Read Chicken Soup for the Nurse's Soul Online
Authors: Jack Canfield
1. THE TRUE MEANING OF NURSING
Working Christmas Day
Victoria Schlintz
Proud to Be a Nurse
Barbara A. Brady
Nellie
Joan Filbin
All in a Day’s Work
Naomi Rhode
Jack
Kathryn Kimzey Judkins
Olivia
Heather Black
A Matter of Believing
Scot Thurman
Wake Up!
Kathleen Dahle
The Night Al Heel Broke Loose
Elizabeth Turner
Jelly Hearts
Joyce Mueller
Boarder Baby
Zaphra Reskakis
What Day Is Today?
Dennis Sibley as told to Allen Klein
Fresh Sample
Donna McDonnall
Codes for the Holidays
Jamie L. Beeley
Christmas Magic
Barbara Bartlein
A Forever Kind of Love
Christy M. Martin
Happy Birthday, Grace
Nancy B. Gibbs
In the Arms of an Angel
Elaine Gray Dumler
The Greatest of These Is Love
Roberta L. Messner
You Held My Hand
F. A. Thompson
Love in Its Purest Form
Maryjo Relampagos Pulmano
A Single Act of Love
Laura Hayes Lagana
My Promise
Linda C. Bird
Billy’s Good-Bye Gift
Susan Spence
All Our Hearts Have to Offer
Janie K. Ford
The Touch of Kindness
Tricia Caliguire
A Part of the Team
Viola Ruelke Gommer
To Care for Them
Christine Ehlers
The Hip in 46B
Linda McNeil
I Baptize You . . .
Beverly Houseman
A Visit from an Angel
Sarah Webb Johnson
New Job
Barbara A. Brady
The Depth of This Career
Diane Stallings
How Could I Stay in This Profession?
Kathleen Brewer-Smyth
Women in the Military
Janis Nark
Diabetic Teaching
Johanna Tracy
First Injection
Barbara Bartlein
Peppy
Lini R. Grol
A Healing Truth
Virginia L. Clark
Finding Your Easter Sunrise
Cindy Bollinger
The Old Woman
Mitzi Chandler
Communication Is the Key
Karyn Buxman
Meeting Her Needs
Judy B. Smith
Rose
Susan Pearson
Where Do Babies Come From?
Elaine Stallman
Raspberries and Cream
Marie D. Jones
Now We’re Talkin’
Denise Casaubon
You Can Do Anything!
Susan M. Goldberg
“I Am,” I Said
Shirley McCullough
One Smile at a Time
Rita Kluny
Do Your Best and the Lord Will Bless
Marilynn Carlson Webber
Pony
Mary Jane Holman
Sadie, Sadie, Special Lady
Andrea Watson
Lucky
Charlene Vance
Cast-Cutter
LeAnn Thieman
The Race
Anne Riffenburgh
He Conquered It
Lance Armstrong
Mr. Jackson and the Angel Pin
Linda Apple
Will She Ever Smile Again?
Ana Wehipeihana
Stormy Delivery
Debbie Lukasiewicz as told to LeAnn Thieman
Summons to the Danger Zone
Joan Wester Anderson
The Hand of God
Jo Stickley
Forgiven
Bernie Siegel
Afraid of the Night
Nancy Harless
And the Angels Sang
Mary Saxon Wilburn
A Cherished Angel
Margie Seyfer as told to LeAnn Thieman
Lori’s Wish
Gwen Fosse
By Accident
Candace L. Calvert
CPR
Johnnie Dowdy
Voice in the Night
Carin Klabbers
Impacting the Process
Catherine Hoe Harwood
Just What I Needed to Hear
“Dr. Mom” Marianne Neifert
All Pain Being Equal
Corinne Pratz
The Nurse’s Best Medicine
Don Haines
Always a Nurse
Shelly Burke
A Nurse Named Gloria
Lisa Ray Turner
Dumbo
Laura Vickery Hart
Bringing the Cows Home
Susan Townsend
The Crisis of Today
Karyn Buxman
The Assessment
Rebecca Skowronski
Taking Care of Joey
Donna Strickland as told to LeAnn Thieman
Pennies from Heaven
Raymond Bingham
Take a Number Please
Naomi Follis
Reasonable Resignation
Sylvia C. Chism
Black Stockings
Elsie Schmied Knoke
My Mission of Hope
Cherie Clark
The Heart of a Nurse
Beatrice Sheftel
Nurse Puss ’n Boots
J. C. Pinkerton
The Pinning
Dawn Koehn
Last Rites
Jacqueline C. Hadeland
Heroes
Rhona Knox Prescott
A Piece of Paper
Sherri Sorenson
The Call
Virginia L. Clark
Love in Your Hands
Ken Cyr
Silent Angel
Duane Shaw
Child’s Praise
Dolores Curran
Ministering Angels
Allison Leigh Usher
A Gift from Nana
Terri Murcia
Thank You, Mrs. Dickenson
Georgann Phillips Schultz
There for Me
Carolyn Gavalas
To the Nurses of the World
John Wayne Schlatter
It’s been an honor to write, compile and edit
Chicken Soup for
the Nurse’s Soul.
