Gifts from Strangers

"Auntie, oh. Sa inyo na ito..."

My cousin, a nurse who worked in the hospital where I am currently in, used to say these words to my mom almost every day. When she was still living with us, she always had these goodies from random people. So when I was a kid, I always thought that being a nurse gives you the opportunity to bring home some random gifts/food. Well, kids do love gifts.

When I became a nurse, I realized that those gifts my cousin received from her patients were more than just a material thing. It's more of an appreciation from people whom you've helped. It's gratitude from people whom you're not related to but you still cared for. It's not the material thing... it's the feeling of being appreciated.

Lately, I've been getting food and fruits from one particular patient. She's very kind! I want her to be my grandmother! She's entertaining, generous and cute. Haha! But one thing that I like the most about her is that even though she's kind of rich, she didn't let me feel that I'm a low kind of person. Some rich people think that nurses are slaves. There's this one daughter of a patient who called for some help yesterday. I didn't get what she asked me and she just shouted "I know, I know! My gosh!!!" I felt humiliated at what she did. She shouldn't have said those words. She shouldn't have treated me like that. I may be a nurse who "makes punas punas the pwet of the patients" but I definitely do not deserve to be treated that way. You, patients and your relatives, owe the nurses a lot but we don't say that to you right in front of your faces because it is wrong. It is definitely wrong. Whatever we do FOR you is because it's part of our job, it is our task to save lives.

So anyway, let me go back to my story. I told a-ma (grandmother in Chinese) not to give me food anymore, but she insisted. Then she told me, "I really like the nurses in AM shift because they're kind and very caring to my husband." I felt flattered because she appreciates what I do, what we, nurses, do. She understands that I cannot be there for her husband all the time because I have other patients to attend to. Being appreciated inspires me to do my best and to work effectively and efficiently. But don't get me wrong, even if a patient or his/her relative doesn't appreciate what I do, I still make sure that I render the nursing care he/she deserves. Again, it is our task to save lives without discrimination, without favoring a patient more than the other.

This Christmas season, I want to thank those people who appreciate the nurses. It's not only about the gifts that you give... It's how you make us feel that somehow in our 8-hour shift, you value what we do for you without us, nurses, expecting in return.