By ALI OVERSTREET

Reporter

(WARRENSBURG, Mo., digitalBURG) — It was a cold, winter morning at the Morningside Center long-term care facility in Chillicothe, Missouri and by 2:30 a.m. Cheyenne McBee was half an hour away from her shift ending. That night, she was working with roughly 30 residents, but one in particular was showing signs of passing away at any time.

The resident was a 95-year-old woman who lived in the facility with her husband of 75 years. McBee said the woman had a lot of love in her life, not only from her husband, children and grandchildren, but from the facility workers and nurses she encountered in her time at Morningside.

“I had given care to her for over a year, and when I noticed her mottling, which is an early sign of death, I knew she only had a matter of time left,” McBee said.

McBee, a sophomore nursing major, performed a set of vitals every 30 minutes until she found no pulse on the third round. That’s when McBee said the reality of the situation hit her. She went into autopilot mode and began post-mortem care. This includes: a bed bath, the changing of clothes and other procedures to prepare for the coroner.

“I have a lot of classes with Cheyenne and when she told me this story it really made me think. I tried to put myself in her shoes and think how I would handle the situation emotionally,” junior Kelsey Russell said.

McBee said this particular case hit her hard. It had her questioning why she would even want to be a nurse in the first place.

“Why would I want to pursue a career in this field if this is something that happens?” McBee said. “And one day when I’m in a hospital, what if it’s a child?”

Just as these thoughts flew through McBee’s mind, the resident’s husband approached her in the hallway.

“I’ll never forget it. He grabbed my hand and had tears streaming down his face,” Mcbee said. “He told me how thankful he was that I had taken such good care of his wife. He told me how I treated her with the best care that I was capable of and that he would be eternally grateful. That’s when I knew, that’s when it hit me that this is why I do it, this is why I’m chasing the career that I am, for moments like these.”

This wouldn’t be the first post-mortem case McBee would work. She said she now understands it’s part of the job. At the same time, she said there are truly meaningful and rewarding aspects in a nursing career.

“It’s a powerful feeling knowing that you are someone that has cared for a patient or resident until their last few moments on this Earth,” McBee said.

McBee continues to take steps in furthering her career. Her job at Morningside is during the summer and she currently works as an in-home nurse for a Warrensburg man.

McBee said she looks forward to her future. She said her passion for human health motivates her to strive for success in nursing. She said her goal is to work in a well-established hospital and leave positive impressions on the lives she touches on her journey.

“I want to take advantage of every opportunity that I can to develop the skills and gain all the necessary experience I need to be a great nurse,” McBee said.