Elkhart General nursing scholarship recipient follows her dreams; “Helping others is all that really matters”
Rachel Manthey, a Nursing Assistant in the Intermediate Care Center at Elkhart General Hospital, is working toward her Bachelor of Science in Nursing at Indiana University South Bend. She is a 2021 Beacon Health Foundation Nursing Scholarship recipient.
It has been difficult and amazing at the same time to serve alongside our nurses, observe their talents and work as a team to do our best to ensure our patients get the best care possible. Sometimes we had patients on the COVID floor for a month or more and it was hard to watch the disease take a toll on their bodies. Many times, I went home and cried, feeling defeated, because we would lose a patient even though we did everything we could. The hardest part was when patients chose to have care removed. I had a patient who no longer wanted treatment and had me hold his hand as we both cried. He told me everything he wanted us to tell his family after he was gone. We were able to get an iPad that allowed him to FaceTime his family one last time. That is still the hardest night I have ever had at work.
My hope is to become a specialized nurse and be able to work on the Critical Care Unit, NICU or a specialized isolation unit. I want to be able to care for the patients who need the most care and comfort and be able to try to put their families at ease knowing they have someone working hard to get their loved one back home to them. I just want to do what I can to help others. That’s all that really matters. I feel like this is my calling, like this is what I was put on this earth to do. I’ve tried working other jobs but never had the passion for them. I am truly passionate about this job. I also want to show my children that no matter what, you can always reach your dreams. I want them to see that any dream they have, they can achieve.
Click here for more information about how you can become a Beacon nurse.
