Stopping By: Mother, daughter continue tradition of caring for others
Von Derahe, director of women’s services at WVMC, has an office just down the hall front the room where Abi made her appearance on Sept. 29, 2003. Posters decorating the cozy space bear messages such as “Be happy — not because everything is good, but because you can see the good in everything” and a Maya Angelou quote, “People may forget your name, but they will never forget how you made them feel.”
Abi Von Derahe, now 21, works not far away as a multi-skilled assistant in the emergency department. She tidies things up, supplies blankets and does anything short of patient care.
In addition to the paid internship, she is attending college to finish her prerequisites so she can go on to earn a nursing degree. She hopes to get into Chemeketa Community College’s nursing program, but plans to apply “everywhere” in order to realize her dream.
“I always knew I’d be a nurse,” she said.
Before she becomes an RN, she said, she will earn her emergency medical technician credentials. She plans to work as an EMT in the hospital, taking blood pressure, administering EKGs and doing preparatory work for nurses and doctors.
A self-declared “adrenaline junkie,” Abi said she already knows she wants to keep working in the emergency room, whether it’s as an EMT or a nurse.
“I’ll always be in the ER,” said Abi, who previously worked in the office of a Polk County fire department; her father is a firefighter.
She would be happy staying at WVMC, where she is with not only her mother, but “800 aunties” who’ve known her since she was born.
“I love the people we work with. It’s like a big giant family here,” she said.
Jen was a nursing student herself when she first came to WVMC in 2000. She was hired as an LPN and worked in the surgery department while she finished nursing school.
After graduating from Chemeketa Community College and Oregon Health Sciences University, the new RN moved to the birthing center.
She had wanted to be a nurse in intensive care or surgery. But during a required rotation, she was assigned to the labor and delivery department.
“I was so disappointed!” she recalled.
When she started the job, though, she realized it was just where she should be. It turns out, she said, “God knows you more than you know yourself,” so he placed her there on purpose.
Her preceptor, or mentor, was Traci Millsap, an RN who still works at the hospital.
Although nurses have studied their profession, Jen said, “It takes a long time to learn all the aspects of nursing.” Spending time with someone who’s experienced is important.
“Traci taught me how to be a nurse,” Jen said fondly. “I fell in love with it.”
Now Jen is watching Millsap’s daughter, Shelby, go through WVMC’s LPN to RN apprenticeship program, one of only six in the U.S. Shelby is on the way to becoming a postpartum nurse, who works with mothers and newborns as they bond, and later she will become a nurse in labor and delivery.
Shelby is a kind person, Abi said, so she will fit in with the others in the women’s department. “They’re the calmest women I’ve ever met,” Abi said.
That’s intentional, Jen said. They make sure patients are “always met by calm and excellence.”
She joked that there’s room for kicking and screaming in the labor and delivery area – from the new babies. “We appreciate a robust cry,” she said.
Abi said that’s true in general, because “crying is breathing.”
Jen can still remember how happy she was the first time she heard Abi cry, right after Dr. Margaret Miller delivered the baby in a room down the hall from Jen’s current office.
It was the most beautiful sound, the mother said.
“Everyone was excited,” she said, including many people with whom she still works.
The young nurse knew she would be having her first baby in WVMC. Everything was going fine.
Then she “abrupted,” which means the placenta suddenly separated from the inner wall of her uterus, potentially depriving her baby of oxygen. An immediate C-section was needed
Most mothers-to-be would be frightened by such an emergency. But Jen said she wasn’t worried at all.
Although she’d been at the hospital for only three years, she had seen emergencies before. “I’d watched more than one baby resuscitation,” she said.
She had seen her coworkers in action. “Knowing our team made the difference,” she said. ”These were my people, and I knew God would protect me and my baby. I never felt anything but calm; calm and safe.”
She was right. Looking at her grown-up daughter. Jen said, “Abi is a testament to their skill.”
In addition to Abi, she gave birth to two more daughters at WVMC. Madi, 19, who is also working on prerequisites for nursing school; and Ellie, 18, a senior in high school. When Ellie was a baby, she and her mom were featured on the hospital’s billboard on the Highway 18 bypass.
In 2006, Jen left the McMinnville hospital to work in a hospital in Polk County, closer to home. But she returned to WVMC a few years ago.
“It’s totally worth the drive,” she joked.
Seriously, she said, “God took me from one place and put me here with intention.” She added, “With the ladies who work here, we’ve continued to grow and build something we’re proud of. Every day I come to work, I delight in what I’m doing.”
As director of the women’s services department, Jen also is in charge of a community outreach program to educate people about the hospital’s women’s services and birthing room.
She organizes a free “Health Hub” open house from 10 a.m. to noon on the fourth Sunday of each month. The program also teaches parents and other people who transport children about how to properly use child safety seats.
In addition, the director often works with LPNs and nurse residents who are just out of school at Linfield, Chemeketa, George Fox or another nursing program. “This is a wonderful place for growing new nurses,” Jen said.
WVMC “is a space that supports the growing and learning environment for students and staff,” she said. She’s honored that her own daughter is among those learning in McMinnville.
For Abi, who grew up hearing her mother talk about nursing and often visited her at work, the profession was almost inevitable. She said she always knew she would someday work in health care herself.
Abi’s aunt, grandmother and great-great-grandmother also became nurses. At least one of her sisters will become a nurse, as well, and so will her cousin.
Jen said she felt the same way when she was choosing a profession.
“Nursing runs deep in our blood,” she said.
She was touched and pleased when her great-grandmother sent her own nursing cap for Jen to use when she graduated. Her mother also wore the cap.
“For me, the cap symbolizes my great-grandmother and my mom,” Jen said. “Mom was an LPN, then she became an RN when I was a teenager. She was a hard worker.”
Jen proudly “pinned” her mother at graduation, another tradition in which new registered nurses receive a pin that designates their status.
She’s available to pin Abi when she becomes an RN.
“It’s a really neat career path,” she said. “You can do anything. Be a nurse in a school, a hospital, a cruise ship … There are so many types of nurses – acute, psychiatric, educational …”
Abi said she appreciates having so many options, although she’s set on the ER. She believes she will be good at her profession because she has patience and critical thinking skills, and she’s willing to work hard, like her grandmother. She doesn’t mind the sight of blood.
“I just like helping people” she said.
Jen said Abi also has a natural calm. She is quick-thinking and diligent, and she is able to encourage others.
“You have to help patients believe they can heal,” Jen said. In any department, she said, “You have to help them pursue being their best.”
Starla Pointer, who believes everyone has an interesting story to tell, has been writing the weekly “Stopping By” column since 1996. She’s always looking for suggestions. Contact her at 503-687-1263 or spointer@newsregister.com.
A place of joy and grief
Most days, the labor and delivery area of a hospital is a place for celebration. But circumstances sometimes make it a place of mourning.
“Here there is much joy and much grief,” said Jen Von Derahe, director of women’s services at Willamette Valley Medical Center.
Whatever happens, she said, “We want to meet people where they’re at.”
She keeps a stack of soft shawls, handmade by her aunt, to give to mothers who need support.
Many families — including those who have experienced grief— return to visit the nurses and express gratitude for the support they received, she said.
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