Submitted by Marina Ormes RN, RN, HN-BC (ret)
OHNA Director
Adaptability is one of OHNA’s core values and we certainly have been living it the past three years. Our tag line: We Are the Change, means we are changemakers—leaders at the forefront of change. It also means we must be able to stay current with changing and evolving conditions and situations.
Nurses, of course, are uniquely positioned and well-trained to respond to changing needs. We are patient advocates, the eyes and ears of not only changing vital signs or lab tests, but also changing energies—the “vibe” in the room.
Good nurses are tuned in, in practical as well as energetic ways, to what our patients need. Holistic practice means we are present with the patient and the patient’s family so we can notice what needs to happen… not just TO the patient but FOR the patient’s greatest good.
As our beloved Kathleen Bell and other presenters reminded us during last
month’s conference, healing is not the same as curing. While curing means eradicating a disease or restoring physical health following an injury, healing can occur at all stages of life and in response to all life events.
We can even heal while actively dying, and this means we as nurses remain present so we can support what best serves the patient, whether that is physical comfort or through emotional/spiritual integration that leads to greater wholeness.
All of this applies also, of course, at the organizational level. We must remain present to what IS, not just what we thought or hoped for. We must be ready to respond to needs as they emerge and change approaches when called for.
In 2020 we were thrilled to have made a commitment to booking the Full Camp at Breitenbush Hot Springs for our conference. For the first time ever, we had grown enough that we anticipated registration numbers high enough to justify reserving all of Breitenbush, just for OHNA conference participants.
Then along came a global COVID-19 pandemic that has forced all of us to adapt. As if that weren’t enough, as part of the massive forest fire events of 2020, wildfire tragically destroyed much of Breitenbush’s buildings and infrastructure.
Adaptation for the Board of OHNA has meant canceling our 2020 full-camp conference, pivoting to an online conference in 2021, and not being able to meet in person for two years. Board members were, as so many of us were, stretched thin. We have had to learn ways to support our own resilience, both at a personal level and as the governing Board of 
OHNA.
The past three years have been challenging, but in September of 2022 we were able to meet in person, with a smaller group, at the actively regenerating Breitenbush Hot Springs.
Many forest species are strengthened by adverse events such as fire. Some, like morel mushrooms, even wait until after fires to fruit with their delicious mushrooms. I felt this strength when we met together. I was moved by the power of Breitenbush’s efforts to rebuild. I felt the power of what OHNA has become as a group while “not” meeting in person, while “not” doing business as usual, while “not” getting much accomplished from our to do list.
I felt the strength of who we have become because we know how to heal—not because nurses are better at healing than anyone else, but because as holistic practitioners, we trust the healing process to unfold without needing to control or understand it.
And what we have become simply feels magic. It is more deeply rooted, stronger, clearer, and more organized in both thinking and readiness for action. Participants at the conference were all of these things individually as well as together. What was shared by many at the closing ceremony was not just a sense of personal renewal, but a sense of
deep regeneration that included clarity about action steps, commitment to self-care practices, and strength to step into more leadership roles within healthcare and beyond.
This, to me, is the epitome of adaptability. It is the ability to let go and surrender with intention and with being present to what is. In so doing, we allow ourselves to become what we could previously only imagine. It is an integrative approach. It is giving ourselves permission to let go of what isn’t working and become something new, even when (maybe especially when) it isn’t comfortable to do so. This is what it means to be the change.
On a grander scale, nurses have continued to be vocal and advocate for cleaner and greener workplaces. The ongoing vigilance of the nursing value of sustainability has resulted in transforming the way hospital systems design, build, and operate their care facilities. This championing of environmental stewardship by nurses has been driving the “greening of healthcare”.
redefine my time? What is this time? Does “Sun”day have a more sun-based aspect to its quality? Is the first day of summer the actual date of the earliest sunrise to the latest sunset? When I looked at the first day of the spring equinox, for example, I found that the calendar date was different from the actual day when the day and night were both equal times. When I check my horoscope and I look directly above me can I make out the constellations or planetary placements that inform the astrologer overhead? When I look at sidereal or Vedic astrology, I find that western astrology does not pertain to which stars are in the sky where I am. Each of these questions has only led me to subjective confirmation, but how can one live more in the objective?
