Nurse honored
Meyers overcomes her own fears to help others in need

By Michelle O’Riley

WESTERLO — Connie Myers, a psychiatric nurse, has kept a patient from jumping off a ledge with a 10-foot drop.
"He could have jumped and hurt himself really bad or killed himself," said Myers, who works at the Capital District Psychiatric Center.

However, she stepped in and began to talk to the patient calmly and eventually he took her hand and got down.

On May 5, the American Red Cross of Northeastern New York will recognize Myers with the Excelsior College Nursing Award at the Salute to Hometown Heroes ceremony at the Crown Plaza in downtown Albany.

Myers, who lives in Westerlo, was nominated for the award by former co-worker Steve Trim.
"I do care about my patients," said Myers. "They have burned so many bridges with their families and their communities."
Myers explains that a large percentage of her clients do not even receive visitors. Once patients are on their medication and stable, many of them begin to realize how much they have lost due to their illnesses but by then, she said, "They don’t have anyone."
"I always wanted to be a nurse"

In 1980, Myers graduated from the Junior College of Albany with a nursing degree. Early on, she worked for a local nursing home and sadly remembered the inadequate care the elderly received there. Myers explained that, on some weekends, there were only three nurses working the 50-bed ward.
"There was so much to be done and we could not do it all," she said. She left the nursing home with the unsettling feeling that the elderly deserved more.

Myers then began to work privately in the homes of her clients. She remembers caring for an elderly couple, a man with terminal cancer and a woman with multiple sclerosis. She kept them company by playing cards and talking, and cared for them by preparing meals and helping them with their personal hygiene.
"As long as I can remember, I always wanted to be a nurse," Myers said. She has always wanted to help people and make a difference.

Fears and frustrations

Myers admits that she hated psychiatry in nursing school. It was very scary for her to work with veterans who had missing limbs, repression and regression, she said. Myers often worried about saying the wrong things to the patients.

She now has worked at the Capital District Psychiatric Center for 16 years and is being saluted for saying all the right things.

Myers admits to being frustrated with the current state of mental-health-care facilities in New York including the existing legislation, limited number of beds, understaffed and underpaid employees, and mandatory hours. But, when asked about her future plans, Myers said she is staying put and looking forward to the possibility of a promotion to nurse administrator.

In this new role, she would be in charge of overseeing all of the patients’ medical care and the supervision of the nurses on her shift and unit.
The clients keep Myers working, she said: "That is why I stay on — because of the them."