I’m new to the healthcare industry. Most of my career has been in technology and software, creating marketing communications and content for business to business campaigns. So you can imagine my excitement when I had the opportunity to jump on board the Nursegrid team and join a group of people working to create impact in an industry that helps people every day.
As I’ve learned more about nursing in my time with Nursegrid, one of the things that has stood out the most is how selfless and hardworking nurses are. I’ve had the opportunity to meet nurses at hospitals we’ve visited and at nursing conferences and the common thread of working to help others always rings true.
At Nursegrid, we make an effort to follow the examples of nurses by finding ways to give back in our community. Last month, members of our team volunteered at New Avenues for Youth to serve homeless and at-risk teenagers and young adults. This month a group of us headed to the Oregon Humane Society to learn about and spend time with their rescue animals. In our office, 48 percent of us own dogs, 18 percent are cat owners, and there’s a good handful of chickens and fish among us as well. So it’s safe to say we are big animal lovers and wanted to give back in a way that helped our furry friends, since they have a big part of our hearts. (You can see pictures of some of them below)
Oregon Humane Society is the third largest humane society in the United States. OHS rescues, heals, and adopts more than 11,000 pets each year and they don’t put a limit on how long cats, dogs, and other pets stay at the shelter. The organization relies on donations to support their adoption, education, and animal cruelty investigation programs.
We started off our time at OHS with one of their instructors, learning about the facility, their history, and the amazing work they are doing. We also talked about the best ways to interact with cats and dogs (always let them come to you!), prior to meeting any of the animals. Then we headed out for a tour of the facility where we saw kittens being spayed (live action!) and walked through different sections of the building housing cats and dogs.
We spent time inside playing and petting some of their cats and then headed outside to hang with a handful of dogs. We won them over with treats, fetch, and showering them with a whole lot of love. And truthfully, they won us over the moment we met them.
It’s hard for us who work in tech to truly understand the challenges and heart wrenching situations that nurses face. But, we hope that we can continue to give back in our community, even if it’s just a tiny fraction of what nurses do every day.
