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Working in the medical field is not just a job.
“ It’ s a calling,” said Korene Christianson, Emergency Department Director for Northwest Medical Center in Springdale.“ It’ s a lot more than an 8 to 5 job.”
“ It’ s a type of public service,” said Brett Dawes, Emergency Department Technician.“ It’ s a hands-on job working with people.”
Northwest Medical Center in Springdale is one of four hospitals in the Northwest Health network. Other hospitals include Northwest Medical Center in Bentonville, Northwest Health Physician’ s Specialty Hospital in Fayetteville and Willow Creek Women’ s Hospital in Johnson.
The four hospitals, along with 40 clinics, employ about 2,000 people. There are numerous types of employees, from doctors and nurses to custodians and food servers. All employees work to reach the same goal: help make people healthier.
Those who work directly with patients are sometimes the hardest jobs to fill. Northwest is always looking for nurses. The hospital tries to grow its own, encouraging workers to continue their education while working to become a registered nurse.
Daniel Burson and Brett Dawes are emergency department technicians who plan to become ER nurses.
“ There are a variety of jobs for nurses,” Burson said.“ Personally, I love emergency room work.”
“ I’ d like to stay with emergency nursing,” Dawes said.“ I love the work.”
The emergency room is the romantic part of health care, Christianson said.
“ There’ s a lot of adrenaline,” she explained.“ You never know what will come in the door. For many people, you are trying to help them on the worst day of their life. You need to have the skills to make it better.”
Burson learned CPR while serving as a volunteer firefighter and started taking emergency medical technician classes.