Part 2 of a two-part interview with Sally Lemke, winner of the VNA Foundation’s Super Star in Community Nursing award.

It had the potential to be one of the most rewarding times of her life—being honored with the VNA Foundation’s Super Star in Community Nursing award. Thirty-plus news agencies swarmed to the story about Sally Lemke, a Chicago Cook County nurse practitioner making a difference in the public healthcare system. It seemed the media was ready to shed some positive light on the healthcare system, typically scrutinized for its failures.

But within three days, Lemke’s cloud-nine experience vanished. While receiving her first phone call requesting an interview about the Super Star award, Lemke was on her way to the Cook County offices to sign the paperwork to either take a layoff or accept a demotion.

Lemke declined the lower-paying job as a floor nurse, deciding to go somewhere where she would be respected while changing patients’ lives.

In this second part of RealityRN’s exclusive interview with Lemke, she candidly speaks about her experience in the spotlight and offers advice to new nurses about handling bureaucracy:

Describe your experience being in the public eye after being laid off and being offered a lower-paying/ranking job.

Sally Lemke: It was very strange having my “business” on the front page, literally. I was totally unprepared for the media onslaught and found the experience uncomfortable.

Did your publicity help the nursing profession?

I was fortunate to have the opportunity to shift the spotlight to the contributions that community health nurses make and the harm done when they are cut from budgets (as was, and still is, the case with Cook County).

Putting a human face on the loss for the patients and community to see was helpful in making the public understand all the areas nurses make contributions. I think most people associate nursing with hospital-based work and aren’t aware of the full spectrum of our care. The media attention hopefully enlightened the public to the breadth of what nurses do and perhaps drew some nurses to a career in community health.

I also think that the publicity helped to highlight what most nurses know--that our health care system is faulty, inequitable, and unjust. And part of the problem stems from politicians and bureaucrats making decisions about who should receive health care services and how.

As a nurse practitioner, did you ever expect to face bureaucracy?

I think among the community health network of Chicagoland, it’s known that there are certain bureaucratic and organizational challenges inherent in the Cook County Bureau of Health system that nurses, physicians, and employees need to deal with. I knew that when I came on board with Cook County. But I truly believed in the mission of the Bureau of Health: that quality health care is a basic human right. And I felt up to the challenge of dealing with the system.
But the haphazard dismantling of this public health system with little regard for the true mission of the Bureau of Health has really saddened me. So many dedicated and talented people are gone and so many programs that were an efficient use of health care dollars were cut.

In the end, it is truly the patients who have lost out.

What’s your best advice for new nurses facing bureaucracy?

First, stick to your values and remember why you chose to become a nurse. Never compromise your values, especially when it comes to patient care.

Second, find a mentor. I have had many wonderful supportive mentors who have helped me navigate some of the bureaucratic messes I’ve worked in. They’ve helped me keep my perspective and stay confident.

And third, never underestimate your ability to make change. Polls say nurses are the most trusted of all professionals. That puts us in a credible position to be on the forefront of making improvements in how our patients are treated and how our health care systems are run.

Related: Bureaucracy, Career, Confidence, Mentor, Patient Advocate, Success