient first – that’s what nurses do.”
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