NEW EMPLOYEE SERVES DETOX CLIENTS
It was a challenging client group.“Some of the clients just wanted to come in and do what is required for the program, instead of realizing we were there to help them, that we genuinely cared about the community.” “A number of them were court-ordered to be there, but we did have a group who genuinely wanted to get help. And, we did have a few patients who were still actively using while attending our program, although it was frowned upon.” Developing a rapport Working in that program, Dower-Wilson says she developed an important skill: developing personal rapport with patients. “The main issue for a lot of these women was a lack of support at home and in the community. We would see them every day, and provide them the support they lacked; we became almost like a family.” In working with addicted clients, she also learned the importance of taking a non-judgemental approach. “You don't have to take a hard line with everyone. Some people don't learn that way; with some people you have to take a gentler approach and not judge everyone by their addiction. In all facets of health care, the number one thing you have to have in nursing is a nurturing spirit.”
Kelly Dower-Wilson joined the staff at Eva Life Giver about two years ago, as a lab technician and nurse in the outpatient treatment program. Her position combines her longstanding interest in addiction treatment with her prior experience as a nurse and tech. Growing up in northeast Baltimore, Dower-Wilson chose nursing as a career while still in high school and later became a certi ed nursing assistant, working in several medical specialty areas. She credits an older cousin for sparking her interest in addiction treatment and recovery, as a youngster. “My cousin had dealt with addiction; he took me with him to Narcotics Anonymous meetings and counseling sessions as a sort-of 'scared straight' type of thing. I got to see the downside of addiction rst-hand.” Seeing her cousin, who has been clean and sober for more than 15 years, has been an inspiration and proof that recovery does work, Dower-Wilson says. Dower-Wilson took her rst nursing assistant job right out of high school in 2000, in a unique setting: a program for drug-addicted, expectant mothers at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center. At the time, the Center For Addiction and Pregnancy was a new program and badly needed in the city of Baltimore. “The heroin epidemic had hit really hard in the city,” Dower-Wilson recalls. “There were a lot of very young, pregnant women coming through our program, mainly low income.”
“THE NUMBER ONE THING YOU HAVE TO HAVE IN NURSING IS A NURTURING SPIRIT.” – Kelly Dower-Wilson, technician, Eva Life Giver
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