Sharon B. Young, RN, CNRI

CEO and Director, Gracious Heart Nursing Services LLC

 

From a young age, Young knew she wanted to work in healthcare. “My mother had 10 children, and she nurtured all of us every day,” she recalls. “I knew early on what it was like to have compassion and care for people—not just family, but people from all walks of life. If you needed something, my mother helped you.”

Young wanted to model her life in the same way. She started on the medical school path, but it didn’t satisfy her. Interacting with patients was her passion. Later, while working as a critical care nurse in the intensive care unit and emergency room, she would worry about her patients after they went home. “They still need care—who will take care of them?” Young wondered.

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She switched to home-care nursing, but then her husband suggested she start her own business. In 2015 Young founded Gracious Heart, where she and her “family” of 20-plus specialty nurses routinely visit more than 120 patients in their homes to deliver infusion therapy. Their patients’ illnesses and medications are myriad, and her youngest was just 5 weeks old.

Nursing, Young says, is not for the faint of heart. “When people are sick, they’re in pain and sad, and not at their best. You must be able to look past that and have compassion while delivering care. Yes, nursing pays a good wage—but if your heart isn’t in nursing and nurturing, don’t become a nurse.” Administering medicine with a heavy dose of warmth and companionship to her patients is what Young says fills her heart every day.

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