Michele Speer

Nurse Coordinator

Can you talk about your role as nurse at the Tully Health Center?

We have a women’s imaging department, and as a part of that we have the women’s breast center. I’m the Nurse Coordinator. I do a lot educating of women that just need to have additional X-rays, mammograms, because of findings. So I would say probably 85 to 90 percent of what I do each day is in an education role. Once a woman has been diagnosed positive with breast cancer, I navigate them through the system with what they need if they’re going for a second surgical opinion. I put together a personalized notebook for them and I go over each phase of what they’re about to hear next. So pretty much, I get women when they’re their most vulnerable and help them through the process by giving them information about breast health, and that in turn reduces their anxiety levels.

Talk about growing up—did you know you wanted to be a nurse?

Yes. When I was growing up there was a book called, there was the Bobbsey Twins, and then you had Cherry Ames, and Cherry Ames was, she started out as a candy striper and then she became a nursing student, so I probably knew at least by the age of 5 that that’s what I wanted to be. And so I started, Tulley Center used to be an acute care hospital and I used to do candy striping here and then I became a junior nurse’s aide, and then I went on to nursing school.

Can you tell us a little about nursing school? You ended up leaving.

I ended up leaving at the end of my second year. It was a three-year diploma school, which was pretty traditional. And I went to that program and hit a speed bump so to speak, and end up taking a year off. I don’t think I was ready at that point to go off, with one more year left to go under my belt, took a year off, ended up working in a nursing home that I had been working at, and then went back to school in a two-year associate degree program, and that’s where I graduated.

What would your job have been if you had moved on from that?

I moved to Boston and I worked in a very impoverished inner city hospital. And I worked in a, there were four-bed wards, it was an old, old hospital so I worked on the surgical floor. And so it was all patients that had just had surgery for one thing or another, you know, broken hips, this kind of thing. And I worked on that ward for a year and then I moved to Cleveland. And I worked in yet another large inner city hospital. So I worked there for a couple years and then we moved back to Connecticut. I started in the OR 1980. I would assist I would help on breast biopsies, hernias, gall bladders, you know, that kind of thing.

Do you think nursing has a lot to do with establishing relationships with patients?

I think that my patients, I know when I’m with them there’s certain expectations they have of what I need to give them. And I think that the smart nurse, the seasoned nurse, is able to pick up a lot of subtle, nonverbal cuing. I know when I’m dealing with a newly diagnosed cancer patients, I can tell where I can’t cross the line. It’s just a gift that you have and how you sense the people around you and what their needs are.

How does being a survivor yourself change things?

It’s brought a big dimension to this whole thing. When I was diagnosed at 35, I hadn’t even had a mammogram. And so it was an eye-opener to me to see how frightened these women are. You know what really drove it home to me was one day I was sitting in the waiting room with a friend of a friend who was a nervous wreck about her mammogram. And there were three other women in there and the tech came out to get one of them and the other two were like “good luck.” It was like Dead Man Walking. One of the things I think is that every disease has you know, a state of hope to it. And especially with my young women, you know, I share with them. You know, my son was two. I’ve had reconstruction you know, if they want to know or see what that looks like I show them that. I’m pretty much an open book with everything and they know that.

You were just talking about how much you like this job.

I love this job. I love this job. I’ve done a lot of things in my life as I say and I’ve loved all of it because I think each one has brought different things to the table. But this happens to be very rewarding to me. Because once you’re dealing with a woman who’s so vulnerable, and who honestly doesn’t think she’s going to come out the other end, and then you see her a year later. I’ve become friends with a lot of these women. They’ve just, they’ve taught me so much.

Is there a sense that nurses are under appreciated?

I think that our appreciation comes from within. Honestly and in my job I am so well appreciated. I’m constantly getting thank you notes from my patients because they are so grateful. But even if I didn’t them, I see in their eyes. I don’t need a written thing, I don’t need bonuses. I certainly didn’t go into this career for the money, God only knows. You know teachers and nurses we usually don’t make that much. You know I went in it for much more. And you know the one thing I would like to say to anyone watching this who is even contemplating nursing is you know 31 years doing this and I would not change one thing that I’ve done. I would still go into nursing in a heartbeat.

What do you think the skills are that are needed?

You have to have a very deep sense of compassion, commitment. It’s not an easy job at first. You have to be willing at first, as young nurses, everybody, you have to be willing to do different shifts. You work weekends. Yeah, it takes its toll on your personal life. But I also think all of us when we had to do that we were much younger and we were able to bounce back.

