Celebrating Nurses 2009 : Diane Bell
Celebrating Nurses 2009 : Diane Bell
'I wouldn’t be doing anything else'
Special Sections Writer
Diane Bell has worked with cancer patients most of her nursing career, and the positive experiences have far outweighed the negative, even in the face of a potentially deadly disease.
"People say, 'It must be so depressing,' but it's really not," said Bell, a registered nurse with the Randolph Cancer Center. "There's a lot of happiness here, too, a lot of good that's being done. There's some sad times, but no, I wouldn't be doing anything else. We have students who come in, and I do my best to say, 'This is the best job, to be an oncology nurse.'"
Bell has worked as an oncology nurse since 1986, six years after graduating from the College of Nursing at East Carolina University.
"I started out to be an English major at East Carolina," she said. "I just remember one day I walked past the nursing school, and I said, 'I think I want to go to nursing school." I changed my major. My parents were both in the health field, and I think that probably had an influence. I was always wanting to do something to help somebody. I think that's a pretty common theme with nurses."
Bell, 50, has worked at several hospitals around the Piedmont over the past three decades, including UNC Hospitals in her native Chapel Hill and Moses Cone Health System in Greensboro.
She took a job with the Randolph Cancer Center 10 years ago, and for the past five months has enjoyed its new location at Randolph Hospital. She serves the center as unit coordinator.
The center's executive director, Stacey Bannister, nominated Bell as an extraordinary nurse.
"Diane treats each patient encounter as if she is caring for her most cherished loved one," Bannister wrote. "She puts her patients" needs first, often at the expense of her not getting a full lunch. She provides answers to patient questions in terms they can understand."
Bell knows how much patients appreciate the extra effort.
"Doing a little tiny something for somebody makes a world of difference," she said. "Calling in a prescription for them, instead of, 'Here's a prescription, take it to the pharmacy." Sometimes we have to do that with certain prescriptions. But we can make it so much easier just getting on the phone, calling the pharmacist, calling it in, saying, 'Can you get this ready in the next 30 minutes?" Because they're out, they're tired, they don't wanna be here, so we try to coordinate things so they're spending less time away from the family."
- Debra Allen , Rockingham Co. Health Dept
- Diane Bell, Randolph Cancer Center
- Thomas Brown, Randolph Hospital
- Leslie Butcher, Brenner's Children's Hospital
- Lenora D. Clapp, NC Dept of Corrections
- Cynthia E. Knust, Moses Cone Health Systems
- Marsha Roddenberry, High Point Regional
- Marsha Long, Carolina Medical Center
- Jan Parker, Hospice of Greensboro
- Sarah Turner, Kids Path/Hospice
