good bye 6S

 For the last 6+ years I have worked evening shift (3:00pm-11:30pm) at Providence Sacred Heart hospital on the 6 South Cardiac Transplant floor. I have made some amazing friends, met incredible patients, learned so much and loved every minute of it. This was my first nursing job. Today was my last day there.  It's very hard to say good bye, but I'm looking forward to new challenges, growing my knowledge and spending more time with my family. My last day on 6S was Saturday- I got off at 11:30pm and I start my new job Monday morning at 6:30AM. I'll now be working as a Nuclear Medicine nurse for the Spokane Cardiology clinic. 6:30am-5:00pm 3 days per week (Monday-Friday) with no nights, no weekends, no holidays and no on-call! I'm excited I'll see the kids more. I had a great last day of work Saturday and got some pictures with my friends that were working (should have took pictures throughout the week since I missed a bunch of my co-worker friends). I made 2 dozen chocolate chip cookies Saturday morning and took them into work for everyone. My boss, Elaine brought in a huge box of drum stick ice cream cones from Costco for everyone to celebrate. She also gave me a card and vase with flowers. Olga gave me a beautiful shower loofah she made and I got a card from a bunch of co-workers. After work Kevin, Biljana and I went over to the PI (Park Inn) across the street from the hospital for a beer.  It was a nice ending and I'm going to miss everyone so much!

Kelsie above, Biljana below

below: our locker room, which is how I start my shift every day. Every Friday is "red pants Friday" to honor our cardiac patients we all wear black scrub tops with bright red scrub pants. When Mother Joseph and the Sisters of Providence founded Sacred Heart Medical Center in 1886, it was a small, 31-bed facility built along the Spokane River. Since then, we’ve become a major regional medical center with 632 beds. Most of the hospital has been remodeled and updated, but unfortunately the cardiac floor hasn't. We still have the dated wall paper and tile floors. 6-south has 36 beds: 16 single rooms and 10 double rooms.

Above: my ANM, Elaine. She is such a wealth of knowledge and so supportive. She's been a great boss! Below: one of the cardiac heart pillows we give to our open heart patients. We have them cross their arms and hold the pillow while sitting/standing/laying to ensure they don't use their arms for sternal precautions. The pillow comes with a marker too, so most of our patients collect signatures from their doctor and nurses.

Above: Olga and Lynn, our cardiac monitor tech's. They watch all our cardiac rhythms and alert us if there is any changes. They also answer all the patient call lights and call the nurses. Below: Madisen, Rachael, Kaila (we went to WSU nursing school together), Sarah and Erika.  Today was also Erika's last shift (she works nights). She's moving to Tennessee.

Kevin, Biljana and I after our beer at the PI.

Some pictures throughout the years of 6S nurses... mostly from day shift since they tend to be better at taking group shots than evening shift.