What a privilege to read such outstanding stories from such loving caregivers. So first and foremost, we must thank the nearly three thousand health-care workers who shared their hearts and souls. Scores of them thanked
us
for prompting them to write about their experiences. Many wrote sentiments such as, “I know this won’t be published, but thank you for the inspirational, healing journey of writing it.” What a gift you’ve been to us!
To Peter Vegso, our dear publisher, we love you and thank you from the bottom of our hearts for publishing
Chicken Soup
for the Nurse’s Soul.
Thank you on behalf of all of the
Chicken
Soup for the Soul
family. We appreciate and love you, Peter!
Bless our families for all of their love and support on this project: Inga, Patty, Mark, Kirk, Christopher, Travis, Riley, Melanie, Elizabeth, Christie, Angela and Mitch.
We are grateful to the following people who read and scored nearly two hundred stories and helped make the final selections: Helen Colella, D’ette Corona, Berniece Duello, Margaret Hill, Mary Hjerleid, Ellen Javernick, Sondra Keeler, Sally Kelly-Engeman, Barbara LoMonaco, Heather McNamara, Linda Mitchell, Linda Osmundson, Carol Rehme, Gayle Stringer, Christie Thieman and Mark Thieman.
A special thanks to the nurses on our reading team who brought their experienced perspective to the selection process: Linda Beckwith, Jeannie Eylar, Bonnie Ford, Susan Goldberg, Lisa Heiney, Jackie Johnson, Holly Leo, Mary McMahon, Tonya Motley, Suzanne Phelan, Pat Richardson, Kay Rosenthal, Cheryl Roth, Diane Sieg, Jery Sigl, Bonnie Urie, Sharon Williams and Kristina Winch.
Josephine Adams donated her skill as a college English professor to do final editing of the manuscript. Her expertise was invaluable.
Thanks to Pat Mahan from
Nurse-Recruiter.com
who encouraged contributions in each monthly issue of his e-zine publication. And Kay Rosenthal, Ph.D., R.N., for sharing stories from her
Rural Nurse Organization’s Anthology
.
Mark Victor Hansen’s entire staff: Patty Hansen, Trudy Marschall, Maria Nickless, Laurie Hartman, Michelle Adams, Tracy Smith, Dee Dee Romanello, Dawn Henshall, Lisa Williams, Kristi Knoppe, David Coleman, Laura Rush, Paula Childers, Tanya Jones, Faith Fuata and Shanna Vieryra.
And Jack Canfield’s entire staff: Patty Aubery, Deborah Hatchell, Heather McNamara, D’ette Corona, Veronica Romero, Cindy Holland, Robin Yerian, Vince Wong and Geneva Lee. Special thanks to Leslie Riskin for her efficiency and kindness in acquiring the permissions. Leslie, we love you and cherish your friendship!
A special thanks to Health Communications for their ongoing support: Terry Burke, Kim Weiss, Kelly Johnson Maragni, Allison Janse, Christine Belleris, Lisa Drucker and Susan Tobias.
To LeAnn’s assistant and marketing agent, Amy Williams, who managed LeAnn’s speaking business brilliantly while she read stories and read stories and read stories. . . .
And to LeAnn’s mom, Berniece Duello, who by living her life in compassionate service, taught LeAnn the virtues of nursing.
A tremendous thank-you to Mark, LeAnn’s graphic designer, webmaster, technical-support technician, editor, soul mate and husband of thirty-one years: “Couldn’t do it without you; wouldn’t want to try.” And to Angela, Christie and Mitch who believed in their mom even before she did.