Pittsburgh-area nurse highlights the connection between healthcare workers and patients
This week is National Nurses Week, and according to the Health Resources and Services Administration, America will experience a nursing shortage. They anticipate a shortage of more than 63,000 full-time nurses by 2030.
For five-year-old Cora, nurse Taiesha Hastie, also called nurse "Ty Ty," creates an environment with no worries.
"I walk through the door, and she just has her arms open, and she'll go, 'Ty Ty, Ty Ty,'" said Hastie.
Hastie provides at-home care for Cora and her family through Hastie's employer, Care Options for Kids.
Cora's mother, Jennifer Marasco-Kuhn, said she and her husband work full-time to provide for their two daughters.
"I call them angels on Earth," Marasco-Kuhn said. "Nurses make all the difference to us as a family, but also with her medical condition."
Cora has a medical condition known as Dravet syndrome, which is a type of epilepsy that's drug-resistant. For Cora and her family, it means a dozen medicines and constant supervision.
"Literally in the drop of a hat, can go from functional healthy, to having a seizure that's life-threatening, and these nurses are there to respond. Our family and Cora can trust that they'll do the right thing," Marasco-Kuhn said.
Through the medical challenges, this family knows all nurses from the emergency room and children's hospitals to the ICU.
"The nurses are some of the frontline people that meet us, greet us, see us as humans, interact with us, with that special touch," said Marasco-Kuhn.
So, this National Nurses Week is an opportunity to pause and reflect on the important role they play in emergencies and our day-to-day lives.
At last count, Pittsburgh has over 21,000 nurses.
"There is a shortage, and it's very important that we have more nurses to support families like ours, but to support various people going through different walks of life," said Marasco-Kuhn.
It's a job that turns strangers into family in a community that nurse Ty-Ty and others call the community to join.
"Whenever that is your day-to-day life, and you put everything into your job, then it's really not like a job," Hastie said.
