As a nurse practitioner, Belen “Belle” Loreto Grand, ARNP, MSN, spent most of her time indoors, caring for patients, supporting research, and coordinating transplants.
As a volunteer, she spends time every month enjoying the outdoors as a member of Friendship Circle Miami. Through outings such as this Duck Tour of Miami’s South Beach, the group provides friendship and support to young people with special needs.
Fresh air and sunshine aren’t the only therapeutic value of these outings. As a volunteer, Grand employs the communication and engagement skills she honed as a nurse to draw out her companions and enhance their ability to communicate in turn.
One of the young women she has gotten to know now has a part-time job. “It’s an amazing change,” Belle reported, “She was showing me how to use a vending machine. You cannot buy that!”
This summer Grand was invited to speak at a New York City gathering of alumni from her alma mater, the Manila-based Far Eastern University Institute of Nursing. In her retirement years, Grand has also chosen to support the Filipino nursing community by becoming a life coach. She has firsthand experience of the stresses that come with trying to support relatives in the Philippines while building a life and career as a nurse in the United States. “I’m nursing the emotions now,” she says of this new phase of her life’s work.
“Nurses take care of others, but we’re not used to taking care of ourselves. We need a structure to do that. It has to become a habit.”
This photo essay was created for the "Encore Performance: Retired Nurses Find Fulfillment Through Volunteering" article developed by Charting Nursing's Future for use by the Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action.
Credits:
Captions: Nicole Fauteux Interior Photos: Asiya Khaki Exterior Photos: Courtesy of Friendship Circle Miami