"Patty Wooten -- Nurse Healer"

I was born in Springfield, Illinois about a year after my father returned from World War II. We moved to the San Francisco Bay Area when I was a small baby and I have lived in California ever since. I remember daydreaming about becoming a nurse when I was in the fifth grade. I chose nursing for many reasons: a desire to help people, an interest in science, especially physiology, but perhaps the strongest reason was I wanted people to "need" me. I grew up in a severely dysfunctional family. My father was an alcoholic and my mother was a perfect codependent. My brother and I were disciplined severely and often in a manner that was physically abusive. To cope, I became an overachiever to gain my parents approval and a "class clown" to gain attention and affection at school. Little did I know that this "clowning around" would later turn into a career.

I entered the University of California at Berkeley in 1964 to begin my journey toward a Bachelor's of Science degree in Nursing. After three years of pre nursing study, I entered UCSF Medical Center School of Nursing. It was exciting to study nursing in a large medical center where access to scientific information was readily available. We also had clinical experience in diverse hospitals around San Francisco, and cared for patients from many different cultures and religions. But perhaps the most valuable attribute I gained from my nursing education was the awareness, skill and motivation to become a "change agent". We were encouraged to assess the adequacy of the "care environment" and to create the changes necessary to improve the quality of care.

I began my career in what I believed was the most powerful setting for a nurse, the critical care unit. My first job was at Los Angeles County Hospital in the Cardiac Surgery Intensive Care Unit. This high paced, high tech environment proved to be quite a challenge for a theoretically competent but skill deficient new grad. I believed that these technical skills would make me a better nurse. I later learned that while they certainly made me more efficient and comfortable in completing my job expectations, that "real nursing" and true healing involved much more than manipulating tubes and administering drugs.

After about a year in the ICU, I decided to apply my nursing skills in a less technical setting, I transferred to the Health Department and became a public health nurse, in Watts. As you can see by now, I tend to be a "drama queen". I love a challenge and the chance to develop new skills. Educating and motivating indigent patients certainly was challenging, but also very enlightening. I began to understand those nursing school lectures about psycho-social-cultural factors and their impact on health care delivery. I started to believe that powerful nursing care involved so much more that drugs and equipment, it was also an interpersonal and communication skill.

It was about this time that I became pregnant, and the man I'd married in nursing school decided we should move back to the S.F. bay area. We moved back and I began a part time job as an ICU nurse at Alameda Hospital, a small community hospital. I was ready to take a break a from challenge and drama for a while, unfortunately (or perhaps not so unfortunately) God had other plans for me. About three months after our son was born, my husband of five years decided to leave the marriage and filed for divorce. I was devastated. Dreams of a life lived "happily everafter" were destroyed. I became depressed. About six months later I moved to San Diego with my son, to begin my life all over, however without my friends, I was even lonelier. My life felt as though it had gone from bad to worse. I was in desperate need of a healing, for my body, mind and spirit. It was at this low point, that I heard a radio ad about clown school and I decided to enroll in the evening classes offered through San Diego State University. I received a powerful healing. I learned to laugh again, I learned to play again, I learned that I had a choice of how I perceived my reality. I could look at it directly and see only the overwhelming tragedy, or I could shift my perspective and also notice some of the delightful, amusing and absurd moments in my life. Being a clown gave me some respite "time out" from the serious and tragic aspects of my life. As a clown, my entire focus was to create comedy and find delight in each moment, with every person. Clowns are innocent and trusting and I was able to relearn those qualities through my clown characters. Even after I took off my greasepaint, my newly awakened "inner clown" continued to help me find fun and folly in my life, and encouraged me to frolic and play. I began to heal from the emotional trauma of my divorce and childhood.

Healing is about finding balance and wholeness. We must balance work and play, rest and activity, social and alone time, introspection and productive action. We acknowledge our wholeness when we accept that our life-force encompasses body, mind and spirit . Optimum health blends our physical, mental and emotional energies into an integrated system. A nurse healer, will support, encourage, and facilitate the blending and balancing of body, mind and spirit.

I have chosen to express my healing energy through humor and laughter as both an educator and an entertainer. My "Jest for the Health of It!" workshops are designed to teach nurses and patients how to bring the gift of laughter to themselves and each other during stressful encounters. I consult with hospitals, clinics and home health agencies to help them establish humor programs for patients and staff. As the president of the American Association for Therapeutic Humor, I network with other health professionals and establish guidelines and resources for practical humor applications to be applied in a variety of therapeutic modalities. As a full time professional speaker, expressing myself verbally came easily, but learning to write was a challenge. After taking a few writing courses and finding excellent editors, I have learned the power of the pen. The Journal of Nursing Jocularity (a quarterly humor magazine for nurses) has provided an opportunity to write a regular column, featured in each issue. I have also edited Heart, Humor and Healing. a book of inspirational quotes and funny stories. My latest book, Compassionate Laughter- Jest for Your Health, is a textbook and guidebook for health care professionals and family caregivers, to help them bring the healing power of humor into their care plans. My two nurse-clown characters, "Nancy Nurse" and "Nurse Kindheart" bring the opportunity for laughter to nurses and patients. Nancy is a wild and wacky clown who helps nurses laugh at themselves and their situation. Nurse Kindheart is a gentle and whimsical clown who helps patients and their families find moments of delight and a humorous perspective on their problems.

If you were to ask me for advise about what is needed to become a nurse healer, I would say PASSION and SENSITIVITY. You must have a strong passion for whatever medium you choose to express your healing efforts. You must believe in its power and effectiveness with your whole heart and soul. This passionate energy, will stimulate you to learn, grow and increase your skill level. Passion will be necessary to help you withstand those who doubt your work or challenge your right or ability to do it. Next, you must be sensitive; sensitive to your patient and to yourself. Let your sensitivity guide how you implement your healing modality and especially how you assess its effectiveness. Passion without sensitivity may cause you to overwhelm the patient with your needs and beliefs without providing opportunity for them to discover or express their own inner awareness. Be sensitive to yourself and your energy levels. Sometimes in our passion to share, we may ignore internal signals that remind us of the need for rest and renewal. And always remember to maintain your sense of humor. Notice how easily your laughter bubbles up (or doesn't). Seek opportunities to laugh, either through friends, cartoons, comedians, playing with children or simply by musing about the day and looking for humorous moments. Let me leave you with this short poem by Serene West, who expresses my beliefs so succinctly.

Laughter is a melody, A concert from the heart, A tickling by the angels, Creative, living art. Laughter heals and comforts, Sometimes gentle, sometimes bold. Laughter is a healing dance, Performed within the soul.

The above article was first published as a chapter in Lynn Keegan's book,  Profiles of Nurse Healers   (1997, Delmar Publishers)  available from Amazon.com. [Sample pages of that book are also available there.]