February 22nd, 2012
By Jennifer Olin, BSN, RN
I first met Andrew Lopez, RN, when the Amanda Trujillo story broke out in Arizona. He was one of the first nurse bloggers to run with the story on Facebook and Twitter. In short order, a group of nurse-writers gathered together on line and adopted Trujillo’s fight as their own. I don’t think anyone in that group would disagree that Lopez is one of the ringleaders of this band of RNs out to right Trujillo’s wrong and hopefully bring some changes to nursing: how we see ourselves, how we are seen and how our professional organizations represent and stand up for us.
Andrew, you have been so passionate about Amanda’s case since the first minute anyone heard about it, and you continue to stay at the forefront of the effort to help her…why is this so important to you?
”With Amanda, I continue to help because I'm in a position where I can. Am I a ringleader because I'm around, because I contribute my time, efforts? If that qualifies me, then yes, I'll accept the role.
”Amanda is in a difficult spot. She is there because she advocated for a patient and the doctor didn't like it. He decided to destroy her career, he was so upset. Her employer, Banner Del E. Webb Medical Center went right along with it. They even filed the charges with the Arizona State Board of Nursing, as the doctor requested. Amanda, for the first ten months of her ordeal, had no support.
”Her situation is wrong on so many levels. It is something I've seen repeatedly in my Nursing career and often felt powerless to do anything about. It is empowering to be able to act on Amanda's behalf and have a group of like-minded nurses with the same mission. Together we can do some serious damage to the powers that be. It is almost worth the risks that we each take by getting involved.
”Since we received her initial call for help, we've had a consistent stream of dedicated, enthusiastic and supportive nurses willing to help. It is a very good feeling to be fighting for something you believe in. It is one thing to "Save the Whales" it is another to fight a war that can significantly improve not just one nurse’s life, but hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands.”
We’ve established you are a revolutionary, rabble-rouser and ringleader….how did you get here? Tell me about becoming a nurse.
”From the beginning I was attracted to the health sciences. I liked biology, psychology, wanted to be in a helping profession. Went to school to be a laboratory technician, got a four-year degree in it. While doing clinicals I found my favorite part of the day was the patient contact I had at 5 a.m. every day drawing labs. While I was doing phlebotomy, got to see and talk to the nurses on the floors. I saw what they were doing and caught the nursing bug.
”Nursing school was two years including pre-requisites. The hospital where I was working had a school of nursing on site. I could work, go to school, and live in the dorms, it was perfect for me. I signed up for an accelerated program using my laboratory degree credits and was a nurse inside of two years. I’ve been a nurse for 14 years now.”
Please click on the "VIA" link to read the full article.
Thank you so much to Jennifer Olin, BSN RN for the opportunity to interview.
I support Amanda Trujillo, RN - For more information, please visit http://www.nurseup.com
Sincerely,
Andrew Lopez, RN
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