Stephanie Bean, LPN, started at GIA more than 15 years ago as a float nurse, then as a nurse for two other doctors, and is now a float nurse – a role she calls a team nurse for good reason – for three GIA locations, helping all the providers. She shares: “I have to wear many, many hats. From pill cam endoscopies to downloading test information, it’s good to be versatile, and I like that part of my job.”
Initially, she was hesitant to go into healthcare since her mom was a nurse, but she knew she had a passion for helping people and pursued becoming an LPN. “Nursing has become something I love.”
Throughout her career, she’s seen the dynamics of being a team nurse change tremendously; however, the central focus on the patients has not and “every person matters and is important.”
Her favorite patient story started with something she said to the wife of a pancreatic cancer patient several years ago. “I told her, just breathe, God has this.” The wife started making needlepoint placards with that saying and passing them out to people going through radiation. “When I had a recent medical scare, I walked up to the reception desk and saw one of those placards she made years ago,” Stephanie says. “Sometimes God can use your own words to give you comfort and strength. It came full circle.”
Outside of work, she has a passion for writing. “I’m working on something that is scary, but I’m writing a book! I joined a creative writing group at my church, Faith Promise. Some of my poetry has been turned into songs, and monologues have become skits. That has inspired me and made me believe in myself.”
Her book is “God inspired,” she shares, and follows the life cycle of butterflies. Each cycle is compared to human lives and focuses on how unique every person is and how we have a purpose. “If we let God transform us, we become a new creation.”
A self-proclaimed, “crazy cat lady,” Stephanie loves to kayak, serve on the first impressions team at her church, fish and spend time with her children and seven cats.