story and photo by James Coburn, Staff Writer

Amy Weder helps stop the bleed. Not everyone can say they have a career that saves lives.
“That’s something that when I wake up, I do every day,” Weder said.
She was fresh out of nursing school when setting her course in emergency care. In 2016, she earned her Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree at the Kramer School of Nursing at Oklahoma City University.
“I really liked Kramer. Their professors were great — very engaging — I got to know them quite a bit. I was particularly close to my critical care nurse professor. She’s also an ER nurse, so I learned quite a bit from her,” said Weder, RN, and a trauma control nurse at the University of Oklahoma Medical Center, located on the campus of OU Health Sciences Center in Oklahoma City. (story continues below)

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Her former professor, Dr. Vanessa Wright, is an associate professor and master’s degree program coordinator for the Kramer School of Nursing.
Weder’s aunt is a retired RN who helped to spark Weder’s career by seeing her go on medical mission trips. It was after one of those trips that her aunt returned home and felt something wasn’t right. Her aunt soon learned that she had a brain tumor.
“Everything ended up being fine. But from that moment, she decided it was God’s way of showing her that maybe she shouldn’t be doing more medical mission trips. I have always admired her for that. She has always been someone I can look up to,” Weder said.
Weder wanted to be in a nursing environment that would matter the most during an emergency. She worked on the medical side of the hospital ER from 2016 until 2020 when she transferred to the emergency the Level 1 Trauma Center.
“I was a new nurse with them, and we’ve grown together,” Weder said.
As the only level-1 trauma center in the state, Weder responds to severe emergencies ranging from automobile collisions, stabbings, shootings, falls and assaults. Patients may be the sickest of the sick or were injured in a small fender bender, she said.
“You kind of let them know, ‘Hey this is scary, but we’re here to help you. But we’re here to help you and do what we came for — basically save your life.’ You’re in the best place for it,” Weder explained.
Her response team of nurses are certain to be set-up and adequately stocked for her the next patient entering the trauma center. Bed warmers and rapid transfusion necessities are set. It’s all about being prepared, she said.
The Level 1 Trauma Center is equipped with all types of blood for a quick response.
Weder knows every nurse has an important role in life and admires her team for choosing to be trauma nurses.
“They are my family and best friends,” she continued. “They are people who will always have your back when you need it. When you have a really sick patient, they are always there for you. They’ll stay late for you if we’re busy. You don’t have to worry about them leaving you. Just because their workload is done and it’s 7 p.m. and their time to clock out, they’ll stay and help you for hours.”
It takes time for nurses to build trust. But the trust her coworkers have earned saves lives.
“They are the people I would want to save my life,” she said. “There’s no one else I would better want than them.”
Weder has worked many a night during tornado outbreaks and other types of storms.
She recalled one night when a tornado resulted in several injuries. It was all-hands on deck for the trauma center.
“It may seem like it’s chaos down here, but it’s a well-oiled machine,” she said. “There’s a lot of prioritizing.”
Understandably, Weder said her career as a trauma response nurse has made her a little bit more jaded because people entering the unit are experiencing the worst time of their lives. Some of them tend to lash out.
“A lot of times it’s toward nurses. But then they must put that in the past and recognize this is the worst time of their life and you’re here to help them,” Weder said. “So, I’ve grown quite a bit, just because I’ve had to step out of my own feelings and put someone else first.”
Weder said trauma value having a great career.
“You are going to have some bad times, but you push through it,” she said.