Mission & Vision

On the night of March 17, 2020, I wrote in my journal that I was afraid to go to work in the burgeoning pandemic. I wrote I was terrified to die and leave my three children motherless. I also noted that if I didn’t go, I knew we would go under. I faced death every single day at work and I wasn’t afraid to die. I knew I could only control death so much, having spent twenty years battling it in the ICU. Although I was a veteran trauma nurse, my own life felt more like a traumatic battle that I was losing. I was afraid to die before living the life I had dreamed of for myself and my children. 

I made a choice to go to work, battle the pandemic and I surrendered the outcome. I would come to surrender the outcome over and over again, when a year later, I found myself homeless and displaced by something called the donut effect on the pandemic real estate market. It sounds tasty, but I assure you it is not. It left me, a healthcare hero, sleeping on the floor of a tiny apartment for the next two years.

For two years I worked tirelessly at the hospital and even more tirelessly on myself. I realized that as a critical-care nurse, I already possessed all the skills and abilities I needed to help myself and that I knew a thing or two about healing. Even though creating a comprehensive care plan is a giant pain, I created a holistic care plan for myself. 

I knew with certainty that my story was not going to end on that floor and I am happy to report that it did not. The path to healing was anything but pretty, easy, smooth or linear. Just like in the ICU, the healing process was raw, gritty, ugly and required massive amounts of time, energy and heroic effort. It was not only necessary, but worth it and I did achieve my goal of living a meaningful life, one that is filled with quality. 
 
In the noble tradition of Florence Nightingale, both the Queen and Founder of modern nursing, who wrote the book on healing, I wrote a book on healing. In my book, Heal: The Intensive Care of You I share the care plan for healing. My mission is to show the world that the capacity to heal exists within us all. 
 
Welcome to the unit. There's not a moment to spare and the shift begins right now.