11/22/2025
Once upon a time I was a CNA
I started in home health, then worked on night shift for 3 years on the Adult Inpatient Surgical Unit.
My time working those positions taught me invaluable lessons. I learned calm, confident bedside manner, true unbiased compassion and selflessness, being involved in such personal scenarios with strangers. I grew familiar with hard work, stamina, sleep deprivation, and keeping a straight face in the presence of intense sights, sounds, and smells. Without knowing it, I was learning how to truly hold the space with tenderness and grounded energy. I held people, cleaned people, helped them move their bodies, listened, advocated. I experienced such a range of life and death there.
I’m grateful for my time working in the medical field. Caring for folks in their homes at the end of life helped me feel comfortable entering the homes of people preparing to welcome new life. I value my time spent working in the hospital because now when I support a family giving birth there, I am familiar with the environment, comfortable speaking with staff, and it feels like second nature.
Caring for people has never been a question whether that’s my path. Health care, wellness, birth, holistic, traditional. I can see why each step has been necessary, and I feel curious where we’re headed! I am a lifelong student.
How has something in the past prepared you for where you are today?