This picture was taken in January 2020, just a few weeks after I retired from 32 years as a working bedside nurse. Well, let’s not say “retired”, let’s say I finally quit my job to pursue my business full time. In this picture I am finally in my happy place, my own office, my own business I built from the ground up, brick by brick for over the last decade. It wasn’t easy and I was tired, I was recovering from Chiari Malformation surgery 7 months earlier. I always fight to emerge in eloquence, but soon after this moment the Covid-19 pandemic would push me to pivot, and then pivot again. Should I scrap this entrepreneur idea and rush back into hospital nursing? Did I make a mistake? Should I include all of this in my Bio? Yes, I’ll include it. If you do business with me, when you hear me speak or I am battling for you, you’ll have a clearer picture of who I am and why I’m doing this.

Writing your own bio is not easy. How do you summarize your life’s work and explain who you are? I tried to write an encyclopedic version of my career with an air-brushed picture, but I had writer’s block for weeks. Then I remembered one of my smartest maneuvers many years ago: changing encyclopedic versions of a culture or an illness into “Tell Me Your Story”. Tell Me, Nurse Dina, and tell the world so you will be heard. Your Story: what happened, how you got here, why you may react the way you do. So here is My Story.

I earned my Associates Degree in Nursing from Monterey Peninsula College in 1988. I felt “called” to nursing. I wanted to help people, and having a flexible hospital schedule sounded really cool. Back then my waitress and beach bum friends were making as much money as nurses, no one went into nursing for the money, but some people do these days. I worked my way through college, starting as a housekeeper in the tiniest nursing home in town and I was proud to work my way up to nursing assistant. This early experience is why I have always and will always remain committed to respectful treatment of those in supportive roles, the backbone of the healthcare system.

About My Work

My first job with my new RN license was in a small independent hospital in a small coastal California town. From the beginning I knew that HandsOn bedside care was where I wanted to stay in my career. I tried a few administrative roles but it wasn’t my “thing”, I have always been drawn back to the bedside and I even wrote a paper with that title. I started on a basic “med-surg” unit and secured a solid foundation in basic nursing skills. Within 2 years I achieved my dream of becoming an ER nurse, and 2 years later I landed an ICU job and stayed there for 21 years. In 2013 I made a difficult decision to leave the hospital and move into home health nursing where I stayed for 7 years, and during this time I opened my brick-and-mortar office for Nurse Advocate Associates and added The Lymphatic Whisperer practice. How’s that for 32 years in a nutshell!

Back in the “1900’s”, in my early days of nursing, we were taught that a Nurse’s primary role was that of Advocate and it was equal to all other RN responsibilities. Advocating meant risking your job if necessary to protect a patient. That message struck a nerve and stayed in my heart, becoming part of my idealism, my mission. To me, it was the ultimate justice for those who were helpless. Medical Justice, that’s what I started calling it. I had a front row view of the struggle and I could be a HandsOn part of the solution. Spreading this mission to grassroots caregivers around the world gave birth to my HandsOn Global Health Systems humanitarian mission.

As the years progressed in my career, I saw this traditional role of nursing lose priority in the fast changing healthcare industry of the early 2000’s. In keeping with my values, I spoke up when I could and I became active in maintaining the voice and power of the bedside nurse. During this time I wrestled with debilitating headaches and had to spend a lot of time resting, which I hated. Someone said to me, “keep your mind active while your body rests”, wise advice which I will also give to you when you are ill. So I bought myself a laptop and started studying the changes I was seeing in my industry. By 2009 Nurse Advocate Associates was born.

During this time period, early 2000’s, I coped with the industry changes by getting actively involved. I chaired a Diversity Council and brought to life cultural issues in bedside decisions. I conceived of and assembled a team which became Hospital Acquired Pneumonia Prevention Initiative. I helped someone win a legal case and tasted Medical Justice. I dabbled in Political Lobbying and started showing up at the State Capitol for events. I discovered Integrative Medicine and Consumer Demand. I began seeing the effects of legislation, corporations, investors, and layers and layers between me and my patients. This was when I started saying, “Corporate Healthcare”. This was when I made a decision to bring my expertise to the marketplace as an entrepreneur. One of my colleagues wanted to cope with the changes by going back to school and getting away from the bedside stress. I thought to myself, “what happens to beside care if everyone decides to leave?”

I decided that my profession needed to preserve the respect for bedside nurses, advanced degree or not, working together toward a common goal would be the best medicine for our patients, our industry, our planet. This was when I started reaching out to administrators and educators to join me at the bedside.

About My Mission

It is never my goal to disparage the healthcare industry. It is always my goal to collaborate and navigate through the reality of the health system you have in front of you: your country, your local environment, your support system, your insurance (or not), your socioeconomics, your beliefs, your abilities. The current healthcare debate must intersect the reality of medical debt, medical disparities and medical justice. Many times we get lost here, not knowing the language or the highways, probably how I would feel if I traveled to India (on my bucket list).

As an integrative medicine practitioner, I have clients talk to me about their various health practices and beliefs, ranging from complete distrust of the medical industry to complete distrust in alternative health systems. I encourage you to consider both sides, that is probably what you’re doing anyway. There is fraud or healing on both sides, so beware and get help making decisions if you’re not sure.

In keeping with my humanitarian mission, I maintain a non-partisan stance but human health always come first. I have people from all corners of society come to me weary and frustrated, trying to secure their best care. I do not judge but I am looking for justice.

Let me help you. Let’s at least try. Let’s walk together, let’s do this together. It isn’t unusual to need help navigating the health system or building a team out of the health systems around you. Walk with me and transform your health and the healthcare industry, one breath and one person at a time. It may be necessary to change things one healthcare legislation at a time, I’m all in.

Everyone has a part in the healthcare system or health systems. Patients or practitioners, I’ve been both, we all have an experience to be heard and used for good in the world. Tell me your story, I’m ready for all of it. This is my experience, my voice.

Let’s go. I can help you.

Sincerely,

Nurse Dina