Nurses stick to resolutions

The new year offers a fresh start for area nurses who want to make changes in their lives.

Shawnee Mission Medical Center Emergency Department nurse Diane Amos, RN, said she wants to lose weight before her son’s wedding in June.

Amos joined Slim for Life and got a Wii Fit Plus to help her achieve her goals.

“I have to totally redo my eating habits,” she said.

Amos represents one of several nurses who hope to improve themselves in 2010. Nurses in the Emergency Department at Shawnee Mission Medical Center shared their New Year’s goals with each other. These nurses said by telling one another their resolutions they hope to stick with the lifestyle changes they desire.

“It keeps us from bringing in the junk,” Katherine Humphrey, RN, BSN, said.

Humphrey, a mother of six, hopes to get back into shape this year. Humphrey’s children range in age from 20 months to 15 years. She said her whole family has gotten behind her fitness goal.

Humphrey and her husband purchased a family gym membership at the end of last year. She said she wants to utilize the membership more this year.

Humphrey said she also plans to cook more fresh food and avoid “unnecessary carbs.”

With other nurses sharing similar wellness goals, Humphrey said her resolution seems more attainable.

Carla Colgan, RN, agrees that the extra support will help her achieve her goals.

“We all know that we are trying to eat healthy,” Colgan said.

Colgan has a list of lifestyle changes she said she wants to implement in 2010.

“I want to stop smoking, I want to lose weight, and I want to get in shape,” Colgan said.

For Colgan, the desire to change developed after she saw family members’ health decline.

“In the last year or so there have been a lot of health issues in my family and it really opened my eyes,” Colgan said.

In the context of the health problems she has seen in her family, Colgan said she thinks she’ll be able to achieve her goals.

Amos said she thinks New Year’s resolutions are easier to keep if they are connected to something else in your life. For instance, Amos’ goals are connected to her son’s wedding. With her son’s wedding as motivation, Amos said she hopes to lose 50 pounds by June. Without the wedding as motivation, Amos said the task would be harder.

Olathe Medical Center nurse Rebecca Rose, RN, BSN, hopes to accomplish her goal with her husband.

“Last year I tried my first mini triathlon and I made it,” Rose said. “My goal this year is to improve my time.”

Rose said she and her husband of 31 years try new things together each year.

“That keeps our marriage strong,” she said. “We take turns choosing what we are going to do next.”

Regardless of the New Year’s resolutions, these nurses agree that it helps to have someone with whom you can accomplish your goals.

Colgan said the nurses on her unit are her cheerleaders.

“I never really had that in the past,” she said.

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