Four nurses share what it’s like to work in hospitals where frum Jews are few and far between

“I’m known throughout the hospital as ‘the one with six kids,’ ” laughs Tammy, a nurse who specializes in pediatric oncology and bone marrow transplants.

Her workday starts at night. “After the kids are out of school, I’m fully immersed in doing homework with them and talking to them about parshah or their upcoming Chumash tests. I’m there for bath time and dinner time, and then I say goodnight and head out to the hospital.”

As night descends, she leaves the frum bubble and steps into a hospital complex where she’s surrounded by non-Jewish coworkers, many of whom are single and don’t have children.

“You go into a 12-hour shift and you have no idea what’s going to happen,” she says. “You have no idea what type of patients you’ll meet and what state their health is in, or who will be on staff with you that night. It could be the easiest shift ever or one of the hardest experiences you’ve ever had to go through. You just never really know.”

On call for patients of every shade and stripe, hospital nurses interface with patients in their most vulnerable hours. Four nurses share what it’s like to be in the spotlight as the sometimes only frum Jew around, how they balance motherhood when they’re working 12-hour shifts, the challenges in the field of nursing today, and the patients they’ll never forget.

All Types, All Hours

Early on in her career as a labor and delivery nurse, Batsheva worked with a memorable patient, a strong-willed woman who was a busy lawyer expecting her sixth baby. The woman came in determined to give birth that night. “I have a litigation tomorrow that I need to be present for,” she proclaimed matter-of-factly, “and this baby will be born tonight.”

Batsheva tried to convince her that, regardless of the timing, she wouldn’t be at that litigation. “But it was clear she was determined,” Batsheva says.

The woman paced endlessly up and down the halls and did, in fact, give birth that night. “Little did I know this was just the beginning of many memorable births and of interacting with interesting people that I’ve been lucky enough to meet along the way,” says Batsheva.

Nursing in a hospital takes constant adjusting to the people around you. “You meet people from all sorts of backgrounds, some with a very different set of values,” says Reva, another labor and delivery nurse. “And regardless of who they are, you need to take that sense of inner faith within yourself and use it to guide the way you interact with them.”

Reva remembers when an Egyptian couple came into the hospital in the middle of the night. “At 3 a.m. on a quiet hospital floor, I did feel a bit nervous,” she remembers. “Turns out they were friendly, though. I specifically treated them respectfully and kindly, and I was pleasantly surprised when they recognized me as Jewish and told me they love Jews and Israel.”