I haven’t been at this whole nursing thing for long. It’s been a few months of trial and error, of ebbs and flows. I won’t say I’m any good or bad at it yet, it’s too soon to tell, but I can attest to what I’ve observed while I’ve been learning – often flying by the seat of my pants:
It is incredibly hard.
I find myself suffocating in the fear that I can love something so much, caring for children, and still be frustrated by it.
Sometimes it feels impossible to reconcile what science has made possible with the practical use, or disuse, of it. I love the history of child health. I love the science behind it and the generations of hard work that went into saving children up to this point. I love reading detailed stories of vaccine creation, dairy pasteurization, infant formula development, and other strange bits of bravery that have all built a world in which children are expected to live. But then, in the same breath, I have to respect the decisions that a caregiver makes, even when they go against the science that I believe in.
Sometimes, I’ve had to watch misinformation harm a child.
That is so unbelievably hard.
Child health has been the basis of public health for so long. We’ve leaned on the “Back to Sleep” campaign to decrease the incidence of SIDS. We’ve seen vaccines decrease death and debilitation from polio, measles, and even so far back to smallpox. We’ve brought nurses to schools. We’ve started screening for heart defects in youth sports. There is so much to believe in.
Why don’t people believe in it anymore?
Not to get on a medical ethics soapbox, but I think that perhaps the world should give a damn about doing what we can to improve the lives of children. A healthy childhood is a human right.
Here is your guide to practical public health:
- Every child deserves access to a specialist, if they need one.
- Every child deserves preventative health care.
- Every child deserves a second opinion, if they want one.
- Every child deserves the best that we can give them.
That is what I’ve decided, in my short time as a nurse, nursing student, patient care tech, NICU sibling, and human being. A healthy childhood is a human right. Only through advocating for it can we ensure it for our future.
FTL Recommends for further reading:
A Good Time to Be Born by Perri Klass
A read detailing the journey from our ancestors losing 7 of their 8 children to disease and the failed attempts to save them to the world in which we live, where every child has a chance. This book inspired such a gratitude for public health efforts in me. It changed my perspective immeasurably.
For The Littlest 