Event Spotlight
YNP Philadelphia Networking Luncheon
On August 19th,
YNPs attended a
networking
luncheon at Bryn
Mawr Hospital.
At the event, attendees had the opportunity to participate in a Q&A
with nurse leaders, including Main Line Health Senior VP & CNO
Barbara Wadsworth and VP of Patient Care Service Marianne Harkin.
They also learned about applications and benefits of aromatherapy
and reiki for hospitalized patients. See what one of our YNPs had to
say about the event below!
Meet-A-Member
Randy McGonigal, Sr., RN
YNP Philadelphia
What inspired you to become a nurse?
I’m not sure that I have a simple answer for this one. I
could say that it was because my mother is a nurse,
or because my father always told me to, or I could
say that I like the challenge of being a male in our
female-dominated profession. While all of these
things are true, none of them really resonate as my
reason for wanting to be a nurse. I think that a lot of
people are smart enough and lucky enough to be
able to choose nursing as their decided profession,
and then there are those of us who seem unable to
do anything else but nursing, regardless of our
positions or roles. I feel I fall into the latter, and I can
point to one of two events as the first time I knew I was supposed
to be a nurse. I was 5 years old spending the weekend with my
grandmother who started to complain about some lower back
pain when it was bedtime. I remember insisting that she go to bed
first, and then I decided that she needed a pillow or 2 beneath her
lower legs. I have no idea why I thought it would be a good idea,
but that’s what I did. I remember waking up to check on her 6 or 7
times throughout the night, all of which she was asleep. When
she woke up, I asked her how she was feeling, and she began
thanking me for helping her and telling me that her back felt better
than it had in years. I knew then that easing the suffering of
others was a vital aspect of my life. The other event was around
the same time and happened at home. I was playing with my
sister early on a Saturday when my mother started screaming in
pain from her bedroom. We rushed in to see what was going on,
and found my mother having a horrendous [cramp] in her left leg.
I didn’t know what to do. My sister began to cry. My mother was
whimpering in pain, unable to give me any directions. I ran
downstairs and brought back an ice pack from the freezer, the
heating pad from the living room, and a glass of water. I put the
heating pad on one side of her leg and the ice on the other before
grabbing the telephone (which was connected to the wall by a
cord in those days) and brought it closer to the bed. I picked up
the receiver and told her I was dialing 911 when she told me to
stop. I told her I did all I could and she needed more help so I was
calling for help so she wouldn’t hurt anymore.
She assured me that she was going to be okay, but
I stayed with her until she was able to get up and
walk on her own, an eternity confined in the 5 to 10
minutes that it took her to recover.
What made you decide to join the YNPs?
I don’t see very many of me around in our
profession, our leadership, or our organizations.
One of the things that I am currently seeking is a
mentor that I can talk with regularly to help expand
my understandi ngs and jump start my critical
thinking, as well as guide me in times of transition
or stress and so on. My only 2 requirements are first, that he be
experienced in our profession with a positive attitude. The only
other is that he be a man, like me. I do have female mentors, like
my mother, and my preceptors at work, and every nursing
professor and clinical instructor I have ever had, and they are all
top notch, for sure. But being mentored by another man is
different in some ways, and I want that, too. Mentors are also one
of the best ways to build positive character traits and integrate
them into daily life. So, since I haven’t seen many men around I
decided I better be one of them so that when the next new male
nurse comes along seeking one, or the male high school student
wondering if he could even fit in to the profession he thinks he’s
meant for, they’ll at least have me here.
What goals do you see for the YNPs moving forward?
UNITE AND GROW TOGETHER! Our area is extremely lucky to
have such great nurses around in some of the best institutions in
the country. But on our own, our impact is limited to everything
that we can do each day to improve the health, comfort, and wellbeing of our patients, or increase the knowledge and expertise of
our students, or set the course for our employees and institution,
or make our profession and our world a better place for those who
come after us. YNP is about coming together and uniting as one
group to make a bigger impact with a farther reach in a manner
that can continue to grow and improve even when we as
individuals are gone.
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