by James Coburn – staff writer
If William Driver, RN, was looking for a long-term care center to place a loved one, he would look for an immaculate facility with functional equipment. He would recommend to friends a place where the staff is held accountable for the care of residents. It should be a place where a nurse can go home without worrying that call-lights do not go unanswered for several hours, he said. A good day for Driver is smooth sailing with full staff and no emergencies.
“You come in and do your paperwork, do your assessments. You see that your aides aren’t having any problems. You don’t have to have people pull extra time.”
Driver was recently hired to work at Spanish Cove Retirement Village in Yukon after serving the elderly at another nursing facility in Yukon. (story continues below)
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He chose Spanish Cove for being very clean and well managed, the sort of place where he would recommend to a family member interested in assisted living or long-term care.
“The residents seem very happy when you walk in. It’s very top notch like a five-star hotel,” said Driver, who will work in long-term care unit.
In 2015 Driver was licensed to be a licensed practical nurse before becoming a registered nurse in 2020 after earning his degree at Murray State College in Tishomingo. College was a time of trial and error, he said, and knowing how to utilize his time. He would learn from nurses, especially those who had honed their skills through several years of service.
His father Keith Ruminer, RN, has a background in hospice nursing and now works at the El Reno Health Clinic. When William was in high school his father told him he needed a stable career and suggested that he try nursing since several of their family members had been in health care. Driver got his first job as a CNA in a nursing home and fell in love with it, he said. He feels that he will always have a job in nursing given there is a nationwide shortage of nurses.
“Scheduling works out for me with long-term care. They’re usually needing help in every single shift. I needed weekends to work and that’s what was available,” he said.
Every day as a nurse has been a fresh opportunity to learn, he said. If it’s not making someone’s life better, it’s learning by the next person you meet and shift you enter, how to better your skills, he said.
“You have to have a lot of resilience to make it in this line of work, especially now more than ever, just to make it through the pandemic without retiring or jumping ship to a different line of work,” Driver said. “A bit of spunk, I guess, is what it takes.”
The US faces a crisis of losing health care workers. There was a national nursing shortage before COVID. About 20 percent of health care workers have left their jobs during the pandemic, according to The Atlantic.
“It just makes it worse, and it does put a strain on the system. A lot of nurses have said it, and now I’m going to say it, we already had problems and COVID just highlighted those problems. Everyone is more aware of what we face and it’s tough. It’s easy to get burned out,” Driver explained.
Driver has never been one to give up. He has a family to support. It’s stubbornness, he said. His resilient nature keeps him going along with a concern for the welfare of others.
He has thought about what he would say to inspire someone considering a nursing career.
“It’s a rewarding career but it’s not for everybody. But for the person who is thinking about going into nursing, I would encourage them to take a low-level job like a CNA before they jump into it, just to see if they really want to be involved in that line of work,” he said.
Certified nurse aides are the backbone of the health care team. Driver has met a variety of people in his career. He was a CNA for two years at a specialized facility in Wetumka for the developmentally disabled.
“It’s still long-term care, but the challenges are more mental than physical,” he said.
Today, he stays busy and has little leisure time. He’s gone back to college to earn a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree at Rogers State University, located in Claremore.
Spare time for Driver is usually spent with his wife or children playing video games. Martial arts intrigue him. Jiu-jitsu is a favorite activity,
“It’s kind of a way to take your mind off things. You pretty much only have one task at hand. You can’t have time to think much of anything else at that moment. The adrenaline rush is good, healthy work,” he said.
For more information visit: https://www.spanishcove.com/ or call 405-354-5906.
