by Bobby Anderson,
Staff Writer
Daniel Hurst’s resume is all over the place.
Landman, ad designer, classified salesman, bartender and a fine arts degree to top it all off.
Throw in a BSN and this registered nurse is a veritable Swiss Army knife of skills and life experiences.
Maybe that’s why he’s gone from working the front of the house in the hospitality industry to running the house at Integris Canadian Valley Hospital in Yukon as a house supervisor.
“If you would have asked me years ago if I would have been doing this – no way,” Hurst said.
In his mid-30s,, Hurst began putting that background to work, deciding to pursue nursing.
He took some prerequisite classes at the University of Oklahoma but by the time he applied he found the nursing program was full.
A few friends from class mentioned Oklahoma City University.
It was fate.
“It really, really is an excellent school and the professors are fantastic,” Hurst said. “They really care and they got me out here.”
Finishing up his degree at OCU, Hurst took a leadership class that involved rotations with a nurse at Integris Canadian Valley.
He gladly accepted a position and shifts at night.
“I’m not really a daywalker,” Hurst said. “I’ve always been a night-time person since I was five.“
“I’m up. That’s when my brain works. I like everyone I work with and I like everyone here but the nighttime, there’s just a twist on it. It’s a little more autonomous as well.”
At times, he’ll float to the ICU, ER and even the women’s center.
It wasn’t long before he was approached with a lead house supervisor position.
“It didn’t hurt that I was a little older and had experience doing some other things instead of just this being my first real job, it’s not. I’ve done many, many things,” he said. “I imagine how that’s how that came about. They had some trust in me and thought I could handle it. And it’s working out pretty well.”
When it comes to his job, Hurst adores the care side of the career. Also, education plays a huge role.
“You get to take care of people who are ill and then help them learn how to better take care of themselves later on down the line,” he said. “I like interacting with the families and the patients themselves are great.”
“You get to try out your new material.”
With nearly 20 years in the workforce, he’s had plenty of time to gather material to try out on his patients.
Hurst’s background is varied to say the least. He worked for Gannett designing newspaper ads. He then switched over to classified ad sales. A bevy of roles in food service and bartending were sprinkled throughout.
He served as a landman working in the oil and gas industry for a time. Once the downturn happened in 2008 that was it.
“If I were ever hiring somebody I would ask if they have some restaurant experience,” Hurst said. “It’s really not that different if you think about it. Each room is a table. Tables have things that come out on time so you have your scheduled medications. If they want to add something to that you have pain medications you can augment.”
“You establish a holding pattern. You’re checking on them constantly, see how they’re doing, if they need anything or what you can do for them. If there’s an issue you go to your supervisor, just like you would in a restaurant.”
Outside of that there’s the learned skill of having a conversation with a complete stranger, trying to get them to open up and relax.
Ultimately, Hurst plans on winding up in nurse practitioner school, the ER or the ICU.
But he made a conscious choice of where he wanted to start his career.
“I’m kind of glad I chose what I did because I wanted med/surg first so I would have a pretty good base to stand on,” Hurst said. “Maybe I’ll move from there into more critical care. There’s time.”
Hurst has now been at Canadian Valley for two years. He says he can’t imagine working anywhere else.
“Excellent. We have an excellent team here,” Hurst said. “I really like the community here at Canadian Valley.”
