Yomari Hernandez

Journals:

March 15:
Today I got together with Mrs. Padilla after he lecture class, of which I
am in, and I talked to her about the project and presented her with all
that I was going to be asking. I didnt really have that many questions
prepared so I figured I would ask more at a later time. She is very busy
with working at the hospital, working at the university, and taking care
of her daughter back at home while her son goes to UNCC. We mainly
just talked about her day and she told me about how stressful grading
can be (we just finished turning in modules). She offered for me to go
join her at a meeting she had for her department but I had to decline
the offer since I have a very busy week homework wise. I asked her the
three questions I already had planned out that went towards the
literacy project.
(4 hours divided into two sessions the same day)
Questions:
I understand that you have worked many years in the hospital working
with many patients. How do you think you have impacted some of
these individuals? (positively/negatively/neutral)I would like to hope
that most of the experiences my patients remember from me are
positive ones, but being that my primary career has always been in

emergency and critical nursing, areas, where clients are often times
very sick and many times going through a personal tragedy I am
certain there are some negative memories that remain with some
individuals and families. I doubt many individuals or families think back
to a certain individual rather than the overall experience or event when
thinking back to being in a hospital. If I had to narrow down my most
positive experiences as to how I might have had a positive impact on a
family I would have to say it would be giving individuals death with
dignity. While individuals are rushed in and out of emergency rooms
and treated for various ailments, again there is very little impact any
one person can make in the short term, however when a loved one is
dying giving the family time to grieve, room to express their cultural
needs and a sympathetic shoulder to cry on goes a very long way and
makes a long lasting impression.

In what ways, regarding how closely you have worked with the patients
and specifically what you do with them to help, have you helped them?
This is a very difficult question being that I have been a nurse for so
long. I celebrate 30 years this May so looking back over the years, I
have done many, many "things" for my clients. Nursing embodies the
triad of caring for the mind, body and spirit. However in order to frame
my answer I will put it into the perspective of the above question. I
think oftentimes family members have a more difficult time letting go

than a loved one does. Oftentimes I see the patient hanging on just so
they know the family is ready to say good-bye. I have been the voice of
the patient, who is unable to speak, who assures the family it is OK to
say good-bye to their loved one when they are ready to go to heaven
or wherever. Death is a scary event but for those of us who experience
it on a more frequent basis we are slightly better equipped to accept
when the time is right and can assist the family through the process of
acceptance as well.
Could you give me two examples (with different personal outcomes
regarding how you helped society as a whole and how you helped
someone as an individual). I have been teaching now on and off for
almost 15 years. Prior to moving to Charlotte NC I was the Coordinator
of the Nursing Education Department in a 500 bed hospital in Honolulu,
HI. While in this role I educated many(hundreds) of nurses and
medical students to provide emergency resuscitative care for clients
who had experienced cardiac arrest. This assisted the people of
Honolulu, Hawaii and these medical students then traveled onto other
states to become residents in programs and hospitals all across the
country.. About 3 years ago I was out with a group of my daughters
friends and one of them began chocking. I performed the Heimlich
maneuver on this young girl to dislodge the foreign body that was
trapped in her airway blocking her from breathing.

March 23:
Today I did not have as much time to talk to Mrs. Padilla like I did the
other day so we managed to divide up the meeting sparingly
throughout the day. I met with her early in the mornig before my 9:30
class, then again after my 11am class. Finally we manged to get in
another hour before she left to go home from campus. I remembered
to ask her more valuable questions this time and got more hours in just
talking about her day again and other personal things.
(3 hours- divided into three sessions from the entire day)
I chose you as my model for the project because I believed that you
embody the topic that we are learning about in class. Your career is the
epitome of the Human Experience. (Described as such: the embracing
of life, its joys and sorrows; actively striving to enrich the world and
others) Do you feel you accomplish this on a weekly basis? (no need
for modesty haha be proud of what you do because your work is
definitely appreciated). It is very interesting that this topic would come
up in the form of this essay. Although I truly do love my job, teaching
my Nursing students, working with my patients in the hospital setting
and taking pride in what I do, there is always the negative side of
everything. I would love to say that I feel accomplished on a weekly
basis but lately I have had a significant sense of disappointment. It is
not from all of my students just some. My role is somewhat
complicated because I am stretched so thin. I teach Freshman, at entry

level; Juniors once they are in our upper division and Seniors just prior
to graduation. Don't get me wrong, I love having the diversity of having
exposure to that many levels but trying to keep up with all the
variations among the different levels is difficult.

When was the turning point in your life when you felt that this
experience fully happened and you accepted this path as what you
truly felt as your calling. I first felt I wanted to go into teaching when I
started teaching about 15 years ago. I started out part time and had a
very difficult time. It was something I knew I wanted to get better at so
badly that I knew the only way I would get better at it was to keep
trying and get better educated. So, I went back to school and kept
looking for more ways to be involved in education and never looked
back. I did move back to the bedside when I had my children, but that
was also necessary while we got settled here in Charlotte.

March 26:
Today I just talked to Mrs. Padilla about her family life, a lot of it I
cannot disclose because it is personal matters and I am a family friend.
However she did open up a lot about her daughter and her son and
how her life changed because of them. I had brought up the topic that I
had another sub-project based off of her and she just went off with the
story telling. Her tales of working at the hospital in Hawaii always get

me because she worked full time as an emergency nurse there.

However now, she says she is focused mainly on her life helping kids
learn about nursing rather than her practicing it as much. She seems
so dedicated to her work even though she says it can be exhausting
time to time from all the stresses of home life and work life. She told
me what her schedule consisted of : My daily routine varies depending
on the day. T/R is very much the same but M/W/F are always different.
Friday I am in the hospital all day with my senior nursing students.
Tuesday starts with an 8 AM class that runs until 9:15. This is
Pharmacology in Health and Illness. I have a break from 9:30-11. at 11
I teach Health and Quality of Life until 12:15. On Tuesday I have office
hours from 1-3. Each Tuesday this time is spend meeting with students
typically reviewing exams and tutoring them in Pharmacology. On
Thursday afternoons I am in committee meetings all afternoon until 5
PM.
Monday and Wednesday are spent prepping for classes and my
committee work and grading.