Conversations with the Inspiring Katie Dornan

Today we’d like to introduce you to Katie Dornan.

Katie, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I first became involved in the disability community with a class called “Integrated P.E.” during my junior year of high school. I was able to play sports side-by-side with my peers from the Special Education program every day that semester, making adaptive adjustments to the sport of the week. In that class, I discovered my passion for working with people with disabilities. I found ways to be involved with my new group of friends for the remainder of my time in high school but wondered how I would stay connected with this population after graduation.

Shortly after graduating, I discovered Respite Care, Inc., a local childcare center for children with disabilities. I started volunteering there and after six months was hired on as a staff member. I poured my heart into working and playing with the kids who attended Respite Care. There was a broad range of diagnoses among them – autism, Angelman syndrome, cerebral palsy, traumatic brain injury, Down syndrome, and others – but the diagnoses quickly faded into the background as I got to know each kid, all of whom were so much more than just a label. This child loved swinging, and that child loved tactile art projects. This kid liked knock-knock jokes, but that kid got a kick out of sarcasm. There was no uniformity in personality even under the same diagnostic umbrella. At Respite Care, I learned how to provide tube feedings while blowing bubbles, give medicine while reading books, and administer emergency seizure medications while keeping the child safe. After four years there, I realized that I wanted to provide a higher level of care for this population and decided to become a registered nurse.

I went to nursing school in Denver, all the while with my heart back in Fort Collins with the kids I had come to know and love. I graduated with a job opportunity with Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins and Medical Center of the Rockies in Loveland. In that role, I floated between six units in the two different hospitals, specializing in antepartum and postpartum care, pediatrics, labor and delivery, and neonatal intensive care. Each area had different aspects to love, but after five years, I couldn’t ignore the pull back to the disability community any longer.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
While my passion for working with kids with disabilities has not waned over the last decade and a half, school itself has not always been an easy road for me. I don’t do well sitting still; I want to get out there and do hands-on learning. For current nursing students, I recommend pursuing any accommodations that can help you thrive in nursing school. Identify the driving force for your desire to become a nurse and center yourself by focusing on that in times of stress and exhaustion.

For nurses who have just graduated and are starting out in their nursing journey, know and embrace that there is a steep learning curve as you transition from clinical rotations to taking your own patient load. Be present with your patients. Uphold the oath you took to care for every person with respect, regardless of race, color, national origin, sex and gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, political affiliation, age, religion, socioeconomic status, health status, and size. Be sensitive to the fact that you are caring for people when they are often at their most vulnerable. Hold on to the light and enthusiasm that you feel going into your first nursing job, even when you feel defeated by the system.

In a society that raises and expects people who are not cisgender men to put everyone else’s needs above their own, remind yourself that your needs are every bit as important as those who you care for. You’ll hear, “you can’t care for others if you don’t take care of yourself,” but remember that you deserve your own care by merit of being you, not solely as a means to help others. You will come off many shifts exhausted and sore, knowing that you have to eat, sleep, and do everything else in your day-to-day life, then turn around and work again in eleven and a half short hours; prioritize self-care in your time off. Pick up extra shifts if you want but know that you are not beholden to do so. Practice the phrase “I’m not available.” Whether you are traveling or have a date with your bathtub and a book, you are allowed to be unavailable without having to justify it to anyone. Advocate for safe patient ratios that allow for you to use the restroom take your state-mandated breaks of ten minutes for every four hours worked, and have an uninterrupted 30-minute lunch. Don’t let working yourself into the ground be a badge of honor for you or anyone else.

We’d love to hear more about your work.
I began providing in-home nursing care with TenderCare Pediatric Services, Inc. in the fall of 2016. This was an entirely different role for me; rather than bouncing between facilities in different towns, being intensely in someone’s life for 12 hours and then rarely seeing them again, I am in each client’s home, building long-lasting relationships and getting to know everything about the kids and their care. Despite my 10+ years working in the disability community, I was introduced to a whole new population of children who needed private duty nursing support. Many of the clients breathe with the assistance of ventilators and tracheostomy tubes, need supplemental oxygen, receive all their nutrients through tube feedings, and/or require round-the-clock vital signs monitoring. But just as before, the diagnoses and medical needs are secondary to who the child fundamentally is: their likes and dislikes, their sense of humor, their individual connections to each person in their life, and all of the myriad things that make each of us unique.

Over the last three and a half years, I have had the privilege of watching each of these kids grow and change. I have been able to reconnect with a client I met over 14 years ago at Respite Care and had the distinct honor of taking her to her first Homecoming dance. I have had the opportunity to take care of a childhood friend’s son after an unexpected diagnosis. I have seen my primary client triple her life expectancy, going from a very precarious respiratory status to now thriving. I have watched as her sense of humor has developed and as she has learned to read and talk nonstop. Each milestone for these clients is caused to celebrate; in a world that is dismissive of people with disabilities, they continue to defy expectations and prove everyone wrong.

Image Credit:
Katie Wynkoop, Sarah Kordis, Stephanie Kliewer

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