For Brianna Green, BSN, RN, PCCN, JPS Health Network is home. She was born at JPS, her grandmother worked here for 35 years, her mother has been a JPS employee for 27 years, and the many people Green has met over her 13 years at JPS have become more than coworkers; they've become family.
Having the opportunity to follow in the footsteps of her grandmother and mother and serve the JPS community for many years has been comforting to her. Together, the family has served 75 years, and she is more than happy to carry on the legacy of serving the JPS population.
"To work at JPS is to be with family," Green said. "When I started working here, all my mom's friends would call me 'little Ti' because I knew them. It felt like I was visiting relatives I hadn't seen in a while. It's just so comforting. I know I'm in good hands because these are my people. And following in my family's footsteps means I'm serving and giving back to my community. It feels amazing to me."
Multiple factors inspired Green's road to JPS: the legacy of her family, caring for the JPS patient population, and the impact of a nurse who took care of her when she was 16. The kindness and nurturing care the nurse provided gave Green the passion for pursuing a career in nursing.
"I have had patients tell me, 'You're the best!' It feels so good to know that I am impacting their life and giving them something positive and different than just dealing with their diagnosis."
"When I was 16, I got sick, and we didn't know what was wrong with me. I was admitted to JPS, and I had an IV that blew during my hospital stay. I was scared and my arm was swollen, but the nurse was the kindest person. She made me feel safe," Green said. "My mom and dad were there, but my nurse was the one that calmed me. She got me to settle down and gave me a new IV. At that moment, I thought, 'I can do this for others. I'm the oldest of all the grandchildren, so I'm naturally nurturing.' I wanted to be like the nurse that helped me. So here I am."
The nurse's care not only sparked Green's passion for nursing but also gave her a mission to come in to work each day and show patients a brighter side to what they are experiencing. She wants to instill hope.
"As a nurse, you want to make your patients feel good about themselves in dark situations,” Green said. “I want them to feel like I'm not only giving them medical help, but I’m helping them be a better them. That is what I strive to do every day at the bedside. I have had patients tell me, 'You're the best!' It feels so good to know that I am impacting their life and giving them something positive and different than just dealing with their diagnosis."
Although Green loves nursing, her time as a team lead has shown her that she'd like to be in leadership one day, and she hopes to take the skills she's learned from her manager into the next stage of her career.
"Leadership is a goal of mine,” Green said. “I want to be like Patrice Milton, our manager. She's the best example of a leader. If you are looking for a leader to look up to, you have that in Patrice. She talks to you in a way you can understand everything fully, and she listens when there's a problem. She works out solutions with you and makes you feel heard and appreciated. I plan on going back to school to get my master's degree in hopes of becoming a CNO one day, and I want to take those skills with me."