The Channels

Issue date: 3/12/08 Section: Features

Media Credit: Kelly Grabianowski Nursing student Danielle Cole checks her pulse. Cole had open-heart surgery for a heart murmur when she was 17. Her ordeal inspired her to be come a nurse.

A nurse hooks an IV to a patient as he complains of crushing chest pains. Emergency Medical Technicians rush past the masses, disappearing into a long florescent corridor. Doctors escape rooms wiping sweat from their brow, before heading into another.

This is the emergency room at Santa Barbara's Cottage Hospital. For City College student Danielle Cole, this is where she has worked, slept, wept and eaten for the past four years.

"[Becoming a nurse] is hard work," said the 24-year old. "But every day, there's something new and I love it!"

Cole didn't always want to become a nurse. Seven years ago, Cole received news that she had a . While in the University of California, San Francisco emergency room having a routine operation, surgeons were forced to do emergency open-heart surgery.

For the six weeks following, Cole was confined to her bedroom that became filled with flowers, balloons, and stuffed bears.

"Danielle was the best trooper you could imagine," said Cole's mother, Kathy. "I believe strongly that because of what she endured and overcame, she will have more empathy for her patients than most RN's."

After her surgery, Cole said she was motivated to become a nurse.

"This quote [from Hellen Keller] reminds me of Danielle," said Jackie Williams, a student in nursing school with Cole. " 'If you keep your face to the sunshine, you cannot see your shadow.' Everything she does she does with optimism."

If nursing school wasn't keeping her busy enough, Cole spends a considerable amount of time volunteering. She worked as a camp counselor at Camp Del Corazon last year, a camp for children with heart disease on Catalina Island. Cole said was one of the most fulfilling experiences of her life.

"Seeing a smile on every child who may have never had the chance to ride a horse, climb a rock wall, and develop friendships was amazing," she said. "They're able to let loose and be free."

She also volunteered for Aeromedicos, which Cole said is a group of medical workers who go to remote locations in Mexico once a month to provide medical and dental care to underprivileged villages.

Even at her age, she is seen as somewhat of a mentor in the hospital. She won the Staff Excellence award at Cottage Hospital in 2007.

"I have worked with Danielle for two years," said co-worker and registered nurse Geremy McGee. "I am still impressed with the amount of enthusiasm, compassion, and caring she brings to work every single day. She is one of the hardest working people in the emergency room."

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