There are many joys and rewards of nursing, along with many challenges and hard work.
My work at The Resource Center for Pregnancy and STD Support (TRC) has offered all of those. The joy I experience when our client visualizes her baby and its heartbeat for the first time is immense. The reward in going the extra mile to provide the resources needed for them to parent is unparalleled.
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Challenges come with learning to use my advising and ultrasound skills to encourage and empower a client that she can do it - an abortion does not have to be her option.
It’s hard work to establish a unified team that is adept as well as compassionate in our mission to serve women in crisis. The APRN (Abortion Pill Rescue® Network) nursing team takes these attributes to a higher level.
When I get the text or phone call from the APR hotline RN, the adrenaline rush begins and I step into emergency mode, not unlike hearing Code Blue announced in a hospital setting.
Our team here at TRC moves quickly into action.
Our medical director is the first to be notified and he is readily available to meet our client, answer all her questions and refer her to the appropriate OB provider.
Our staff is also ready to join us to attend to the logistics of opening the center, sending a text out to our 400+ prayer warriors, and being available to provide supportive resources.
When a woman enters our center frightened, anxious and guilt-ridden because she took the first abortion pill, we have the gift through the APRN to be able to provide her with lifesaving medication for her child.
Our medical director equates this to “doing a swift water rescue where a chain of people links arms together to rescue someone out of a swift current.” We all feel that there is nothing more important than rescuing a precious life being swept away by swiftly administering medication.
On Sanctity of Human Life Sunday, because of a counselor standing outside an abortion clinic distributing APR information, a couple called the APR hotline number and we all linked arms to embrace them with love, compassion, and the lifesaving protocol to rescue their baby.
We were so joyful and relieved to receive a phone call from another recent client expressing her thanks for “saving my baby” who is due to arrive in May.
I am also thankful when I hear reports of such gratitude even when the reversal failed. Being available for women as they await the outcome and providing support, encouragement, and practical advice is rewarding to me and so appreciated by them.
A recent client, after learning that her pregnancy test was negative on her follow-up appointment with her doctor, stated “I appreciate you and all the ladies I have in my corner through this entire situation. Thank you so much!”
Here at TRC we have been involved with the APRN since 2015, and we have two RNs on call for the network.
I attended Dr. George Delgado’s presentation at the Heartbeat International Conference. I knew right away that we should be a part of this. Our executive director and I presented it at our Medical Advisory Board meeting and one doctor stepped up immediately to support us.
We have participated in seven reversals and assisted with two others. We have had one set of twin boys, one beautiful girl and are awaiting the births of two more babies.
The sidewalk counselors, APR hotline staff, our prayer warriors, medical staff, volunteers, and supporters will continue to form the links in the chain to rescue the lives of babies and their mothers! For me there is no higher calling or greater joy!
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Editor's note: Cindy Amos has been the nurse manager for The Resource Center for Pregnancy and STD Support in Greeley, CO for 14 years. She has 46 years of nursing experience with 40 of that on a medical-surgical-telemetry unit. She began volunteering for TRC after hearing the center’s executive director speak for the women's group at her church. About the same time, Amos had the pleasure of seeing her first grandson on an ultrasound at 20 weeks and remembers leaving that appointment in awe and whispering to God, "I would like to do that someday!" Amos says at TRC they are thankful to be available for women who have taken the first abortion pill 24/7. Heartbeat International manages the Abortion Pill Rescue® Network and Pregnancy Help News. National Nurses Week is observed each year from May 6-12. Pregnancy Help News extends greetings and gratitude to all nurses for their service to others through the healthcare profession.
