Group 6

As we continued talking about her early years in When she was visiting the Covid
her career, she shared with me that she, “-finds the patients, Kristen had to get all
human body so interesting and I know that is kinda weird
but I find it cool and amazing like a machine that works dressed up.
perfectly together.” She also shared with me that she,
“-loves working with people and finds medicine This is an image of UMASS
interesting like it never stops being cool.” healthcare, which is where she

We also talked about the challenges and rewards works.
that she faces/faced in her early years. I asked her,
“What do you think the most challenging part of being a
nurse practitioner?”

She said, “When things don't go right and you
have to tell the parents and they are really sad and just
seeing them and their face.”

After that I asked her what her greatest skill as
nurse practitioner is, and she said, “I am really good with
kids and make them feel comfortable so they are not
scared.”

My next question for her was, “What do you find
rewarding or challenging about nursing and her
response?”

She answered, “I love when I can help a child feel
better or help a family get through a hard time and
prevent bad things happen to them, but the challenging
part is when they are not healthy and you have to tell
the parents and their reaction to it.”

Another greatest skill she had was motivating
patients and helping them. She said, “(I) explain what I
am going to do and then the patients feel better.”

Next, I wanted to ask her more about her job as a
practitioner while also dealing with patients who had
Covid.

“How was it (working with patients) with Covid?” I
questioned.

She answered, ”It sucked working in the hospital,
parents would come in and test positive in order to see
the baby, and the mom had to be in the quarantine room
a lot of extra work but I was never afraid of getting
covid.”

“And how was it working in the gear?” I
followed-up?

She explained, “The gear was a lot and super
crazy. You would go and gear all up even though you had
to see the baby for 5 minutes, and sometimes it took
longer to gear up than see the baby.”

“But you guys did have enough masks, right?”
“There was a shortage of N95 masks and you had
to carry your N95 mask around for the day in a brown
lunch paper bag, and if you lost it, it would be hard to find
another one because there was a shortage.”
I thought it was so interesting because I thought all
of the nurses and staff had the special masks when Covid
started. I didn’t realize there was a shortage at the
beginning of the pandemic!

“Not all heroes
wear capes; some

wear scrubs.”

Kristen and I continued talking, and I switched my topic
to focus on her work and why she enjoys it. “Why do you enjoy
working as a nurse practitioner?” I asked.

She answered, “I love working with kids and I think
helping people to get better and loves the relationship with
some of the families I work with.” She also said it was “just my
thing”

The next thing that we talked about was why she
desired to become a nurse and her answer to that was, “I find
the human body I so interesting and I know that is kinda weird
but find it cool and amazing. It's Like a machine that works
perfectly together.”

Kristen outside with her mask and “How do you handle the stress of your job and how do
attitude ready to go! you bring out the fun in your job with your peers? I questioned.

Tools that an amazing nurse “I love the people I work with which makes the job so
practitioner uses! much easier and you have to keep it light” She answered.

Then later on we talked about her job more and it was
super cool and interesting another quote I got from her was
“how do you deal with someone who is not satisfied with your
help and why?”

Her response to that was “First I address that they are not
satisfied and I don't pretend that they are not satisfied then I try
to talk to them about it I try to come up with a solution or try to
come up with a plan”

Another thing about the job she really likes is meeting
forgin nurses and talking to them, “I also really like seeing their
way of doing things because it is different in every country and
they also have different views on things that are helpful.”

As I wrapped up my interview I just had one last question
that I surprisingly did not ask ¨how did you get into the nursing
practitioner field?¨

She thought about it for a moment then he said¨I always
loved biology and it was my favorite subject in school and I
never thought to go into the nursing field but when I went to
college I got a degree in business.” Obviously, later on, she
changed back to medicine and worked to become a nurse
practitioner.

