At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, critical care nurse Casey Green put in long hours caring for some of the sickest patients she’d ever seen. At night on her couch, she watched the news and wept.
But Casey, who has now been a nurse for seven years, emerged from the experience stronger. Working through this trying time alongside her fellow nurses at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, she helped many ICU patients return home to their families. Her team’s successes pushed her forward and gave her hope for the future.
“I have never seen so much teamwork in nursing,” Casey says. “There was so much more good than bad for me. It reinvigorated me wanting to be a nurse.”
Today, Casey, 30, is an assistant nurse manager at Sinai Hospital in Baltimore, where she’s helping to guide the next generation of nurses. She’s also a paramedic and an adjunct professor at Howard Community College, and she earned her place in nursing history when she became the 85th nurse in the U.S. to attain all five emergency nursing certifications from the Board of Certification for Emergency Nursing.
As an emerging leader in nursing, Casey has become a key voice on social media for nurses across the country. She’s redefining what it means to be a nurse and educating the public about the vital role nurses play in patient care. “We are not just at the bedside,” she says. “We are leaders.”
A Background in Caring
Casey knew from a young age that she wanted to become a nurse. Growing up in Maryland, she had a grandmother who was a nurse, as well as diabetic. Casey helped administer her grandmother’s insulin shots. At age 5, when her grandmother gifted her an enormous medical book, the girl lugged it around with her wherever she went. “She was really big on teaching me,” Casey says.
As Casey grew older, she gravitated toward situations in which people needed help. In one instance, a high school classmate who had a peanut allergy had an allergic reaction but was frightened to use her EpiPen for the first time.
“I thought, ‘Somebody has to do it,’” Casey says. “I grabbed it and delivered it as we waited for the school nurse. When other people were running the other way, I was running toward emergencies. I think that set me up for nursing.”
After graduating from high school, Casey faced a dilemma. Her family couldn’t afford to send her to college. But she applied for and received several scholarships.
She earned her associate’s degree in nursing from a community college and got her nursing license. She worked as a nurse in several departments at the University of Maryland Medical Center, including the emergency department and the ICU. At the same time, she studied for her bachelor’s degree in nursing.
“I was intrigued by the very sick patients,” she says. “As a nurse, if you have the knowledge and the skills, you’re really going to help with their outcome.”
An Advocate for the Sickest Patients
Casey thrives working by patients’ side during times of crisis and delivering a deep level of care. Her job as an ICU nurse, she says, is to anticipate issues before they arise and compromise care. Nurses have to be fierce advocates for their patients throughout their time in the hospital, she adds, while always showing compassion and empathy.
“Then, either you turn patients’ care around where there’s a positive outcome,” Casey says, “or, if it’s something they can’t overcome and they do die, you make sure that there’s dignity in that process for them and their family.”
Over the years, Casey has received numerous awards for her work, including most recently the coveted DAISY Nurse Leader Award, given to extraordinary nurses. It’s an award she’s aspired to since her early days in nursing school.
“I never thought I would be the person who had the DAISY,” she says. “Recognition is nice, because it solidifies that you’re doing the right thing.”
In her current role, Casey enjoys teaching and mentoring new graduates and helping recruit more people to the profession. She’s excited about the future of nursing. She’s eager to continue spreading the word about the array of nursing specialties and the diverse ways in which nurses innovate and lead.
COVID-19 has increased the public’s understanding of nurses’ critical role, she says. “People do understand nurses do so much more than what doctors tell us to do,” says Casey. But there’s still much work to be done. “It’s about reclaiming the profession and putting a label on what it means to be a nurse.”
She sees more opportunities for young nurses to become leaders and further innovate for the field. “You’re seeing way more people going into nursing and taking it by storm,” Casey says. “People are being disruptive in a positive way, and they’re looking to change things. I’m really positive about our profession, because I love it. Nursing is now shining.”
Casey was one of the subjects of GE HealthCare’s Canvases of Care campaign for Nurses Week. New York–based artist Tim Okamura has created paintings of Casey and four other nurses. Each painting contains one brushstroke for every hour of care the nurses have put in over the course of their careers — Casey’s has 22,064 strokes — and the paintings will remain unfinished, because a nurse’s work is never done.
