Name: Amanda Kammes MSN, BSN, RN

Nickname: AK, Kammes

Alma Mater: University of Pennsylvania / Drexel ACE

What’s your current gig: Go4 RN Community Manager

What’s something that you can’t work a shift without? Coffee and Saltines

What is the Weirdest / Wildest / Most Interesting / Out there RN job you’ve ever worked?
Neuro ICU

Share your best Moment / Story / Anecdote as an RN:
A 16 yr old girl came into our unit via flight transport–she was in a passenger in a MVA and thrown from the car. She had no feeling nipple line down. Somehow I happened to be working the night shift when she was admitted, but also then flipped to 3 day shifts in a row 2 days later and so I took care of her for 4 of her first 5 days there. She was a really sweet kid, very sad and depressed about her situation. She was with us for weeks and began requesting me as her nurse on my shifts, so I took care of her a lot. A few weeks in, she rang the call bell and I went in and she was crying–I thought something was wrong, but she said, “omg look,” and pointed at her toes. I looked down and she was wiggling her toes on one of her feet. She also had some sensation in her upper leg as well! Amazing moment to share with a kid I had spent a lot of time with and was dealt a tough hand because of someone else’s decisions.

Quote/Lyric/Line that sums up Nursing For You: “It’s a hard-knock life, for us . . .”

What’s a day in the life like?
At my former hospital gig, it was crazy every shift, from patients jumping out of their bed, to being confused, to not peeing, eating or sitting down for 12 hours straight . . . patients pulling drains and IVs out etc. It was wild!

What has been the biggest change in the year of the pandemic?
Isolation.

When you’re not working, where can we find you?
With friends, family or on a lacrosse field.