Once we finished the interview, I realized how glad I am
she became a nurse practitioner. Her work reminded me of a
quote I found once I was done with the interview. It said, “A nurse
practitioner is a work of heart,” and that is a perfect way to
describe her because she is incredibly caring in her work and
outside. Thank you, Kristen, for being amazing!

Words to describe her

If I had one word to describe Kristen it would be “amazing” because it ties both smart, brave, and
funny. I would describe her as “brave” because if you ever need someone to help you, then she is that
person that will help you no matter what. A time where she showed this trait was when she saved people
from Covid when she helped to give our town the Covid vaccines.

Also, she is really funny and can make jokes about anything and everything. Every time she comes
over we always find a way to laugh and sometimes it's funnier than other times but I do enjoy laughing with
her. This would be a good one for her because of what evidence I just said.

Lastly, she is really smart and not just because she is a nurse practitioner but because she is willing to
explain anything to anybody. That is a cool character trait to have, especially when you are a nurse
practitioner. She demonstrates this trait when we work together, and she helps me

In conclusion, those are some words I would describe her as because she is all of those amazing
things, and I could come up with 1 million different ways of saying how awesome she is!

From Sand to
Snow

A conversation
with Yuklan

By Mack Robledo

Big Y holding me as a baby the My extended family at the 2017 Mass
day I was born. General Hospital Storybook Ball.

Someone once said, “When a child is I first sat down to talk with Big Y about
born, so is a grandmother.” The community her growing up on the island. She said that
member that I chose is my grandmother, she used to run around outside from
Yuklan Gagnon. I call her Big Y, not because morning ‘till night with her two younger
of the supermarket, but because she is the sisters, climb tropical fruit trees, all while
matriarch of our family. I decided to base dodging venomous snakes and alligators
this project on her life because she has had that lurked in the rivers they loved to swim
a very interesting childhood on the island of in. She said that she loved being able to walk
Trinidad and Tobago in the Caribbean. She down to the beautiful beaches and play
has shared so many fascinating stories with outside in the searing tropical weather, and
me. I was excited to learn about her because by the time she and her sisters got back
she lived in the Caribbean until she moved inside, they were exhausted.
to Massachusetts in her late twenties.

Gagnon’s
Garden

As I asked her about how she Big Y with her award-winning squashes. (Top Left).
grew up, Big Y told me that she grew up Habanero peppers that she grew. (Top Right).
on an almost a “mini farm.” “We had cows Bounty of vegetables from her garden. (Bottom)
and chickens, turkeys, dogs, cats, and
pigs,” she explained. She even had a Another topic that I wanted to discuss
monkey named Jeff. She used to play in with her was what she liked to do back then.
her sugarcane and rice plantations. “I’ve She told me how cricket was a very popular
loved gardening all my life,” Big Y said. sport on the island, but she didn't find
Her love for gardening began on the interest in sports until college. She played
island, and it is still her passion all these volleyball and ping pong and even got
years later. She has even won 1st prize at nicknamed “The Wall,” because no ball got
the town fair for her GIANT squashes. passed her. When she first moved to the
Spicy peppers are one of her favorites States, she tried golf with my grandfather,
to grow for her “famous” hot sauce, that and, “-birdied my first hole of golf in my life …
will melt your face off. The love for it runs then quit!” She didn't understand what was
in our family, except for my sister. so hard about that game.

Big Y as a middle school aged Music was a big part of her life, and
child. still is. They listened to a ton of music on the
radio, as they didn’t have TVs. They would
debate about which of their favorite singers
was better: Elvis or Pat Boone. Steelpan
music was invented in Trinidad and is
something we still enjoy to listen to today.
She explained that she took piano lessons
for four years! She also played the organ in
church, and even guitar. When I asked her
about what she misses most about the
island, she told me, “I miss the ocean and the
good weather. Oh, and we drove on the left
side of the road.”

