Nursing is a career that requires a lot of work, but is also extremely rewarding. Not only do you care for patients, but you also build relationships with those patients and maybe even their families. You are there for them physically, mentally and emotionally throughout their recovery journey. In the video A Nurse I Am, she follows the lives of three compassionate nurses: Mona Counts, Bob Wilkinson and Ardis Bush. These nurses were chosen by their peers to receive the 2005 Cherokee Inspired Comfort Award because of their phenomenal work as nurses. Mona Counts is a nurse practitioner in her own primary care setting. His clinic provides health care to more than five thousand patients who live in the heart of Appalachia. Bob Wilkinson is a pediatric oncology nurse. Bob cares for very sick children and their families. Ardis Bush started as a nurse more than 25 years ago and worked her way up to become a nurse manager. These nurses build a relationship with their patients and families by speaking to them like normal human beings, not just as patients. These nurses communicate and listen to their patients, which puts them at ease. Mona and Ardis even make house calls to check on patients and see how they are doing. Mona Counts works in the village of Mt. Morris, Pennsylvania. This is a medically underserved area and a HPSA (Healthcare Professional Shortage Area). The city has an extremely poor economic base and the majority of Mona's patients live in poverty. Mona doesn't worry about money and will tell a patient to come in for a test whether they have health care or not. One patient said, "She's old fashioned, she talks to you and tells you what you need... in the middle of a paper... you have to treat the diagnosis but you also have to treat the big picture." person. Some nurses lose this focus after a while, but I hope to maintain it throughout my career and treat my patients with the best care I can provide. Watching this video really impacted my perception of nursing because it made me understand what it means to be a nurse. A nurse is much more than people think. You have to treat the patient physically, but you also have to be his defender, and for the moment, his friend. You have to be there for them mentally and emotionally and to be able to treat patients the best you can, you have to put yourself in their shoes and realize that they are not just something you have to fix, but that they are real , alive. and people who breathe. Works Cited Hoffman, J. (director). (2006). I am a nurse [Video]. Taken from www.anurseiam.com/video