Nurses Who Are Doing It for Themselves

At a time when working families are juggling more than ever, nurse-led care teams are demonstrating that it is possible—even in extraordinary circumstances—to provide excellent, reliable care to clients and make nurses’ individual needs and schedules fit together at the same time.

With a few learning experiences along the way, here’s how one nurse and mother is managing her busy life, before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

LPN Merry Sumner, starting out and moving up

Merry is married and the mother of four young children, ages 8, 3, 2, and 4-months. She earned her LPN only two years ago, but already she has worked in a hospital, a nursing home, and now, BAYADA Home Health Care.

They were living in Mississippi when she worked as a nurse in a hospital medical-surgical unit, then at a nursing home where she often saw anywhere from 40 to 60 residents a day due to staff shortages.

“I did not want to stay there, the understaffing was terribly unsafe,” Merry said. “Our family was growing (she was expecting her fourth), and my husband and I wanted to move to North Carolina if we could find jobs.”

“I looked online and talked to other employers, but BAYADA worked with me so well. They set up online interviews and education at BAYADA University. They made sure I had a good pay rate and full-time hours. They even wrote a letter to our landlord that helped us rent a place to live. All of this was done before we ever set foot in North Carolina! The way they treated me made me feel really good about my value to them, and my loyalty to this company.”

Balancing two work schedules and four kids

Merry’s husband is a police officer, and his work schedule varies and posts on a regular basis. To take turns at home with their kids, Merry checks his schedule, tells her office what days she needs off, and they schedule her shifts and paid training sessions around that. They even paid for her time and hotel to attend SIM (clinical simulation) lab training in Charlotte. The flexibility is crucial, especially when schools and childcare closed due to COVID-19.

“It’s The BAYADA Way to work with you any way they can, because they value nurses,” said Merry. “They invest in you. Before, if I needed off, I was afraid I’d lose my job. Here, the hours are so easy and flexible. They don’t push. I feel like they care about me and what is important to me as an individual. That’s really rare in nursing.”

Are you a nurse who wants to love what you do, at work and at home? Start a conversation and check out immediate career opportunities at jobs.bayada.com.