GRAND RAPIDS, Mich — This week marked National Nurses Week, which honors those in the medical field who give their time to help others.
For the past two years, one woman in Grand Rapids has been working as a nurse tech at Mary Free Bed, a dream that wasn't easy to make come true.
After contracting meningitis when she was just a year old, Olga Conens lost her hearing. On top of that struggle also came the challenge of learning English, after coming to the U.S. from Russia when she was just 9-years-old.
"With the grade school until sixth grade, I attended the special specialized education for hearing impaired, and that's where they taught me to work with speech," said Conens. "That was the perfect place they put me in to kind of teach me English. On top of my hearing loss, it was really difficult."
What was also difficult for Olga, who as a child dreamed of being a nurse, was being supported by those closest to her.
"My mother is preventing me from becoming a nurse because of hearing impairments. I asked her if I could be a nurse, and she says, 'I know all that you can't. Do you have to use a stethoscope?' and 'It's not going to work,'" Conens told FOX 17.
But, Olga has made it work.
After trying out other fields like fashion design and even accounting, she went for her passion and was trained as a nurse tech.
"I like to call myself muscle lady. You know, hopefully with the transfer and a lot of time, you know, I would get them prepared and ready for for therapy," says Conens. "I'm responsible for making sure they have their meals, have their showers, anything they need, daily things small things to get through the day. I'm there to help them."
And when it comes to some challenges on the job, such as using a stethoscope, Conens says her colleagues at Mary Free Bed are quick to lend a hand.
"Luckily, Mary Free Bed, they are quite understanding. So anytime the patient needs to have a vital, the blood pressure, I can't do that. They're happy to take over and do it for me, and I say 'I'm sorry, I'm deaf, I can't do this'. And they laugh about it, they'll do it," joked Conens.
In addition to nursing, Conens is also a married mom of four and an artist. Some of her works are currently on display at Trinity Lutheran Church in Grand Rapids.
You can check out more of her artwork here.
