Tragic end to a nurse’s life of care
Sharon Nielsen’s rings offer a clue to her last moments of life.
They were smashed flat, a sure sign of how hard she gripped the steering wheel when a pickup truck plowed into her car last weekend on Deer Park-Milan Road, her friend Raellen Giffin said. Nielsen, 57, died at the scene.
But those hands will be remembered for a different reason. Those hands cared for hundreds of patients since 1967, when Nielsen began her career as a nurse. Nielsen especially enjoyed working with the elderly and with patients who had Alzheimer’s disease. The Avalon Care Center employee had a knack for making her patients, colleagues and friends feel special and loved, several of them said at a memorial service last week.
“A patient may have had slobber on her mouth or a booger in her nose, but (Sharon) would hug them, kiss them on the forehead and say, ‘I love you,’ ” friend Verlynn Koester said.
Friday marked the first day of National Nurses Week, a time the American Nurses Association takes to recognize the role of nurses in health care. This past weekend also marked Washington State University Intercollegiate College of Nursing’s graduation of 161 students, who will begin careers expected to be demanding but rewarding.
“You focus on the patient very holistically,” said student Jamie Reimers, 21, a few hours before graduation. “You include their spiritual, physical and mental health, whereas a doctor is looking at their symptoms.”
Reimers already has tasted the profession’s rewards. During her schooling, she broke through to a terminally ill patient who acted ornery with doctors and refused to take his medicine. Before he died, the man would smile at Reimers and pat her on the back.
Dorothy Detlor, dean of the WSU Intercollegiate College of Nursing, said it’s important not to forget the intellectual demands of nursing.
“So often nurses have been portrayed as kind of angels,” Detlor said. “What is forgotten and not recognized is a foundation they have that’s heavy in sciences, humanities … and technical skills.”
In addition to being a skilled nurse, Nielsen will be remembered for the relationships she built with patients, several of whom moved from one care facility to another when she changed jobs. Giffin recalled one cold January night when a man with Alzheimer’s tried to leave the facility where he lived, a common trait of people with the disease. Nielsen heard him escape.
“She said, ‘John, where are you going?’ ” said Giffin, who met Nielsen when the two were young nurses in Wyoming. “He said, ‘I’ve got to milk the cows.’ She said, ‘I know how you hate going out in the cold, so I milked those cows for you two hours ago.’ “
The patient hugged her and thanked her, and the situation was resolved.
Nielsen’s memorial service at Hazen & Jaeger Funeral Home in Spokane Valley was filled with several rows of nurses and nursing assistants, including two women who wore surgical scrubs. The mourners sobbed during a photo slide show, and two friends checked each other for mascara streaks when the service ended.
Chaqueline Bouscher said the bonds among nurses are strong, but they also develop close relationships with doctors, technicians and others in the health care field. Some of the younger nursing assistants said Nielsen mentored them and taught them how to talk with families coping with the end of a loved one’s life.
Nielsen was remembered for her laugh, her humor and the many stories she told. Evelyne Alley, a retired nurse whom Nielsen befriended, said she wondered when Nielsen reached the Pearly Gates in heaven, “what story she used to get through.”
Nielsen went beyond just giving shots and mending wounds. She cut patients’ hair to keep them looking sharp. She trimmed their toenails. She bought clothing for patients whose families dropped them off at the care facilities with nothing more than what they wore on registration day.
The husband of a friend of Nielsen’s recently was recovering from burns at Harborview Medical Center, and Nielsen would drive that friend to the Seattle hospital once a week to see him. Last Saturday, when she was killed, Nielsen was on her way to have dinner with her friend.
It isn’t yet known why the truck’s driver reportedly veered into Nielsen’s lane, although it appears as though he might have fallen asleep at the wheel, Spokane County Sheriff’s Deputy Mike Brooks said Friday. A toxicology report wasn’t yet available, but Brooks said he doesn’t have reason to believe the man had drugs or alcohol in his system.
As nurses and friends, Giffin and Nielsen had talked about death.
“She and I have talked frequently about not wanting to linger, so she got her wish,” Giffin said. “It’s just me being selfish, saying she’s been ripped away from me so swiftly.”