Island’s
Impact

One of the many beaches in Trinidad. As we got closer to finishing up the
A Trinidad mountain range. interview, some fun facts about her and the
island came up during our discussion. Trinidad
and Tobago, the two southernmost islands in the
Caribbean, are under the same government.
They are a melting pot of cultures and cuisine.
The Chamber of Commerce once approached
Big Y and offered her to be Miss Trinidad and
Tobago to compete in the Miss Universe
pageant. She respectfully declined because her
mother was so strict and didn't want her on TV.

Religion is and has been a big part of her
life. Missionaries introduced Christianity to her
family when she was 5 years old, and today she is
still involved in the church. In Trinidad, she got a
bachelor's degree in religious studies. When she
came to Worcester, she got another bachelor’s
degree in journalism from Assumption College.
She is even a published co-author of
“Advent…Like a Thief in the Night.” You can find it
on Amazon. Big Y loves to tell us Bible stories
and would even like to write a children's book
next.

She told me about how she had never
seen snow before on the island, and for
Christmas, she would get this spray snow from a
can to spray on her tree. When she moved to this
new snowy climate, she remembers hearing that
there would be the first snowfall the next
morning, so she ran outside in her pajamas
barefoot the day after and dove into a
snowbank. But of course, she ran back in after
she realized how cold it was! I asked her about
what she does in her free time now, and she
replied, “I still love to garden, write, and love to
go to beaches with my family. My favorites are
Ogunquit beach in Maine, and Amelia Island in
Florida.” She says that she tries to go on
vacations any chance she gets.

Attributes and Awards

If I were to describe her with a single trait, I would say that she is nurturing. I
would describe her this way because she was instrumental in my sister and my
upbringing as she helped raise us until we were school-aged. A time that she showed
this was when she would babysit us, and she would help us with anything we wanted to
do. She taught us how to have proper manners, sew, and play the piano, but arts and
crafts were my favorite. She always had new materials to work with, and she would let
us make whatever we wanted.

Big Y watching me while mom was at Arts and Crafts time!
work.

Me holding one of the carrots that If I could give her an honorary award, I
she grew in her garden. would give her the Green Thumb Award. I
would give her this because she grew up on a
farm, and she has been gardening as long as
I have known her. She grows the best plants,
and I remember picking her strawberries in
the garden. Even when I was 5 years old, I
would go to her house and we would pick
fresh vegetables. Today, you can definitely
pick out her house in the neighborhood
because it has the most beautiful flowers
and gardens surrounding it.

As I reflected on her life, from the
sandy beaches to snowy banks, she has
impacted my life in many ways. The
experiences from her childhood has rubbed
off on me. I can't wait to hit the beaches with
her this summer and am even growing my
own hot peppers in our family garden!

HOME
OF

CACTUS

It is a long established fact that a reader Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the
printing and typesetting industry. Lorem
will be distracted by the readable content of a Ipsum has been the industry's standard
page when looking at its layout. The point of dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an
using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a unknown printer took a galley of type and
more-or-less normal distribution of letters, scrambled it to make a type specimen book.
as opposed to using 'Content here, content It has survived not only five centuries, but
here', making it look like readable English. also the leap into electronic typesetting,
Many desktop publishing packages and web remaining essentially unchanged. It was
page editors now use Lorem Ipsum as their popularised in the 1960s with the release of
default model text, and a search for 'lorem Letraset sheets containing Lorem Ipsum
ipsum' will uncover many websites still in passages, and more recently with desktop
their infancy. Various versions have evolved publishing software like Aldus PageMaker
over the years, sometimes by accident, including versions of Lorem Ipsum.
sometimes on purpose (injected humour and
the like).

GARDEN
IN
ROOM

Contrary to popular belief, Lorem Ipsum is not
simply random text. It has roots in a piece of
classical Latin literature from 45 BC, making it
over 2000 years old. Richard McClintock, a
Latin professor at Hampden-Sydney College in
Virginia,

It is a long established fact that a reader will be
distracted by the readable content of a page
when looking at its layout. The point of using
Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less
normal distribution of letters, as opposed to
using 'Content here, content here', making it
look like readable English. Many desktop
publishing packages and web page editors now
use Lorem Ipsum as their default model text,
and a search for 'lorem ipsum' will uncover
many websites still in their infancy. Various
versions have evolved over the years,
sometimes by accident, sometimes on purpose
(injected humour and the like).

