Lifelong F.F. Thompson Hospital nurse has learned to make balance in his life to avoid burnout
By Deborah Jeanne Sergeant
When not in his role as nurse leader on the post-anesthesia care unit at F.F. Thompson Hospital, Ken Nesbitt engages in a hobby probably unlike any of his colleagues: rabbitry.
In addition to showing and judging French lop rabbits, he has also been breeding them to develop a new approved color, “otter,” a goal he hopes to achieve this year.
“When you work in an emotionally taxing career like nursing, it helps to have a hobby like this that recharges you,” Nesbitt said.
Nesbitt is also outstanding among his healthcare peers in that F.F. Thompson recognized him with a Shining Star Award in 2020, which only 2% of employees receive.
Nursing had been a long-time career interest for Nesbitt.
The youngest of seven, he admired the work ethic of his sister who became a registered nurse while Nesbitt was still a child. As a junior and senior in high school, he attended nurse aid training classes hosted by Flint BOCES and also worked at Thompson as a dishwasher as a high school student.
Once he graduated, he transferred to the continuing care center as a nurse aid. He completed the registered nurse program at Finger Lakes Community College in 1992 and returned to college in 2004 to earn a Bachelor of Science in nursing at Keuka College.
“Thompson is exactly where I wanted to be as a nurse,” Nesbitt said. “It’s been a great place.”
Now 55, he has spent his entire career at Thomson, working in the recovery room since 2009.
“I enjoy the caregiving and primarily taking care of my community,” Nesbitt said. “It gives me great comfort to take care of previous teachers and classmates and parents of people I knew growing up and friends. I truly enjoy community nursing. I like the surgical area. For the most part, it’s great outcomes. People get things surgically repaired and they go home feeling better for it.”
He also likes the size of Thompson in that the organization is small enough that administrative leaders know hands-on staff by name.
Nesbitt also likes that the hospital is small enough that patients receive what he believes is a more personal type of care, but “we have some of the larger institutions nearby when we need that type of service,” he added. “We’re under the university umbrella which has opened resources for our community.”
He admonishes anyone interested in nursing to make sure that they view the career as a calling, not only as a means to earn a living.
“People in the ‘50s and ‘60s had a career because they punched a clock. But in nursing it has to be a passion,” he said. “They’re caregivers by nature. You have to have that level of excitement about the career and commitment to it.”
Still, he has observed a shift in new hires’ outlook which demonstrates a positive change within the industry.
“All the new folks I’m hiring are about work/life balance,” Nesbit said. “That’s new for me. I love that for them. It’s great they can still find the time to be a bedside nurse and learn but they can unplug ad spend time with family. I find it hard. When I’m away for a week, I truly do unplug. I don’t check emails and have a back-up plan at work. They’ve helped me see the benefit.”
He likes the many opportunities that nursing offers, from its many venues to the hands-on or behind-the-scenes approaches. Nurses can work in education as well. Nurses also have much to learn themselves as medical science advances.
“It’s always changing,” Nesbitt said. “If you’re bored as a nurse, you’re not doing something right. You have to find your niche and where you belong.”
Nesbitt enjoys working at Thompson so much that he even got married at chapel at Thompson Health.
“It was full circle,” he said. “We met there and were together 30 years and decided to be married there.”