ST. LOUIS — At hospitals these days, it seems the tough times are all the time.
Especially, if you're like Hanna Botney who became a nurse just before the pandemic.
"I'd say it's trial by fire, learning a lot in a short amount of time, "says Botney.
Hanna has not only assisted with Covid patients, she's a COVID-19 survivor herself.
"I had some symptoms, it wasn't horrible," she told us.
But she can relate to more than just her patients with coronavirus.
You see, Hanna spends most of her time on the cardiac care floor.
And it was cardiac care that saved her life.
When she was just 23 years old, she was living her passion, working as a horse trainer in Pennsylvania but she was soon spending more time on a stretcher than the stable.
"I'm terrified. I had no idea what was going on with me," she recalled. "I went to the emergency deptartment two or three different times."
She came back to St. Louis to undergo a battery of tests.
The diagnosis? Heart block. An abnormal heart rhythm where the heart beats too slowly. The only solution — a pacemaker.
"I think, in that moment, I was most terrified because they actually attached defibrillator pads to my chest," she said.
Implanting pacemakers is fairly routine at Missouri Baptist Hospital but not for someone in their 20's. Sometimes though, when your life gets turned upside down, you find your true direction.
"My nurses took amazing care of me," Hanna said. "And I was like wow, Our nurses do amazing things, they do research, they drive our care day to day. I think I want to do that."
These days, nurse Hanna Botney works side by side with the nurses who took care of her. And though she was recently a student, she can also teach.
"When you can't walk in someone's shoes that somebody has also already walked in, someone like Hanna is a great source," explained Hanna's co-worker Courtney Kissel.
Her message to recovering patients is patience.
"I still do athletics, I still live my life. I don't let it stop me and there's no reason to let your diagnosis stop you either."
Her care now has her caring for others. For Hanna Botney, nursing is clearly a work of heart.
"She's a heck of a nurse," added Kissel.
