Seasoned Nurse Still Learning Today

Storm  Treanor, RN, makes her way through  the CVPH Emergency Department (ED) seemingly un-phased by the beeping and buzzing of technology and constant whirlwind of activity.   As a registered nurse with more than 50 years of experience, she currently works rotating shifts (per diem or as needed) in the ED and is in her element.

“Currently, my full-time job is EMS Coordinator for Clinton County.  I coordinate education, certifications, supplies and logistics for the county as well as sit on the regional council,” she said. “I take great pride in inspiring people to do their best and in the ability of our team to make a difference in the patients we care for,” she said.

In early May, during National Hospital Week, Storm was honored, along with 344 other Service Awardees, for her years of service at CVPH.  Her name was at the top of list with 45 years of service. It was also National Nurses Week, a time set aside by CVPH to celebrate and honor the many and varied contributions nurses make to the health and wellness of the community.

Storm was in high school when she was first introduced to nursing as a possible career. “I took a nurses’ aide class and after that never gave anything but nursing (as a career) a second thought,” she said.

She said she remembers in the earliest part of her nursing career that nurses would sterilize and sharpen the needles they would use in the care of their patients.  “Of course advancements in equipment and technology have changed so much.  The technology advancements have helped with patient safety.”

Storm said a lot has changed in her profession with the exception of the role nurses play in patient care.  “How we care for our patients has changed. It used to be much more physical – more hands on. But today, like before, we have to be aware of what are patients need and advocate for them.  Awareness and accountability are as important today as it was then.”

Storm came to Plattsburgh as an experienced registered nurse, having worked at Berkshire Medical Center while she waited for her husband to graduate from anesthesia school.  She worked in the coronary care unit there at a time when medicine was just beginning to put into practice some of the interventions taken for granted today.  “CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) was only introduced in the 1960s. On the unit, we used a simple monitor; it had a switch. Patients were confined to their beds, sometimes for weeks. Today, the care of cardiac patients is so much different. We know so much more,” she said.

First employed by Champlain Valley Hospital, she worked in the Coronary Care Unit. Champlain Valley and Physicians Hospital merged in the late 1960s and a few years later, a new facility was built, CVPH Medical Center (now part of the UVM Health Network).  Storm joined the nursing team that staffed what was then, a state-of-the-art 14 bed ICU.  In addition to her current position in the Emergency Department, Storm has been an educator in ICU, served as a Patient Care Coordinator and a Medical/Surgical staff nurse.  Storm was on hand in 2013, when CVPH opened its staff designed, cutting edge 14 bed unit.

Showing no signs of slowing down, the experienced nurse offers this advice to those starting their nursing career: “I’d say listen and learn. Ask questions. Take the opportunity to learn from other nurses and physicians. If you don’t do that, you don’t grow. I am still learning today.”