校友简介:莉娜·克罗斯曼08级
Growing up, Lena Crossman C’08 admired the way her mother attended to the needs of other people. When it came time to choose a career, she realized nursing would fill her own desire to serve others. “Nursing is an awesome combination of science, 知识, 用心做事, 是有同情心的, and putting someone else’s needs first,”她说。.
Lena now works as a patient care operations manager at the Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of 芝加哥, where she manages the nursing staff and ensures the delivery of care on the neuroscience and endocrine floor meets state requirements. She also focuses on the patient and family experience by meeting every family that comes to her floor for care, trying to provide a positive experience during a difficult time.
She describes her interest in working with children like a light bulb that went off during one of her clinical rotations as a North Park nursing student. “I have a heart for children and for the voiceless, and children are extremely vulnerable,”她说。. “One of the things you learn is that you’re your patient’s advocate. I felt passionate about doing that for children. A lot of children we see don’t have family at their bedside.”
Lena came to North Park because she wanted to live in 芝加哥 and felt the school offered a small community in a big city. This translated to the nursing program, where she liked the small class sizes, 个人的关注, and clinical sites at top hospitals. Her pediatrics rotation was at Lurie Children's (then called Children’s Memorial Hospital). Encouraged by faculty to pursue opportunities that related to career interests, Lena became a student nursing assistant at the hospital during her senior year and was hired as a nurse after graduation.
教师 influenced her in other ways as well. 她觉得很难受。. Linda Duncan was truly invested in her education and always provided the latest news and research about nursing and health care in general. Dr. Karla Fogel taught her how to be compassionate and have a good bedside manner. “It’s an honor to take care of people in their most vulnerable state,” Lena said. “Your attitude matters because it affects your patient’s well being.”
Lena also chose North Park for its Christian focus and continues to find ways to serve others. 在2月份, she traveled to Haiti with a group of about 30 health care professionals who saw up to 600 people a day, providing basic medical care in the mountain villages of a country devastated by an earthquake in 2010. “对我们来说, the mission was about spreading the love of Christ and giving people hope because you know they aren’t going to get all the medical care they need,莉娜说。, who plans to return 3 to 4 times each year.
当她在海地工作时, as well as what she does on a day-to-day basis as a nurse, 会很难，会情绪化吗, Lena does not find it to be a struggle. “Everyone has an area that they are called to work in,”她说。. “对我来说，它很合适.”