For Main Line Nurse, 'It’s A Calling'

MAIN LINE — Nurses work tirelessly throughout the pandemic. They show up everyday, working 12-hour shifts.

There are 232,815 licensed nurses in Pennsylvania, according to the National Council State Board of Nurses.

A total of 2,900 of these nurses work at Main Line Health, which includes Lankenau Medical Center, Bryn Mawr, Paoli, Riddle and Bryn Mawr Rehabilitation hospitals. The network of Main Line Health nurses also work at urgent care centers, hospice, homecare and other outpatient locations.

The average salary of a registered nurse in Pennsylvania is $76,000, according to Incredible Health.

During the celebration of National Nurses Week earlier this month, Patch.com asked a local nurse why he chose this profession.

Angelo Nivison, 29, a registered nurse who has a bachelor’s of science in nursing from DeSales University, Lehigh County, works in the cardiothoracic department at Lankenau.

Nivison said nurses’ week reminds nurses why they selected the profession.

“It’s a calling,” he said. “It defines who we are. Our career is a part of us. There is this innate desire to help people or to serve those in need.”

There is also the comradery.

“Nursing is a team sport,” he said. “Although the intensity can be high and the acuity of the patient may be elevated, everyone has each other's backs and places the patient at the center of attention.”

Nivison said that during the pandemic, Main Line Health got hit pretty hard.

He noted one woman was in the hospital for several months being treated for COVID before going home.

“As a nurse it was our duty to take care of the COVID patients,” he said. “Everybody stuck to it.

"I think it goes back to being kind and treating people with respect. We are all human beings and we all deserve equal health care. That’s what keeps me going.”