Nurse of the Year has been in patients' shoes

There are some people who are determined to reach their goal in spite of what life puts in the way. Julie Tuttle, who grew up in Wilton, is a member of that group.

In 2002 she was seriously injured in a traffic accident during her senior year at Simmons College. She was told she could not recover enough to be a nurse, that she might not walk again.

Tuttle, now a medical-
surgical specialist, was recently named Nurse of the Year at Southern New Hampshire Medical Center in Nashua, where she works in the Post Anesthesia Care Unit at the hospital. She was also involved in developing a bedside swallowing evaluation for stroke patients and worked on a statewide Wristband Safety Project, which alerts hospital staff to a patient's medical, allergy and falling history.

Her energy, enthusiasm and thoughtfulness also earned her the Clint Jones Award for New Hampshire Nurses in 2007.

That statewide award recognizes a registered nurse with less than five years of experience, who exemplifies the practice of quality nursing care and demonstrates a career commitment.

Tuttle, who lives in Mason now, is a graduate of Wilton-Lyndeborough Cooperative High School. She and two friends were in an accident in Mason on Labor Day weekend in 2002. Her friends were killed and Tuttle sustained major injuries.

“It was a really bad accident,” she said recently. “They had to wait a week before they could even decide to operate. My hip was separated from my pelvis.” She also had a broken back, shoulder, arm and other injuries. She was taken to a hospital in Leominster, Mass., than flown to Worcester, Mass.

“It takes a long time to heal bones,” she said. “Rehab was very intense. I was a month in a wheelchair then a month on crutches. They told me I'd never be a nurse and to find another career. I said, ‘oh no, I have to finish. I'm going back to school.' ”

She went back home to recover from the injuries.

“I was only 22, ready to start my life and I was like a child again (having to be taken care of). It's very hard when you've been independent. It was like someone had built a wall in front of me. I said I had to either give up or climb over that wall.”

She didn't give up. By the time she had graduated from physical therapy, she had handled the LPN program, passed the tests and received her license as a practical nurse so that she could go to work.

“I got my degree in 2004, but it took me a year to do a semester,” she said.

It has given her a different perspective, she said.

“I know how everyone feels when they come into the hospital. I had a theory and knew what would happen, but I was still scared.”

She started her hospital nursing career at SNHMC. “They have a wonderful program here for new graduates. I'd been working, but I didn't have any hospital experience. I thought first I'd be an orthopedic nurse,” she added, “since I'd been a patient. It was a little hard on my hip so I changed to pre-op where there's less lifting. I love it.”

She has also worked in the intensive care unit. “That is more challenging,” she said. “All of that wonderful technology.”

She has a great love of life, perhaps influenced by nearly losing it.

“I work really hard and try to make every day count. I love to do research. I had the opportunity to work with speech therapists” which led to the evaluation of swallowing, sometimes a major problem for stroke victims.

Her latest “big project” was the wristband program, which identifies potential problems such as fall and allergy risks.

“I like this kind of project. If it saves just one person, it is worth it,” she said.

Tuttle has put the program together in an online format to make it easier for nurses to study on their own time. It makes it more convenient for everyone,” she said.

Nursing is a wonderful career, she said, laughing. “And you get to dress in comfy clothes.”

Tuttle laughs a lot.