McKenna Colachis has walked the halls of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit for only the past seven months, but her nursing career at the Hillcrest Medical Center at UC San Diego Health may have started here 26 years ago.
“This is my first job," Colachis said with a smile on Friday. "I'm a new graduate here."
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WATCH HEREColachis considered herself lucky to work alongside the platoon of UC San Diego Health nurses in the middle of National Nurses Week.
“I believe that they deserve all the recognition in the world,” Colachis said. “Being able to see what these nurses do on the floor is beyond what I thought.”
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SIGN UP Coming out of the University of San Diego’s Nursing School last year, the San Diego native knew she wanted to work in the Hillcrest Medical Center’s NICU.
“It's a very special opportunity to be here and being able to support families in the way that they supported mine,” Colachis explained. “I was born prematurely. Me, my twin sister — we were both here in 1999.”
“Being a NICU baby from here really brought it full circle for me, being able to learn from nurses who were around when I was actually a baby here,” Colachis continued. “What nurses do is so special because we're there for families on their hardest days. We’re there for patients on their hardest days.”
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According to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, there are roughly 4.7 million nurses in the United States, easily making it the largest medical profession in the country.
National Nurses Week runs through May 12.
