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'We're doers' | A conversation with two West Michigan nurses on National Nurses Week

For nurses at Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital, it's all about their patients.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The past two years have been the most difficult for many healthcare workers, including nurses, who worked long hours when short-staffed hospitals were filled to capacity with COVID-19 patients.

This week is National Nurses Week, and many West Michigan nurses are being shown just how much they're appreciated.

While Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital's Hope Brouwer and Madison Dapprich appreciate the recognition this week, like a pick-me-up at Biggby Coffee, they don't do their work for the freebies. For them, it's all about their patients.

"We get them stronger, and we get to see their gains and progresses," Brouwer, a certified rehabilitation nurse, says. "We get to celebrate with their families."

"Here, you really get to see them progress and be able to go home," Dapprich, a registered nurse, says. 

They work with people daily through rehabilitation therapy to get better. 

"We do to take care of pretty sick people here, too," Brouwer says. 

Over the last two plus years, they've seen firsthand how the pandemic affects people after they leave the ICU, like one of Brouwer's patients who came in on a ventilator. 

"She was very debilitated from COVID, and throughout her stay here, she was able to gain enough strength to walk again, feed herself and take her showers," she says. 

"These patients are put in very vulnerable situations that they didn't choose. So, we're there as nurses to be by their side and make this place as home while they're here as much as possible and make them comfortable," Dapprich says. 

When times got tough, she says she kept one thing in mind. 

"I put my family members in their shoes and what I would want for my family member and it's just to give the best care," Dapprich says. 

For them, the best care is making sure they're there to get their patients back to healthy. 

"I love helping people get better and return to their life as normal as possible. And you know, so the recognition is nice, but we're..." Brouwer began.

"We're doers," Dapprich finished. "We get it done. Yeah, we put our heads down, we get it done."

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