We are sovereign and yet time slowly picks away at that view of ourselves. Appointments, clocking in and out and living for the weekend slowly erode that perspective. I challenge that our existence as sovereign entities creates more of who we are than career, education, or whatever story that has been incorporated into the current expression of ourselves. I offer my experience to exploring my time in the objective thought-form and ask each one of us to share and practice yours too. I challenge that we are living in a story of existence and each of us is the main character in that epic. By reclaiming our time that story becomes clearer.
stillness, root where you can, as we have eternity to find the answers.
how resilient we can be. We can see how life is a continuous balance of both. Sometimes things unfold as we have planned and other times, we are humbled at how little control we have. If there is anything, we can be sure of from helping people who are sick, it’s that recovery is going to look different for everyone- and the same goes for building resilience. Resilience is defined as one’s capacity to recover, which is a process that takes commitment, practice, and is going to be a unique experience for everyone. As front-line workers during a pandemic, we have had an intimate connection with COVID in that we don’t ever get a break- not at work or at home. We grieve the loss of normal in our personal lives and we come to work scared and unsure of what the future will hold. What an enormous quality of a human 
– to be made so strong yet so vulnerable.
time learning how to be reflective, mindful, intentional, and balanced. What if we spend time being kind to each other, helping others, and putting our focus on the community and people we are surrounded by – lifting each other up and creating a culture that promotes resilience and encouraging one another to persevere through challenges. COVID isn’t likely the first and surely will not be the last opportunity we experience in this life where we are given the choice to give up in despair and hopelessness or to move forward with a new perspective.
For me, well-being is that general feeling of contentment and peace when I find the balance between accomplishing the things that need to be done and giving time to the things that I want to do. Accomplishing those must-do-but-don’t-really-want-to tasks usually requires a written list that I can check off with satisfaction as I complete each item. I cannot fully relax when I know there are things that I need to do waiting for me. However, I also cannot let those tasks dominate over my preferred activities that help me to unwind and re-center. Planning the enjoyable activities is sort of the reward for getting the to-do list done. Well-being also includes contributing to physical health, which we all know is connected to our mental health. Again, it is finding that balance.
And finally, the natural next step once proficient in a skill is to teach others what you know. Transitioning from bedside nurse to nurse educator has reinforced the fulfillment of helping others in any way we can. For example, if you have a holistic healing practice it is beneficial and natural to teach others while practicing your skill. (Remember Erickson’s 7th stage of development: generativity vs. stagnation, where we give back to others and leave a beneficial mark on society. Turns out, it’s real!) Am I certified in a holistic practice? Not yet, but I have envisioned it happening and here I am joining a group of inspirational holistic practitioners so I know I am on my way to accomplishing another step in my journey to well-being. Stay on your path toward your envisioned goals of well-being, and reward yourself when you take steps toward progress. You can do it and the benefit is well worth the effort!
As a queer-identified mental health nurse originally from NYC, I thought I was open-minded, accepting of all people, and “not racist.” When I moved to Portland in 2016 it was a culture shock to see how white it was. According to the 2018 American Community Survey, Blacks are 24.3% of the NYC population and white non-Hispanic are 32.1%. In Portland, the white population is 70.5% and the Black population is only 5.8% (2.2% in Oregon overall). I soon realized that by not taking steps to actively be anti-racist I fell into the category of a “well-meaning white woman.” That kind of person is complicit, and can actually do more harm than good. I needed to learn to use my voice and white privilege to advocate for and uplift Black and Brown people, not just as a healthcare provider, but as a human.
As I sit to write this post, I cannot imagine my life without the holistic view that I hold. I graduated with my BSN in 1969 and the content of the baccalaureate program talked about “the whole person”, “remember their family”, “don’t just think of the guy in room 240”, etc. I do not remember that my professors spoke of “holism” but for sure I got that it made a difference to see a whole person. My nursing career included pediatrics, public health, geriatrics, home health, and hospice. My experience in Home health and hospice was from 1984 to 2013 and it was in 1984 that I learned Therapeutic Touch (also known as TT).
shift in relaxation and reduction of discomfort in less than 5 minutes. I loved the times I would offer TT at the end of a home visit and the patient would be asleep before I left. One of my most precious memories was a call in the middle of the night, a hospice patient short of breath, a husband feeling helpless. There were no meds yet in the home; they were still to be delivered. But I had my hands, I had my intention, and I had my ability to center. As I did TT for the patient I looked over to her husband; he too was caught in the field of support and as she relaxed, he also began to breathe more deeply.
are all connected, all the time, with each other and with all that is.
in recent years—our positive, holistic visions for the future—are still there, strong as ever. I believe the universe responds to our intentions for change, although we may not always understand how or why things need to unfold the way they do.