Four nurses share what it’s like to work in hospitals where frum Jews are few and far between
“I’m known throughout the hospital as ‘the one with six kids,’ ” laughs Tammy, a nurse who specializes in pediatric oncology and bone marrow transplants.
Her workday starts at night. “After the kids are out of school, I’m fully immersed in doing homework with them and talking to them about parshah or their upcoming Chumash tests. I’m there for bath time and dinner time, and then I say goodnight and head out to the hospital.”
As night descends, she leaves the frum bubble and steps into a hospital complex where she’s surrounded by non-Jewish coworkers, many of whom are single and don’t have children.
“You go into a 12-hour shift and you have no idea what’s going to happen,” she says. “You have no idea what type of patients you’ll meet and what state their health is in, or who will be on staff with you that night. It could be the easiest shift ever or one of the hardest experiences you’ve ever had to go through. You just never really know.”
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