Celebrate Your Local Emergency Nurses

Oct 07, 2023

• Share on Facebook
• Tweet
• Pin it
• Share on LinkedIn

By Cassie Stein, BSN, RN, EMT, Emergency Department Manager at William Newton Hospital

For 21 years the Gallup Poll has stated that across the United States, nurses have been selected as the most trusted profession. While nurses couldn’t do their jobs without doctors, it’s the nurses who are at the bedside and the first contact with patients in so many areas.

Wednesday, October 11 marks Emergency Nurses Day – a day to celebrate nurses who work in an emergency department (ED) setting. Winfield, Cowley County, and surrounding areas are lucky to have multiple nurses who select this area of nursing as their specialty. ED nurses work in the ever-unknown. Every day is different, and you never know what will come through the doors.

Emergency department nurses and paramedics are skilled in multiple areas of medical emergencies for patients of all ages: children, teens, babies, adults, and senior citizens. They have to be ready to take care of illnesses from disease, trauma, and mental health emergencies – and sometimes multiple conditions at once. They use their assessment skills and work with the ED physician and ancillary services such as laboratory, radiology, respiratory, and others to rule out and treat sometimes life-threatening conditions.

The emergency department changes from day to day and sometimes minute to minute. Staff are working hard to care for everyone who presents for emergency care. They may go from a patient in cardiac arrest to a patient with heavy bleeding. Sadly, there are times when ED staff do everything possible to save a patient but are unable to. Then, without stopping, they return to take care of others in their time of need.

William Newton Hospital, which is home to a critical access ED, is lucky to be staffed by 20 registered nurses and seven paramedics. Many of the staff call Cowley County or the surrounding areas home, and that’s why they chose to work at William Newton Hospital to care for their communities.

William Newton Hospital doesn’t just provide emergency department services for Winfield. We see patients in their scariest and biggest time of need from Cowley County, parts of Sumner County, parts of Butler County, Elk County, and Chautauqua County. We have patients from Oklahoma and beyond who come through our doors. That’s an area of over 50,000 population!

This October, please take time to thank an ED nurse, paramedic, ED doctor, ED advanced practice RN, or ED physician assistant. Though they never want to see you in the emergency room, they’re always ready and prepared to take the best possible care of you when you arrive.

Editorial Notes: This article was submitted for the "Weekend Check-Up," a regular health column in the Cowley CourierTraveler penned by employees and friends of William Newton Hospital. Cassie Stein, BSN, RN, EMT, William Newton Hospital emergency department manager, holds certifications in basic life support, advanced cardiovascular life support, trauma nursing, pediatric advanced life support, five levels of the incident command system, and is a strike team task force leader.