I work with the people who live on the edges of our society, on the street, in the shelters of our cities. I’m a nurse and not just any old nurse, a nurse that works on a general medicine floor at the county hospital of a large metropolitan area. I see the most beaten down, abused bodies come into my care. People who have track marks up their arms and no veins left from shooting up, people who have infection raging through their bodies from using dirty needles, people whose addictions are so consuming that they will do anything and everything to find their next fix, people living on the street and hearing voices in their head, people who sell their bodies for money. These are the people who inspire fear and worry, who parents rush their children by on the street and pray at night they will never go down that road. They are impulsive and unpredictable, which means at any time I am at risk of being kicked or attacked.

But most of all, these are people who deserve to have medical care and an advocate at their bedside. That’s me.

I take care of the untouchables, knowing that they will leave me and keep abusing their bodies, knowing that nothing I do will ever change their addictions, their mental illness, their personalities. I am not always nice or kind, I do not Dare to Care, but I will always work my ass off for my patients. I do this for no reason beyond the fact that I actually care about something larger than myself called community. I do all of this and live in a big city. That is my big city value.

Sacha
Seattle, WA