Lauren Everingham RN works on the Pediatric Medicine and Pediatric Short Stay units of All Children’s Hospital Johns Hopkins Medicine in St. Petersburg, Fla.
Everingham is a second-career nurse. She originally studied writing at Muhlenberg College and worked as an editor for a healthcare magazine. Feeling drawn to a more service-oriented job, she earned her master’s degree in teaching English literature from Western Carolina University and briefly taught English in a North Carolina high school. Everingham quickly realized that she would prefer to serve children and families in a different capacity and went on to earn her BSN from the university’s nursing program. She finally found her home as a pediatric nurse.
Now, equipped with her nursing expertise, Everingham just came back from a week-long medical mission to the Dominican Republic with
Team Tampa Bay. There, she used her nursing knowledge to help set up medical clinics and provide care to the people who reside in the bateys, which are small villages in the sugar cane fields of
La Romana.
Through our email interview, we discussed why Everingham decided to pursue nursing, how it has changed her life, and what her medical mission taught her.
*After our interview, Hurricane Erika resulted in unforeseen tragedy and disaster in the Dominican Republic. To make a donation, please visit the Caribbean Red Cross.
Q: After earning an advanced degree in teaching, what made you decide to switch careers to nursing?
A: I quickly became disenfranchised by the state of education in North Carolina—its teachers are some of the lowest paid in the United States, the state government has eliminated the master’s degree supplement, and when I graduated in mid-2010, teaching positions were being cut left and right due to our struggling economy. For me, the best part about teaching was the kids, so I sought out a career that would allow me to help children while also securing my own future. Turns out, the third career’s the charm! Plus, I use my teaching skills every single day as a nurse.
Q: How has becoming a nurse impacted your life?
A: Being a nurse in a children’s hospital means I am daily reminded to count my blessings. I am sure all nurses feel this way. It is so easy to take your own health and well-being for granted. My job puts me face to face with children and families coping with heartbreaking traumas, difficult chronic illnesses, terminal disease, abuse and neglect. I am more aware of how fortunate I have been, and I am honored to be able to help these families through a difficult time in their lives.
Q: What made you choose pediatrics as your specialty?
A: Above, I mentioned some of the dark things I witness as a pediatric nurse. But, I also experience joy at work every day: seeing mermaids roll down the hallway in wheelchairs to visit patients, watching a child hug his new foster parent for the first time, and helping new parents pose for a picture with their tiny baby who they finally get to bring home after three months in the NICU. Every time I walk into the hospital, through the brightly colored hallways, past the pirate ship playground, and into the elevator where a child’s voice announces, “Going up!,” I think how lucky I am to work in pediatrics. I wish adult hospitals were more like children’s hospitals; I think people would heal faster.
Q: Can you describe why your medical mission to the Dominican Republic was important to you?
A: I have always wanted to participate in a project like this. My life has been full of opportunity and I’ve been fortunate to have access to education and training. The least I can do is use my skills and education to help people who don’t even have access to basic medical care. Plus, I knew it would be a life-changing experience. It’s one thing to be educated about the struggles of people living in poverty around the world; it’s another thing to see it firsthand. I know I gained more from the people in the bateys of La Romana than I could ever offer to them.
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Q: What was it like working in nursing outside of the U.S.?
A: We worked with Dominican physicians and we had very limited resources, so needless to say it was a lot different than nursing here. We navigated language barriers and encountered different practices in dosing medications. It was also eye opening. One of the older patients we saw had a blood pressure of 210/110. Here in the states, we would have done a comprehensive workup for this patient. There, we had to give the gentleman some blood pressure medication and briefly educate him, and that was it. Hopefully there will be some follow up with those types of patients, but we will not be there to see that, so it was pretty unsettling.
Q: What was your favorite part of your trip?
A: The kids. They were full of joy and so proud of what little they had. At the first batey we visited, child after child took our hands and led us around to show us their fruit trees. Another day, a group of about 15 kids walked us out into the sugar cane fields, cut down some sugar cane, and showed us how to taste it. The sense of community among the batey children was so beautiful to watch. An older child would give a small child medicine or carry him down a hill when the younger child was afraid. They played in large groups of widely varying ages. They walked around the village holding hands. It was inspiring, and I hope to provide my future children with that sense of community.
Q: You worked with other medical and non-medical volunteers. How did your skills as a nurse fit in interprofessionally on your mission?
A: The team was made up of 10 American nurses and several Dominican doctors and translators. In previous years, non-medical volunteers (often teenagers) have also accompanied Team Tampa Bay and helped hand out supplies and play with the children. As nurses, our role was to take blood pressures and measure blood sugars, fill prescriptions, administer medications, and hand out supplies. We were able to ensure correct dosing of medications and appropriate antibiotic prescriptions, as well as screen patients for potential surgical needs or other in-depth follow up care. We also helped the translators to educate patients about how to take their medications properly.
Q: What is the biggest issue that you encountered with healthcare in La Romana?
A: Access to care. The bateys are often in very remote areas, requiring us to ride 30 to 45 minutes or longer on our school bus from the city. The folks living out there do not have cars, and there is no public transportation. So most of the time, there is no way to get to a doctor’s office or a hospital. This is frequently a problem for women in labor—they often give birth in the batey without any midwife, nurse or medical assistance because they simply cannot get to a hospital. It can be a life-threatening situation for both mom and baby.
Q: What will happen to the medical clinics your team set up now that you left the country?
A: The medical clinics that we set up are temporary—we set them up and take them down all in one day. However, the
Good Samaritan Mission is a large organization that is in place year round and hosts more than 60 mission teams throughout the year. Each team visits several bateys and in total the mission reaches approximately 3,000 people in more than 100 bateys each year. Unfortunately, there aren’t enough teams and supplies to reach every batey each month, so many of the people we saw were provided with a 30-day supply of medication but will not have the opportunity to visit another clinic for months. When it comes to cardiac and diabetic medications, for example, it is a really big problem.
Q: Would you recommend other nurses sign up for a medical mission with Team Tampa Bay, and what are some of the other projects they could get involved in?
A: I would definitely recommend joining Team Tampa Bay on a medical mission to La Romana. It was an incredible experience. The leaders of our team work hard to organize these trips every year and they are always in need of more volunteers, supplies, and donations. Nurses can also organize their own mission team through
Good Samaritan or get involved with some of their other projects, including the clean water, construction, and Sugar Cane Kids programs.
Q: Finally, what do you see for the future of nursing?
A: As I mentioned above, nurses are uniquely poised to provide solutions for many of the problems we face in our health care system today. Forward-thinking and innovative nurses, whether in bedside care, outpatient, management, or advanced practice, will seize opportunities to lead us toward a more preventative, holistic approach to healthcare.
*Disclaimer: The author of this blog has a personal relationship with the interviewed party.
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