Nursing Social Media Post Goes Viral

Sister Writes “Give it Up for Nurses” In Moving Social Media Post

Laura McIntyre wrote a beautiful tribute to her sister, Caty Nixon, RN, (Nursing ’13), that went viral on Facebook. More than 225,000 likes, 23,000 comments and 133,000 shares were made based on the following:
 
“She's gonna kill me for this pic, but can we just give it up for nurses for a minute?

Caty just wrapped up her fourth shift in a row. That's around 53-plus hours in four days. That's not including the 1.5 hours she's in the car each day. She usually doesn't get a chance to eat lunch or even drink much water. (And she has to dress like a blueberry. I mean, come on). She is so good at what she does that she often forgets how to take care of herself while she's taking care of her patients.

This pic is from a night back in July where she came to my house after a particularly hard day. She delivered a stillborn. Have you guys ever really thought about what a labor and delivery nurse see? They see great joy in smooth deliveries and healthy moms and babies. They see panic and anxiety when a new mom is scared. They see fear when an emergency C-section is called. They see peace when the mom has support from her family — because not all new moms do. They see teenagers giving birth. They see an addicted mom give birth to a baby who is withdrawing. They see CPS come. They see funeral homes come. Did you know that they have to make arrangements for the funeral home to come pick up the baby? I didn't either.

Caty (and all other nurses) — you are SPECIAL. You bless your patients and their families more than you will ever know. Thank you for all that you do.”
 
McIntyre’s Facebook post has been covered by Time, Good Morning America, Fox News and many other news outlets.
 
“This post reminds everyone that health care workers are human,” Nixon said. We all have emotions. What a patient may see as an ‘unfriendly nurse’ may be a nurse who’s just keeping it together until she can go home and mourn for a family she doesn’t even know who lost their baby earlier that day. I take care of patients the absolute best I can and sometimes that means not succumbing to emotion while on the job. But it doesn’t mean I’m not feeling what they’re feeling.”