LPN gives her all to patient care
by James Coburn
Staff Writer
Tuscany Village Nursing Center is a place of compassion, said Hausana Kettle, LPN, Tuscany Village Nursing Center, located in Oklahoma City.
“We love our residents,” she said. “We’re big on team work and I just feel like we have a really good core nursing staff as well as the supplementary staff.”
They work together cohesively to provide best practices of care.
Kettle became inspired to work with the elderly when she was a pediatric scrub tech for eight years. She knew a nursing career would be her next step.
“I felt like it would either be with babies or the elderly,” she said.
She earned her LPN training at Platt College in Oklahoma City and has worked at Tuscany Village Nursing Center since it opened in 2010.
“I feel like I’m a very caring, giving person. And that was instilled into me by my grandmother who raised me. And I’ve just always loved to care for people,” Kettle said.
When Kettle was 32 she decided to become a nurse. Her mom had passes when Kettle was a 1-year-old and her grandmother had legal guardianship.
“She had 16 kids of her own,” Kettle said. “And just throughout my entire life I just watched her – even with them as adults – whatever you needed, she was just a caretaker.”
Kettle watched her grandmother and absorbed her fine qualities of care. She felt called to become a nurse. Upon graduating from nursing school, she set her course applying at different places. Tuscany contacted her.
Kettle was told by the director of nursing that she would have preferred a more experienced nurse. But because she had been at her previous job for eight years, she felt that said something about Kettle and wanted to give her a chance. Kettle felt grateful for being hired. Today her DON is Gina Hyde, RN, who calls Kettle her right hand man.
“It’s been about five years and I feel at this point we can look at each other and know what needs to be done. We don’t have to say words. We just work really well together.”
She credits the administrator along with the corporate nurses for taking a chance on her. She began as a charge nurse, progressed in long-term care and moved to skilled nursing. Then they moved her into an MDS position. Today, she is the Quality Assurance nurse.
“I know I’m the nurse that I am because of all of them,” she said.
She monitors infection control, see if there are trends, and monitors if the housekeeping is done properly. She focuses on risk management, including falls, skin care, injuries, bruises among other aspects of care.
Kettle loves her nursing career and wouldn’t do anything else, she said with a smile.
There are many qualities among the residents, she said. “I love that you fall in love with all of them for a different reason,” Kettle said.
One of the resident just turned 90. She visits other residents who seldom venture out of their rooms, Kettle said.
“The residents with dementia, too. You just fall in love with them because they’re like reverting back to the time when they were a baby,” Kettle continued. “It just filled my heart to care for them and make sure that they’re fed and safe and comfortable.”
One resident in particular fills her memory with love. She passed away a few years ago, and Kettle considers her to have been her best friend.
“The minute I would walk in the door her eyes would brighten. We would just talk as real friends,” Kettle said. “There were times when the nurse aides couldn’t get her to do a particular thing. They would have to come and get me, or I would hear her yelling across the building, my name, and I could get her to do whatever it was.”
“The CNAs would be like, ‘Why is she doing it for you?’ And I don’t know why. But I loved her a lot and I miss her a lot.”
Kettle said the CNAs and CMAs have the hardest job in the facility. To see them work on a daily basis by putting their problems aside to focus on patient care is amazing, said Kettle, 40.
“They care for these residents as if they were their own loved ones,” she continued. “It warms my heart and I have a lot of respect for all of them.”
When she’s not on her toes being busy, Kettle loves to cook and read.
“I kind of like to put some music on in the house and sing a little and dance a little. I like to sing a lot as I’m washing the dishes.”