Can you talk about your role as nurse at the Tully Health Center?

We have a women’s imaging department, and as a part of that we have the women’s breast center. I’m the Nurse Coordinator. I do a lot educating of women that just need to have additional X-rays, mammograms, because of findings. So I would say probably 85 to 90 percent of what I do each day is in an education role. Once a woman has been diagnosed positive with breast cancer, I navigate them through the system with what they need if they’re going for a second surgical opinion. I put together a personalized notebook for them and I go over each phase of what they’re about to hear next. So pretty much, I get women when they’re their most vulnerable and help them through the process by giving them information about breast health, and that in turn reduces their anxiety levels.

Talk about growing up—did you know you wanted to be a nurse?

Yes. When I was growing up there was a book called, there was the Bobbsey Twins, and then you had Cherry Ames, and Cherry Ames was, she started out as a candy striper and then she became a nursing student, so I probably knew at least by the age of 5 that that’s what I wanted to be. And so I started, Tulley Center used to be an acute care hospital and I used to do candy striping here and then I became a junior nurse’s aide, and then I went on to nursing school.

Can you tell us a little about nursing school? You ended up leaving.

I ended up leaving at the end of my second year. It was a three-year diploma school, which was pretty traditional. And I went to that program and hit a speed bump so to speak, and end up taking a year off. I don’t think I was ready at that point to go off, with one more year left to go under my belt, took a year off, ended up working in a nursing home that I had been working at, and then went back to school in a two-year associate degree program, and that’s where I graduated.

What would your job have been if you had moved on from that?

I moved to Boston and I worked in a very impoverished inner city hospital. And I worked in a, there were four-bed wards, it was an old, old hospital so I worked on the surgical floor. And so it was all patients that had just had surgery for one thing or another, you know, broken hips, this kind of thing. And I worked on that ward for a year and then I moved to Cleveland. And I worked in yet another large inner city hospital. So I worked there for a couple years and then we moved back to Connecticut. I started in the OR 1980. I would assist I would help on breast biopsies, hernias, gall bladders, you know, that kind of thing.

Do you think nursing has a lot to do with establishing relationships with patients?

I think that my patients, I know when I’m with them there’s certain expectations they have of what I need to give them. And I think that the smart nurse, the seasoned nurse, is able to pick up a lot of subtle, nonverbal cuing. I know when I’m dealing with a newly diagnosed cancer patients, I can tell where I can’t cross the line. It’s just a gift that you have and how you sense the people around you and what their needs are.

How does being a survivor yourself change things?

It’s brought a big dimension to this whole thing. When I was diagnosed at 35, I hadn’t even had a mammogram. And so it was an eye-opener to me to see how frightened these women are. You know what really drove it home to me was one day I was sitting in the waiting room with a friend of a friend who was a nervous wreck about her mammogram. And there were three other women in there and the tech came out to get one of them and the other two were like “good luck.” It was like Dead Man Walking. One of the things I think is that every disease has you know, a state of hope to it. And especially with my young women, you know, I share with them. You know, my son was two. I’ve had reconstruction you know, if they want to know or see what that looks like I show them that. I’m pretty much an open book with everything and they know that.

You were just talking about how much you like this job.

I love this job. I love this job. I’ve done a lot of things in my life as I say and I’ve loved all of it because I think each one has brought different things to the table. But this happens to be very rewarding to me. Because once you’re dealing with a woman who’s so vulnerable, and who honestly doesn’t think she’s going to come out the other end, and then you see her a year later. I’ve become friends with a lot of these women. They’ve just, they’ve taught me so much.

Is there a sense that nurses are under appreciated?

I think that our appreciation comes from within. Honestly and in my job I am so well appreciated. I’m constantly getting thank you notes from my patients because they are so grateful. But even if I didn’t them, I see in their eyes. I don’t need a written thing, I don’t need bonuses. I certainly didn’t go into this career for the money, God only knows. You know teachers and nurses we usually don’t make that much. You know I went in it for much more. And you know the one thing I would like to say to anyone watching this who is even contemplating nursing is you know 31 years doing this and I would not change one thing that I’ve done. I would still go into nursing in a heartbeat.

What do you think the skills are that are needed?

You have to have a very deep sense of compassion, commitment. It’s not an easy job at first. You have to be willing at first, as young nurses, everybody, you have to be willing to do different shifts. You work weekends. Yeah, it takes its toll on your personal life. But I also think all of us when we had to do that we were much younger and we were able to bounce back.