“I am a nurse, that is my talent.”
When we think of the talent section of the Miss America pageant, something like this comes to mind:
We certainly don’t expect a touching and emotional story from a woman who is passionate about her job.
But that’s exactly what we got when Miss Colorado Kelley Johnson – a nurse who looks after Alzheimer’s patients – during the segment earlier this week.
You can watch it here:
She finished her monologue about how a patient made her realise she was more than “just a nurse” to resounding applause.
But not everybody was happy with the refreshing display.
The hosts on daytime talk show The View mocked the nurse for wearing a “doctor’s stethoscope” around her neck.
“She basically read her emails out loud and surprisingly did not win,” one host said.
“I swear to God it was hilarious.”
You can watch that here:
And then the backlash began, with nurses and patients sharing their touching stories using the social media hashtags #nursesunite and #just a nurse.
On Facebook, Jessica Green shared her touching story of how “just a nurse” helped her through the traumatic experience of losing a child to a chromosomal disorder.
“Miss Colorado was not wearing a costume, or pretending with her “Doctor’s Stethoscope” around her shoulders; it was a Nurse’s Stethoscope that caught a my daughter’s final heartbeats.
It was #justaNurse who sat and planned her birth with us down to every detail.
It was just a Nurse who lost her own baby and decided to take that pain and use it to support and prepare families facing the same tragedy.
It was just a Nurse that stayed over her shift to cheer me on on the scariest night of my life.
It was just a Nurse who put warm blankets on me when I shook from the adrenaline, and opened up my gown to place my precious little girl on my chest the second she was born.
It was just a Nurse that handed my baby to me, and taught me how to swaddle.
It was just a Nurse that stayed with us and us only because she knew we needed her the most.
It was just a Nurse that asked me what my child’s name was for the first time, it’s Addison Quinn Russell.
It was just a Nurse that helped me give her her first bath.
It was just a Nurse that captured our first, and only family photos.
It was just a Nurse that cried with us when we had say goodbye to give our baby up forever.
It was just a Nurse that made me feel like a real mother, and treated my child like their own.
It was just many Nurses that got so emotionally invested with our baby, they know her by name still.
It was Nurses that gave my grief a launching pad to build myself back up on.
It was just a bunch of Nurses that made it their personal mission to make our families worst day the most beautiful too.If you’ve ever doubted the blood sweat and tears it takes to become a nurse I beg you to look at the millions of lives touched by them. Nurses are not glorified waitresses, or people who just wanted to be Doctors but couldn’t. Nurses do not work for Doctors, they work with them, along side them. No Doctor could rise to glory without standing on the backs of the nurses on the floor doing the real living breathing dirty healthcare.
A Nurse is never “just” anything, but amazing.”
Sponsors have pulled their ads from the show and The View hosts have made a grovelling apology, saying they didn’t know Miss Colorado was actually a nurse.
Ms Johnson told Ellen DeGeneres she did the monologue because she wanted to be herself.
“I am a nurse, that is my talent,” she told DeGeneres today on her show, Ellen.
And it’s a bloody great one too.
(For those playing at home, Miss Georgia took out the title. Miss Colorado came second runner-up – that’s a confusing way of saying third).
Top Comments
Noting how demeaning beauty pageants are to women why on Earth did this female COMPETE? Is she NOT a feminist?
Rhett: Who are we to judge whether she competes or not? To say that she shouldn't is oppressive.
Well I'm just a nurse, about to finish a Law degree. I know that I've saved lives, I know that in law, I won't do that any more, not in the direct way that I have in the past. I've also helped with the end of life. I occasionally wore a stethoscope, but I've was a nurse long enough that mine is broken, and I borrow from a doctor when I need one. People ask me why I never did medicine. The answer is: doctors work too hard, like nurses work too hard, and I don't want to end up with a completely useless back.
Nurses are horribly oppressed by society. There is a constant push, especially when the LNP is in power in the state, to reduce the number of Registered Nurses on the wards, because we're expensive, and highly skilled, and the men with blue ties just don't understand this. There are so many factors that play into this, from having a large portion of women of colour filling out our nursing workforce, to the internalised misogyny that plagues every ward that I've ever worked in. Yes, nurses eat their young. I am leaving nursing for a reason, not a small part being tall poppy syndrome, but also, I watched sensitive young people being traumatised on a daily basis. Even the big hospitals don't give you a debrief when your patient suddenly dies. Or give to time off to attend the funeral of a patient you cared for for 3 years.
The problem with The View is that they have just re-enforced the stereotype of the dumb nurse, and played off the ignorance of society, indirectly accusing her of being "uppity". It is oppressive, it is offensive, and certainly needs to be called out. Thank you Mamamia.