BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Many of us use home health aides to take care of loved ones at home.<\/p>\n
It is National Nurses Week. About 12 percent of registered nurses in the U.S. work in the field.<\/p>\n
Sometimes, a random pairing can form a lifelong bond.<\/p>\n
This is the story of an atypical teenager, and the nurse who dedicated her life to that girl’s survival.<\/p>\n
Emily Bronk was 15 when she suffered a traumatic brain injury.<\/p>\n
It left Emily paralyzed on her one side. But even paralysis couldn’t stop her, thanks to a nurse named Tamie Sturgis.<\/p>\n
“I’m not bossy. I’m pushy. I push (Emily) to do the best she can do because I know she can do it,” said Sturgis.<\/p>\n
It started with one day a week, but it became clear that Tamie was the kick-in-the-pants Emily dearly needed.<\/p>\n
“Absolutely amazing. Tamie is a great role model,” Bronk said.<\/p>\n
One day turned into five. 60 hours every week, every year, for a decade.<\/p>\n
“She was with her every step of the way when she was learning how to walk again,” said Logan Wilkins, Director of Bayada Home Health Care.<\/p>\n
Now 27, Emily works at an ice cream shop. She found the right fit, and Tamie found family.<\/p>\n
Their bond was celebrated by Tamie’s colleagues at Bayada Home Health Care in Bethlehem on this National Nurses Day.<\/p>\n
“I try to make her as independent as possible. If something falls on the floor, Tamie’s not going to pick it up. I have Emily pick it up, because she can,” explained Sturgis.<\/p>\n
Emily has also become a vocal advocate for home healthcare at the Pennsylvania State House.<\/p>\n
“Happy Nurses Week to all the nurses out there,” said Bronk.<\/p>\n
One life poured into another, creating one unbreakable bond.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Many of us use home health aides to take care of loved ones at home.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":186633,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[3479,83242,153,155,154,83238,7039,83237,83241,83240,10503,83239],"class_list":["post-186632","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bethlehem","tag-advocacy","tag-bayada-home-health-care","tag-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem-headlines","tag-bethlehem-news","tag-home-health-aide","tag-independence","tag-national-nurses-week","tag-nurse-patient-bond","tag-paralysis","tag-rehabilitation","tag-traumatic-brain-injury"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186632","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=186632"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186632\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/186633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=186632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=186632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=186632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}