Contrary to popular belief, Lorem Ipsum is not NATURE
simply random text. LIVING

It is a long established fact that a reader
will be distracted by the readable
content of a page when looking at its
layout. The point of using Lorem
Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less
normal distribution of letters, as
opposed to using 'Content here,
content here', making it look like
readable English. Many desktop
publishing packages and web page
editors now use Lorem Ipsum as their
default model text, and a search for
'lorem ipsum' will uncover many
websites still in their infancy. Various
versions have evolved over the years,
sometimes by accident, sometimes on
purpose (injected humour and the
like).
Contrary to popular belief, Lorem
Ipsum is not simply random text. It has
roots in a piece of classical Latin
literature from 45 BC, making it over
2000 years old. Richard McClintock, a
Latin professor at Hampden-Sydney
College in Virginia, looked up one of
the more obscure Latin words,
consectetur, from a Lorem Ipsum
passage, and going through the cite of
the word in classical literature.

HOME
OF

CACTUS

It is a long established fact that a reader Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the
printing and typesetting industry. Lorem
will be distracted by the readable content of a Ipsum has been the industry's standard
page when looking at its layout. The point of dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an
using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a unknown printer took a galley of type and
more-or-less normal distribution of letters, scrambled it to make a type specimen book.
as opposed to using 'Content here, content It has survived not only five centuries, but
here', making it look like readable English. also the leap into electronic typesetting,
Many desktop publishing packages and web remaining essentially unchanged. It was
page editors now use Lorem Ipsum as their popularised in the 1960s with the release of
default model text, and a search for 'lorem Letraset sheets containing Lorem Ipsum
ipsum' will uncover many websites still in passages, and more recently with desktop
their infancy. Various versions have evolved publishing software like Aldus PageMaker
over the years, sometimes by accident, including versions of Lorem Ipsum.
sometimes on purpose (injected humour and
the like).

GARDEN
IN
ROOM

Contrary to popular belief, Lorem Ipsum is not
simply random text. It has roots in a piece of
classical Latin literature from 45 BC, making it
over 2000 years old. Richard McClintock, a
Latin professor at Hampden-Sydney College in
Virginia,

It is a long established fact that a reader will be
distracted by the readable content of a page
when looking at its layout. The point of using
Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less
normal distribution of letters, as opposed to
using 'Content here, content here', making it
look like readable English. Many desktop
publishing packages and web page editors now
use Lorem Ipsum as their default model text,
and a search for 'lorem ipsum' will uncover
many websites still in their infancy. Various
versions have evolved over the years,
sometimes by accident, sometimes on purpose
(injected humour and the like).

Contrary to popular belief, Lorem Ipsum is not NATURE
simply random text. LIVING

It is a long established fact that a reader
will be distracted by the readable
content of a page when looking at its
layout. The point of using Lorem
Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less
normal distribution of letters, as
opposed to using 'Content here,
content here', making it look like
readable English. Many desktop
publishing packages and web page
editors now use Lorem Ipsum as their
default model text, and a search for
'lorem ipsum' will uncover many
websites still in their infancy. Various
versions have evolved over the years,
sometimes by accident, sometimes on
purpose (injected humour and the
like).
Contrary to popular belief, Lorem
Ipsum is not simply random text. It has
roots in a piece of classical Latin
literature from 45 BC, making it over
2000 years old. Richard McClintock, a
Latin professor at Hampden-Sydney
College in Virginia, looked up one of
the more obscure Latin words,
consectetur, from a Lorem Ipsum
passage, and going through the cite of
the word in classical literature.