Molly Thompson
Professor Arnold
ENG1101.245
30 October 2018
Intensive Care Unit Registered Nurse Michele Emery was diagnosed with pediatric
foot in medicine, and be on the other side of the hospital. When first
entering college, she was unsure of what she wanted to do with her
future. She went to Sinclair Community College for seven years and
early life as well and decided to pursue a career in nursing to help those
Earning a degree in nursing is a long process, one that took Michele ten years. After
spending seven years at Sinclair Community College, she made a tough decision: to transfer to
Wright State University. At the time, Wright State offered her a scholarship to continue with her
path of knowledge in nursing, and Michele knew it was right for her.
“It was the hardest decision I made in college. I knew it would benefit me long term, but
the money and the payments really got to me. My parents helped a bit, but I had to pay for most
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of it. I worked three jobs as a full-time student and still managed to volunteer. Juggling all of that
Deciding what pathway to take in her degree in nursing was easy for Michele. She
decided to go into the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at Grandview Medical Center. She knew she
heart attacks, organ failures, strokes, drug overdoses, suicide attempts, and many more.
Michele sits up and says, “I head into work every day not knowing what to expect. There
are many reasons for patients to be sent to the ICU, and every patient affects the way my day
goes. Some days are more calm and relaxed, meaning no one is on life support or is in immediate
danger, and more frequently, days are rushed and stressful, especially when families are present.
As a nurse, you not only care for the patient, but you care for their families. That is something I
One of the biggest reasons for being cared for in the ICU is “not taking care of
themselves,” Michele says. “Patients diagnosed with a medical disorder, allergy, disability, etc.
typically know in their early life. They are given medication for the most part, and if they don’t
decide to take it, they eventually end up here with major health issues, which is frightening,
especially now-a-days.”
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Four years ago, Michele was assigned to a patient she will never forget. The patient was
in her late fifties, and had a low chance of survival. This being very common in the ICU,
unfortunately, Michele treated the patient just as she would with any patient in this condition.
The patient was given a breathing tube and a feeding tube, and later was sent to a long-term
facility. It is very common for patients in this condition to be sent to a long-term facility to
slowly and carefully receive the care needed. One year ago, two familiar people came in the
hospital. One woman, who was the former patient, and the other, her daughter. “I was extremely
emotional. I recognized her immediately. She was walking, she didn’t have a breathing or
feeding tube, and she was running errands,” Michele says. “Seeing someone who was once in
such poor condition, someone who we thought was not going to make it, walking with pure joy
made us all smile. It’s not very often here that you get to see a patient who was sent to a
long-term facility, but this woman was, and still is, certainly special.”
Though Michele has her positively emotional stories, she also has her negatively
emotional stories, and in general, it is the drug epidemic. Patients are in a permanent coma, given
a breathing tube and a feeding tube, put on dialysis, and there is much
damage to the brain, especially to the younger generation, whose brains are
still developing.
“Sadly, I get a range from nineteen years old to fifty and older. It’s
apart. That’s when I see the most fighting from families. Unfortunately, it
happens all the time, but when drugs are involved in the situation it just makes everything worse.
On occasion, we will get patients on drugs whose family members are also on drugs, won’t admit
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it, and are just threatening the situation,” Michele says, “It is just so sad to have a patient and
Michele Emery embodies a strong female role model, just like her aunt and her grandma.
She is a pediatric cancer survivor, a hard-working ICU nurse, and a caring person to her patients
and their families. She has experienced some of the toughest, heartbreaking situations while
working in the intensive care unit, but she also has some that will send her home smiling that
night. She truly showed that someone can follow their dreams of doing what they love, even if
that someone does not know what their dreams are yet.