Hospice RN Daniel McCarthy Explains Why He Loves Being a Nurse in Univision 41 Story
English Transcript:
HOST #1: It’s 05:12 a.m. Thank you so much for being with us today. Very soon, there’ll be a shortage of 40,000 nurses for the patients of the State of New York, which means right now it’s a good day to start studying to become a healthcare professional.
HOST #2: That’s right. And due to the lack of staff crisis, there are new incentives to go to nursing school. Alejandro Condis talked to one local nurse today.
DANIEL: *Singing* I’d like to be a fish to put my nose against your fishbowl…
REPORTER: With the same melodies as this hospice nurse attends to his patients…
DANIEL: *Singing* I don’t know how to forget…
REPORTER: I met Daniel McCarthy.
DANIEL IS IDENTIFIED ON SCREEN AS A VNS HEALTH RN
DANIEL: I sing to the patients to cheer them up in their last moments, especially the ones who don’t understand English and many times can’t always communicate due to their health.
REPORTER: Daniel takes care of the elderly who are on hospice care, that is, in the final stretch of their lives…
DANIEL: *Singing* I gave you the best of my life, my dreams, and my hopes…
REPORTER: …with love and songs.
DANIEL: I had a patient, an elderly woman who had Alzheimer’s, and I started singing or humming to her, and she started singing with me. And she sang the whole song, from beginning to end. And her daughter started crying, she said, “Thank you, sir, those are the first words that came out of my mother’s mouth in months.”
REPORTER: Daniel usually moves around Manhattan by subway or walking, driven by his passion for helping others.
DANIEL: This backpack I have here is my office.
REPORTER: But he is worried that are fewer and fewer like him.
DANIEL: There is a scarcity of nurses, not only here in New York, but all around the world.
REPORTER: In fact, the New York State Department of Health foresees that the situation will worsen and that by the year 2030, the State will face a shortage of almost 40,000 nurses, a problem that might jeopardize our health system.
DANIEL: We could have more people reaching out to high school students to teach them early on that this is a great career.
REPORTER: With the growing Hispanic community in the Big Apple, bilingual nurses like Daniel are needed more than ever. That’s why he decided to learn Spanish. And even though wages, benefits, and overload from the workforce shortage can be issues, all can agree that it is a very gratifying task and a very important job in society. Dr. Sandra Maldonado teaches future nurses at the City University of New York.
Dr. MALDONADO: The best thing is the affection we give our patients.
REPORTER: She says the nursing career can be expensive, but that there is a lot of support available out there.
Dr. MALDONADO: …there are fellowships. And we also have the National Association of Hispanic Nurses, and we also have financial aid for the students to apply for.
REPORTER: Daniel hopes many will heed the call and join him in working as happily as he does.
DANIEL: *Singing* I can’t forget what it was…
REPORTER: Alejandro Condis for Univision 41.
