May 14, 2002 Matt Nielsen, One of Our Young Citizens Profession gets timely recognition as 'lifeline of patient' By JAMIE LAMPROS Standard-Examiner correspondent OGDEN - Matt Nielsen anxiously waits by the door when he knows Tracie Wecker is coming to see him. The 9-year-old has Down syndrome and suffers from a brain and spinal cord tumor. Because he needs round-the-clock care, a team of nurses comes to his home and watches over him. Wecker is the case manager and nurse who comes to examine him every three months. "He absolutely loves her," said Matt's mother, MeLisa. "She is so bubbly and personable with him and I think what he really likes about her the best is that she talks to him and not to me while she's doing the exam and she always calls him honey," she said. Wecker is a nurse and case worker for Intermountain Health Care's pediatric home care unit. Her supervisor, Juliann Rich, said she is an asset to the nursing community. "She is so supportive of the children and she has a wonderful knowledge of medicines and procedures. We're lucky to have her," Rich said. While Wecker cares for children, another nurse, Martha Oberly, cares for cancer patients at McKay-Dee Hospital. For the past 28 years Oberly has been a main lifeline for her patients. Serving as care giver, communicator and emotional supporter, Oberly has nursed people back to health in Utah and California. "I wouldn't trade it for anything," Oberly said. "I love the patient care more than anything else about the job. Getting involved with them and their family, spiritually and emotionally, is so important to me." Oberly and Wecker are not alone. Last week was National Nurses Week where thousands of nurses nationwide were recognized for their patient care. But remembering nurses one week out of the year isn't enough, said Bill Sartain, consultant for the Utah Nurses Association in Salt Lake City. "These are highly skilled and well-educated people who are literally the lifeline of the patient," he said. "When you go to the hospital a nurse is the first person you're going to see. They carry out the orders, give the medication and stay with the patient the majority of the time. You will never see a nurse walk away from a patient and we need to salute them for that." Sartain said while nurses are the key communicators between doctor and patient, the nursing shortage is still a reality. "It's a real and rapidly growing crisis. There are only 592 nurses per 100,000 pop- ulation with a decline of 6.3 percent since 1996. That's very disturbing," he said. Sartain also said that Utah ranks third nationally in the severity of shortages. He said not enough faculty members is one cause for the problem. "It's a critical and important issue here, but we can't point fingers at anyone. We shouldn't play the blame game. We just need to join together and solve the problem," Sartain said. National Nurses Week runs from May 6-12, the birthday of Florence Nightingale, founder of nursing as a modern profession. "It's a wonderful and diverse profession where you can really expand," Oberly said. "The demands and stress can run high, but you can't replace the relationships you build with your patients and their families." Travis Thompsen Receives Eagle Scout Award May 2002 Thompsen Travis Thompsen, 17, Troop 43, Marriott LDS Ward. A son of Dale and Janice Thompsen of Marriott-Slaterville, he is a senior at Fremont High School. 121