Emily Seward: An Everyday Hero
Emily Seward is a young and passionate nurse, navigating her job and raising a family along the way.
Emily Seward has known what path she’s wanted to pursue since she was a teenager. After being diagnosed with pyelonephritis (inflammation of the kidney) and spending two years in-and-out of hospitals, Seward developed deep relationships with the nurses. These moments helped Seward realize what she wanted to do for the rest of her life.
“They made it a lot easier to be in the hospital. I wanted to be able to help kids as they helped me”, said Seward.
After graduating high school Seward took the first step in making her dream career come true. Seward attended St. Joesphs College of Nursing and graduated in 2018.
Seward, now 25, travels from her hometown of Weedsport, NY to Syracuse, NY to work in her field. Seward landed a job at Upstate Community Hospital in the level 1 pediatric ER, the only pediatric trauma center in Central NY. Seward works with ages from just a few days old up until 19. She addresses incidents such as traumas, burns, motor vehicle accidents, broken bones, and general illness.
When Seward started working the events that would unfold within the next year weren’t what she imagined her job field would look like. COVID-19 had a detrimental impact on Seward’s field of work. It completely changed how things were run.
“The job has changed a lot since the pandemic, just from the protective gear that we have to wear, to how careful we have to be putting 2 patients in a room”, said Seward.
Seward also has seen a huge increase in mental health patients because of the global pandemic that has affected the hospital.
“We have seen a huge increase in mental health problems, especially with no beds in the actual children’s hospital, so they have to stay down in the ER for days at a time, taking away from medical patients, making wait times much longer”, said Seward.
On top of working as a nurse, Seward recently had a beautiful baby girl named Marley and got engaged to her fiancé, Michael.
“Raising a baby and working has definitely been challenging, even more so during a pandemic. I work nights so it’s definitely hard to sleep. With the pandemic happening, I haven’t wanted to put her in a daycare, so there are many days that I go with just a few hours of sleep. The fear of bringing something home is terrifying”, Seward said.
“What I do is important to society because it’s so needed. It’s a very demanding job and can be mentally draining. Without nurses, the job can’t be done”, Seward said.
Even though Seward has to face new obstacles with her job each day, she wouldn’t change what she does for the world. Seward is passionate about her job as a nurse, she sets out to change people’s lives as the nurses in her life have done for her. Being so young, Seward is really able to connect and interact with patients and will be able to for a long time. Seward realizes and appreciates how much her job does for society; The people she has helped along the way have made up for any struggles she has faced. Seward hopes to continue to help people and change lives as a nurse and is excited to create and raise a family along the way.