MIDLAND, Texas — National Nurses Week is May 6th - 12th. It is a week to recognize and honor all nurses.
Jessica Herrera has been working at Midland Memorial Hospital for decades.
"I love it. I love my job," says Herrera, "this is my 23rd year with the hospital.
Out of those 23 years, she's been a nurse in the Post Anesthetia Care Unit (PACU) for six of them.
Her nursing journey started back in 2012 and as a mother of a five-year-old at the time, she says it wasn't the easiest task, but she made it work.
"My pinning was in 2015 shortly after I decided to go ahead and get my BSN, in 2019 I got my certification," says Herrera.
Making all of those years ones to remember. However, 2020 also became one she won't forget.
"PACU is surgical. so we shut down there was no surgeries there for a while of course emergent surgeries. During the surgeries, we did have a big pool for when you came in you had to check in and possibly be floated, moved off into a different department we had to train all over again on floor nursing," she said.
With COVID-19 causing the shutdown in her department, she started being more careful when she wasn't at work.
"At the beginning it was very scary, I thought I was going to bring something home. I had my whole routine get in the garage you undress you throw everything in the washer so it was like a daily thing until you start to get a little more comfortable and you learn how to clean up better before you go home before you even leave the area, so that your mind will be at ease when you go home and its not so mind blowing to think that I would take it to somebody that I love," says Herrera.
With all that Jessica had to deal with, one thing kept her sane...the people in scrubs she was working alongside.
"I love the area that I'm in I can't see myself being in any other department," she says.
All of this reminding her why she chose to be a nurse in the first place.
She says, "PACU is really my home so I absolutely love what I do, and I love helping the people that I work with, the patients that come through there."