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Alumni Spotlight: Meghan Kettinger'19 (Nursing)

For one of this month’s Alumni Spotlights, I had the privilege of interviewing Meghan Kettinger, a 2019 Roberts graduate who currently works as a nurse in the Oncology Department for Highland Hospital in Rochester.

Meghan began to shadow professionals in a variety of positions in the medical field, where she initially developed an interest in becoming a doctor. Meghan was first drawn to oncology after a family member had been diagnosed with cancer, which is when she decided she wanted her future career to be in medicine. She eventually decided that nursing was the "best route” to helping others through medicine, leading her to graduate with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree.

Meghan has since worked as a nurse for just under two years, primarily with patients in oncology along with palliative and hospice care. She is part of a team that is responsible for not only caring for patients but preparing patients and their families for the end of their loved one’s lives. Prior to the pandemic that began in March of 2020, Meghan had been working as a nurse for about eight or nine months. When the pandemic first began, the only significant changes Meghan was affected by were alterations in policies and procedures brought on by newly enforced government regulations. However, as the pandemic progressed, the number of patients began to fluctuate throughout the remainder of the year, reaching its peak in the winter, making an increasingly difficult job even more difficult.

Although things have begun to slow down recently, a large portion of Meghan’s work rests upon her and the team, and adapting to these demands was an initial challenge Meghan faced when she first joined the medical field. Despite these changes and obstacles brought on by the pandemic, Meghan continues to manage the completion of daily tasks including; assessing patients, prioritizing tasks, and obtaining documentation. Meghan expressed that getting to witness the journey of her patients from the time they arrive on her floor to the final stages of their lives in addition to knowing that she has done all she can to prepare patient’s families for the passing of their loved ones are some of the most rewarding aspects of her career.

Written by, Nick Vazquez ‘21 (Communication)

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