ahs-admin's blog

Have you ever felt like the world is waiting for results at all hours of the day and every day of the week? Well, I have. The fast-paced world that we live in can sometimes take over our time and attention. It is so easy, as a mother or parent, to get tangled up in the web of demands. The old adage “if momma ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy” is actually true. If we forget to take time for ourselves, we won’t be able to perform at the peak of our abilities when our kids need us most. If you feel like the world is weighing on your shoulders:

Maria Atencio, RN, is working against the clock. When she joined Lovelace in 1999 in the emergency department at the Heart Hospital of New Mexico at Lovelace Medical Center, she understood the urgency to assess and prepare heart attack patients for intervention as quickly as possible. Every minute mattered. As emergency department charge nurse, Maria coordinated the care for a larger number of heart patients, always mindful and aware of time. In the heart catheterization lab, she worked side-by-side with physicians witnessing the moments lives were saved. It was always a race against time.

Your life has been filled with appointments and events surrounding the arrival of your newest family member. Remember that taking care of yourself is just as important as taking care of your little one. When you are well, your care of others (baby, partner) improves too. It is not a selfish obsession to care for you. It is necessary for you in order to be healthy mentally, emotionally and physically. Self care allows you to be fully present for all the sweetness life has to offer.

Every parent has been there at 3 a.m.: your baby is crying and you have tried everything. Just know that you are not a bad parent! Today, we want to talk about ways to soothe your, fussy little tyke.

First, let’s go through the checklist to cover the bases:

- Is your baby hungry, wet or sleepy?

- Is your baby too hot or too cold?

Overtime, the highlights, influential people, unforgettable moments and pivotal turning points over a 50-year career blend together like a mosaic. Step back and you see a single image.

“I think everything has stayed the same, even though there have been many changes,” shares Jo Temer, who retired from Lovelace Medical Center in 2016 as a project coordinator with the education department.

“That’s what I enjoyed the most – the constant change,” adds Gale Hall, who retired from Lovelace Health System as the manager of accounts payable.

Reina Valdez, RN, didn’t expected to one day lead a team of nurses as the manager of Labor and Delivery at Lovelace Regional Hospital - Roswell. In fact, she never expected to be a nurse. “After I graduated high school,” she explains, “I became a certified medical assistant. That’s where I started a medical career, but I thought I was certain I didn’t want to be a nurse.”

“I grew up in Albuquerque,” shares Lovelace Rehabilitation Hospital physical therapist, Lindsey Borders, DPT. “Lovelace has always been one of the big hospitals in town.” Though Lindsey didn’t think of Lovelace at the time as the place she would build her career helping people, the at-a-distance familiarity with the health system became more tangible while nearing graduation from the University of New Mexico’s doctoral physical therapy program. “Lovelace Rehabilitation Hospital team members spoke to our class. It sounded like a good opportunity.

Is your best friend having a baby? What is it you need to know to support this new mom or dad in your life? How will you keep your friendship through this new stage? What happens when photos from outings with your friend are replaced with baby photos on their refrigerator? Having a baby is most often a joyous time, but we can forget the amount of work that goes into becoming a new mother or father, especially if we haven’t experienced it ourselves.

Nursing is very much a part of who Lovelace Westside Hospital Director of Nursing Denise Campbell, RNC-OB, BSN, is today and has been most of her life. She vividly remembers the smell of a hospital, where at the age of 16 she waited for a newborn family member to make it safely out of open heart surgery.

“I knew that I wanted to be that person who was helping,” she explains. “Two weeks after I graduated from high school, I went into the nursing program.”