Army nurse shares his experience

Lt. Col. John Groves, BSN, MSN, CEN, told nursing students at the University of St. Mary’s, Leavenworth, Kan., that they do not have to wait to pursue their career dreams.

“Young nurses can do anything,” Groves said.

Historically, new nursing graduates start on a med/surg floor. But Groves told St. Mary’s nurses not to shy away from the specialties they want to pursue and he shared stories from his experience as an Army nurse.

Groves serves as a head emergency room nurse for the U.S. Army. He spent a year in Iraq from October 2005 to October 2006 and was featured in CNN’s 2006 documentary “Combat Hospital.”

Groves said his time in Iraq renewed his faith in the new generation of nurses.

“These young nurses were very bright,” Groves said. “I was just shocked by how good they were.”

Groves advocates for a collaborative approach between nurses in leadership and those new to the field.

“We’ve heard about nurses eating their young. We really don’t have to do that. It doesn’t do any good,” Groves said.

In Iraq, Groves led a team of nurses in trauma and emergency care. He said the young nurses rose to the challenge.

“Young nursing professionals can do anything they want to,” Groves said. “They’ve multitasked all of their lives.”

In Iraq, Grove said common tasks for his nurses included intubation and putting in central lines and chest tubes.

“We were just learning as we went,” Groves said.

Groves did not talk about his time in Iraq with rose-colored glasses.

He remembers the soldiers whose lives his team could not save, and celebrates the lives they did save.

“Just to survive you have to get in a completely different mindset,” Groves said. “It’s not about us.”

Groves said he remembers one soldier whose left leg and right arm were amputated after he was injured by an improvised explosive device. The patient, Ryan Kules, went to Germany for further treatment before he returned to the U.S.

Groves said he did not expect to see Kules again. But on Oct. 31, 2006, less than one month after Groves had returned to the United States he found Kules on his door step.

Groves’ personnel officer in Ft. Riley, Kan., Kimberly Decker, is good friends with Kules. When Kules found out that Decker knew Groves, one of the nurses who treated him, he set out to meet and thank Groves.

Groves said he will never forget his encounter with Kules.

“You’re going touch lives in this profession that you don’t even know,” Groves said.

St. Mary’s junior Karol Salas said Groves’ message motivated her.

“It was very inspiring,” Salas said.

Salas plans to join the Army after she graduates from St. Mary’s.

“The opportunities they offer are endless and I know I’m not going to be able to get the same training the Army will give me in the civilian world,” Salas said.

But Salas does not plan to wait until she graduates to touch the lives of patients.

Salas, along with junior Chelsea Wilkerson and seniors Laurie Haney and Jenna Bradley will travel to Nicaragua during spring bring on a medical mission trip.

St. Mary’s adjunct faculty member Capt. Konni Hansen, RN, BSN, CCRN, donated her adjunct salary to provide scholarships for these four students to go on the mission trip.

“I knew I wanted to do something,” Hansen said. “When I met Pepper it all fell into place.”

Pepper Tucker directs International Service Learning U.S.A. She organized the trip to Nicaragua.

“I was blown away when (Hansen) said she was going to do this,” Tucker said. “Most of our team members pay their own way.”

The one-week mission trip costs $1,585 per student.

Hansen said the mission trip will be good training for these students whether they choose a career in the military or the civilian world.

“We do a lot of humanitarian work in the military,” Hansen said.

Groves encourages nurses entering the field to give the military a chance. He said nurses will gain experience in the military that they would not gain in other venues.

“They may spend their entire life in the profession and not see those things,” Groves said.

Groves has spoken to a variety of nursing students since he returned from Iraq.

“This talk is as much therapy for me as it is for the people listening,” Groves said.

Returning to a sense of normalcy is a challenge for soldiers of all kinds who come back from war. Groves said sharing his story continues to be therapeutic.

“It’s an ongoing process,” Groves said. “There will be a piece of that experience with me until the day I die.”

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