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In the past three years, I have lived in three different countries, and in each of them I have lived with a permanent mindset. I graduated high-school in Russia, where my parents worked for twelve years, knowing I was headed for the States to attend A&M. But I had no idea what to expect, because life in Russia was the only life I had really understood up until then. I found myself stepping out of the airport and into Texas at the age of eighteen, where I was thrown into the new culture of America, which immediately included the ‘experience’ of college. And this, the culture told me, was the right thing to be doing. Now was the time to start living the American dream which I owned by birthright: to have fun in college, get an education, and when it came time, graduate and move on toward the rest of life. Consistent with my personality and the experience of growing up overseas, I quickly adapted and learned to understand, communicate in, and enjoy the new culture in which I now lived. Though I found ways to fit in to everyone else’s activities, pursuits and goals, I still did not have my own direction. After completing a successful but unsatisfying year in Engineering at A&M, I started picking up science courses. I knew that my anatomy and physiology classes interested me the most in high school, and that I thrive on helping, working with, and directly serving people. Though I was taking a step in the direction of the medical field, I was still unsure of what exactly to study.
After two years of fitting into and being infused with the mindset of my culture and friends around me, I came to Israel. My family had moved here in the meantime, again for my Dad’s work, and I came to visit just for my break from school. Seeing another culture’s way of living always changes my perspective on life; after being in Israel for a semester, supplementing my intensive study of Hebrew with an online class from Blinn College, I have realized that despite being American, I do not quite fit into the goal-oriented culture we have in the States. The Israeli culture contrasts what is accepted as ‘normal’ in America, because though people in both cultures are hard-working and very independent, Israelis know how to take life “לאט לאט” (liyat, liyat)— or “slowly, slowly”. This is not to say that Israelis are very slow; it is a description of how they decisively fulfill their responsibilities without getting too swept away in pursuit of “the goal”. While they never lose sight of their goals, they are a flexible people within their hard work, who know how to enjoy life and relationships.
As I have steadily continued to fulfill requirements needed for entering the medical field, living in this very relational culture has affirmed in me the desire to be a nurse. I know that my skills and interests align theoretically with the profession of nursing; but now I realize that nursing is also the best way I could choose to be involved in the medical field. A nurse possesses the skills to help people in a practical way; and, as a nurse, my job description also involves interaction people on a relational level. I know that it is God’s heart to love people individually, and I want to love and serve people in His style: it is God’s desire to heal, and nursing is consistent with that. I have found the right fit.
To better explain why else nursing “fits,” I need to back up to reference qualities that have grown through my experiences. I developed a strong service ethic from my parents, who took my brother, sister and I to Russia when I was six, to serve in missions work. After growing up in Russia, moving back and forth to the States, living for a short time in Bulgaria and Estonia, and finally being in Israel for the last half year, I know how to jump right in and be flexible, wherever I find myself. Regardless of culture or language barriers, I find ways to communicate and find ways to help with my hands, doing what needs doing. I have learned Russian and am working hard on Hebrew; I see this as an advantage in learning to communicate with the large population of Spanish speakers I will be serving in Texas. Spanish and cross-culture communication has been a theme in my medical experience thus far. Spring break of my freshman year in college (2006) found me in Morelos, Mexico, on a Medical Missions trip with physicians and medical students from the College of Medicine at Texas A&M. I learned triage and some practical nursing skills; I was able to observe and help in some minor procedures that I would never have come close to in the States. I did not have any Spanish, but I learned some necessary phrases and communicated with Mexican kids and adults in any other way I could.
This theme of Spanish and overcoming communication barriers continued as I volunteered in St. Joseph’s Emergency Room in the summer of 2007. Often, I would be sent to do triage or to monitor a patient who spoke no English. Though it was hard to be in the ER while I still lacked the qualifications to do the skillful tasks, my time there still encouraged me in the direction of nursing. I enjoyed the interaction with doctors and nurses; as both are always on the floor together working as a team. I saw all ages, colors, and economic classes come through the doors, and I was comfortable with that diversity. I was, again, able to be in the room through many different emergency situations, my gloved hands always ready if the medical staff needed extra help.
Coming to Israel with absolutely no Hebrew, I have sought out and taken all available opportunities. While finishing the last of my prerequisites through two online courses, and continuing my studies in Hebrew, I am spending the rest of my time volunteering in Hebrew settings. Besides helping in community clubs for teens and a youth-group, I have been volunteering at an Israeli community center. There, I take part in a program called “Techushon”— which provides activity programs for autistic, disabled, and down-syndrome children. With my English, Russian and Hebrew, I help and interact with the kids. Despite the language and culture difference, this experience is similar to my volunteering experience in College Hills Elementary School, where I mentored an autistic child. Serving people transcends language, culture, and even disability barriers.
Thus I have seen that nurses fill a world-wide need. In Russia, I had the opportunity to see a different medical system than we have in the United States. Very socialized, it allows patients little freedom in their choice of treatment; doctors, though extremely well trained and more advanced in diagnostics than many doctors in the US, are given little incentive to help patients to their full capacity, because they are overworked and underpaid. The medical system is poor and broken, compared to the blessing we have of a freer system here in America thus far. Doctors and nurses both are in their professions because they want to serve.
In Israel, the system is newer and better-funded. There is also a socialialized medical system here, but there are also organizations like Magen David Adom (Red Star of David), which are largely supported by foreign donors. Despite all of this, there is a severe shortage of both doctors and nurses.
This shortage is consistent all over the world— even in Texas. There is a high demand for nurses—they are wanted and needed everywhere. Obviously I am not interested in the highest-salary profession, or I would have continued in my engineering degree. I want to be challenged in working with my hands and helping people on ground-zero.
I am not saying that I am “settling,” with nursing, or that it will be easy. I thrive on challenges and in working hard. Being involved in so many different countries, and in such a broad array of activities, thrills me. I live for new experiences, and I will choose the unknown path over the already-traveled every time, especially if it means I will be doing something new. I am choosing to be a nurse; I want the taste of medicine with the practicality of directly helping people. Nursing is consistent with the holistic way I want to live my life: it will let me live in the reality of today, not focused on a career goal or a six digit salary; rather, on the people I am around and can serve right now. I believe that God’s love is shown through me by serving: I want to be His hands.
Nursing is my next challenge.
