Lived Experience Archives - Page 4 of 5

Compassion Fatigue When Caring for Dying Patients

by Jennifer Forik, MSN, CRNP, ANP-BC When I am asked what I do for a living, I enthusiastically and proudly say, “I’m a palliative care nurse practitioner!” Unfortunately, I usually do not receive the same upbeat response. I usually am told, “Oh wow, that’s a tough job” or, “Oh, so you care for people at the end of life?” Yes! Isn’t that amazing? Palliative care is a type of medical care that helps with symptom management from chronic illnesses, and guides discussions around goals of care with patients. This type [...]

Janine Monico2021-07-31T13:02:48-04:00September 20th, 2019|Lived Experience, Workplace Mental Health|

Men’s Health Month: Chasing Brady

As a 35-year-old man, it’s taken me awhile to accept that my body is getting older. I have been an athlete for most of my life, participating in one or two sports each season year-round until college. When I was no longer in organized sports, I had no trouble jumping right back in. If you needed an extra for flag-football, I could jog over to the field, sprint the whole game, head home to clean up, and then go out at 10pm with friends. Now, I’m still active, but I [...]

Janine Monico2021-07-31T13:03:06-04:00June 21st, 2019|Awareness, Lived Experience, Self-Help|

Addiction: A Story of Love and Loss

We met when I was 16 years old, and nearly 20 years and several serious relationships later, he remains the love of my life. His smile, his sense of humor, and his ever-giving selflessness are what I loved the most about him. Drugs took that all away. Early on, I wasn’t as concerned about his drug use because he worked full time in construction and went to community college at night. It was 2003, and I lived in the dorms at Temple University. We saw each other on weekends and [...]

Janine Monico2024-08-22T12:48:11-04:00June 5th, 2019|Addiction & Recovery, Lived Experience|

Nursing & Mental Health

Happy Nurse’s Week to all of my fellow nurses out there! I am very proud to be a nurse. It’s an amazing profession. Nursing is more than a job, though; it is a calling. It’s not just something you do, it is something you are; so it can be hard to maintain a level of separation when work is such an integral part of who you are. So how can nurses step back and make sure that they are caring for themselves in addition to the wonderful care they provide [...]

Janine Monico2021-07-31T13:03:36-04:00May 6th, 2019|Lived Experience, Self-Help, Stress, Workplace Mental Health|