Photo courtesy of Gwen Crenshaw
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| Gwen
Crenshaw, FNP, RN, COHN-S, who runs a a health clinic
at British Nuclear Fuels Limited, a nuclear facility
undergoing decommission in Oak Ridge, Tenn. , says
former ER nurses adapt best to construction nursing. |
Catherine Snyder never considered steel-toed boots,
safety glasses and a hard hat as essential nursing tools-until
she went to work at a defunct nuclear power plant.
Since 1995, the former maternity and obstetrics nurse
has been ministering to the construction crews tearing
down the Yankee Nuclear Power Station in western Massachusetts.
Working in a tiny clinic on the site, Snyder, RN, OHC
(occupational hearing conservationist), takes care of
emergency and health maintenance needs for about 230
workers, many of them contract laborers who travel around
the country doing demolition and cleanup work.
The plant is outside Rowe, Mass., a town where the
population swells to 360 during the summer. The nearest
hospital is 30 miles away.
Although her work environment may be dirty, noisy and
laced with hazards like asbestos and lead, Snyder, like
other nurses who traded hospital scrubs for a hard hat,
said she loves the variety and challenges. "I think
I've found my niche," she said.
The only downside has been finding a replacement when
she wants to take a vacation. Last year, she could find
a nurse willing to fill in for only three hours a day.
"We were even offering a free B&B," Snyder
said. "This was in October. We thought people would
be into the fall foliage. I wish more nurses would go
into this work."
In many ways, running a clinic on a construction site
is a nurse's dream job: no holiday or weekend shifts,
a chance to develop education programs, independence
and, most importantly, time to get to know the patients.
"People can be here for a few months to several
years, and you can be a part of their lives," Snyder
said. "You can make it what you want. You don't
have to be that involved with your employees, but my
door is always open."
That kind of personal contact is something nurses don't
find in a hospital, said Lynda Moore, NP, RN, COHN-S
(certified occupational health nurse specialist), who
operates the on-site health center at an oil refinery
north of San Francisco.
"Because health care exists the way it does today,
you're lucky to get 15 minutes with your health provider,"
Moore said. Many workers at the Valero Benicia Refinery
have been on the job 30 to 35 years. Moore, who has
worked at the refinery since 1987, said she is able
to deliver better care because she knows the workers
and their medical history.
She likes working independently and if she needs professional
input, Valero has clinics at 10 of its 13 refineries,
and the nurses and nurse practitioners teleconference
regularly. Moore also contracts with a physician who
visits the site for two hours every month.
Like all nurses who work in an industrial setting,
she dons a hard hat, overalls and boots when she walks
around the plant. It's not the kind of work where you
stay inside all day, and the work can sometimes require
a display of bravery. Once, as part of an ergonomics
assessment, Moore climbed a 300-foot vertical ladder
to get an idea of the physical movements involved in
the task.
"It's a whole different way of working to be out
in a blue-collar environment on a daily basis,"
she said.
Such adventurous nursing practice isn't for everyone,
though. Gwen Crenshaw, FNP, RN, COHN-S, who runs a health
clinic at a nuclear facility undergoing decommission
in Oak Ridge, Tenn., said she hired one nurse who worked
for a day and refused to return.
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