Dear Ms. Behar and Ms. Collins,
I come from a medical family of nurses and doctors (yes, I put the nurses first). You clearly need some educating, so allow me to tell you about a nurse who is near and dear to my heart.
My mom has been a nurse for 39 years and 4 months. She leaves for work everyday with her scrubs on and her stethoscope around her neck. HER, not a doctor's, stethoscope around HER neck. She spends her days with bodily fluids. She risks disease from these bodily fluids everyday. She comforts. She listens. She medicates to take her patients' pain away. She communicates. She teaches. You know what she doesn't do more often than not? Take bathroom breaks and eat lunch.
When it snows or there is another dangerous weather event, my mom has no option but to go to work. The early morning hours the day after Hurricane Sandy when NO ONE was going out because it was still terrifying outside, my mom went to work. I am a strong and stoic Corporate Attorney and I am not ashamed to admit that I sobbed as I begged my mom not to leave. I legitimately feared she would die on the way to work. She simply said, "I have to go in. My patients are counting on me." I admit that I pleaded further. You see, I'm not a nurse. So, in that moment, my mom's safety was more important to me than any patient. She said, "I have to go. My patients need me and the night shift nurses won't be able to leave if I don't show up to relieve them." Again, because I am not a selfless nurse, I sobbed and begged: "Please don't leave me. If something happens to you, I have no one." Guess what my mom did? She went to work. Because that's what nurses do. They go to work. No matter what, they go to work. It took her an hour and ten minutes to go four miles and she admitted months later that she did, in fact, fear for her life on the way to work. But, she made it, she relieved her fellow nurses who worked the terrifying night of Sandy, and she cared for her patients.
I have folders upon folders upon folders upon folders upon folders (you get the point) of compliments and accolades for my mom from her patients. I keep adding more as she keeps getting more. They never end and she treasures them all because each one signifies a life she has touched. While out to dinner or out shopping or out doing anything, we constantly encounter my mom's patients and their families. They rave about the great care she gave them and what it meant to them. As I listen to them, my heart swells with pride that I have a mom who is a nurse. She is a superheroine. To her patients. And, to me.
Your comments made her cry. That's right. Your comments were so thoughtless, selfish, vicious and insensitive that they made my mom cry. Do you know why? Because, for decades, my mom has put her body, heart, blood, sweat, tears, and soul out there for the care of others. Thus, to have two people with no clue about what it's like to be a nurse so degrade the profession and the lovely Miss Colorado, Kelley Johnson, who actually thought outside of the box and presented a real talent, is more disgusting than I can ever describe in words. I would much rather hear Ms. Johnson's story about touching another human being's life than watch her sing, juggle, dance, etc. Those talents are impressive, but what Miss Colorado does is noble. It is the talent of all talents.
Thus, Ms. Behar and Ms. Collins, I challenge you: Spend a week working as a Registered Nurse. You're actually not qualified to do so, thus, follow one around. Make sure you do not take a bathroom break. Make sure you do not take a lunch break or, if you have to eat because you can't handle running for hours with no food, be prepared to eat on the run. Perhaps if you see what nurses do EVERY SINGLE DAY first hand, you will be more respectful in your language about them.
You absolutely have the free speech to make ignorant comments, but I pity you that you seemingly have not had a nurse in your life to see what epically special people they are.
I could tell unending stories about the special nurses I have encountered in my thirty-three years, but I'll add just one more. My dad was diagnosed with Acute Myelogenous Leukemia (AML) in 2007. The treatment was brutal, although he was incredibly stoic. He ended up in the hospital on Thanksgiving Day. His nurse, a single mom of three, was delightful and my dad loved her. When I entered his room, sick as he was, he told me with all of the excitement someone battling AML could muster that she loves Disney World like we do. That nurse drew a turkey on his white board. Let's take a moment and think about this. This nurse was away from her three children as a single mom ON THANKSGIVING and she was making my dad's stay as happy as it could be while he feared he could die. I never forgot her and I never will. My dad never forgot her and he never will. In fact, he is alive today because of her and the countless nurses and other medical professionals who cared for him.
I will leave you with this: think about your life's legacy. What will it be? Controversial comments? Nasty, biting comments? "Comedy" that isn't all that funny? You know what my mom's and this country's nurses' legacies will be? Countless (infinite actually) patients remembering their nurses and recounting stories about their nurses' care of them.
In closing, I am proud that my mom is "just a nurse." I tell people proudly that she is a Registered Nurse and I don't say "just a." In fact, when my mom brags me up and says I'm "the big shot in the family," I say: "No, I'm not. I don't make a difference like my mom." Because, unlike you ladies, I understand my place in this world versus nurses' place in this world. I am proud of the work that I do and I love the work that I do, but I am not a nurse. I do not deeply impact people's lives everyday like nurses do. I do not go to work in blizzards and hurricanes. I do not forgo the ladies' room and food for 8 1/2-12 1/2 hours for the sake of patients. I am ashamed that I am NOT "just a nurse" because if I were "just a nurse," I would make such a huge difference that my impact on this world would be immeasurable.
Disheartened and Disappointed in New Jersey,
Elizabeth A. Colombo, Esq.
