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RESERVE, La. – Winston Churchill once said, “You make a living by what you get. You make a life by what you give.” Louisiana Department of Veterans Affairs (LDVA) Southeast Louisiana Veterans Home (SELVH) Nurse Jacqueline Ann Young is a living representation of what it means to give to others.
Nurse Young was the second licensed practical nurse hired at LDVA’s Reserve, La., home when it opened in June of 2007. She has been an essential part of their team for the past 11 years where she has remained focused on providing excellent healthcare to residents.
From an early age, she knew she wanted to go into the nursing field. She had her heart set on becoming a nurse in the U. S. Air Force and follow in the footsteps of her beloved uncle who served for over 20 years.
Life does not always work out the way we planned, but it does lead us to where we need to be. In Young’s case, she worked hard to become a licensed practical nurse that would later care for America’s service men and women in their time of need.
It was the right path for her as she has cherished the experiences of the past 29 years that she has worked in the nursing field.
Prior to joining the SELVH team, Nurse Young says she prayed and asked God where he wanted her to go. “This is where He sent me, and I am grateful because I wanted to give thanks back to the Veterans for all they have done for us,” she says.
Some of the most memorable moments she’s had while working at the home are, “just seeing the Veteran’s smile and say thank you.”
Nurse Young is tickled at how the simplest things make our Veterans happy, like a cup of coffee first thing in the morning. “I asked one of my Veterans what makes my coffee so good and he said it’s because you put L-O-V-E in it. That just brightens my whole day!”
She absolutely loves and recommends the nursing field where she is able to help her Veterans, ensure that the best is done for them and their healthcare needs, and just being able to give them a kind word.
Nurse Young’s advice for future nurses, “Do the best you can and do it out of LOVE.” And, she shares her personal work ethic of, “What would Jesus do?”
She admits that working in the nursing field is sometimes challenging for her because she feels some people don’t have the same level of compassion that she does. Nurse Young encourages everyone to “just treat everyone how you’d like to be treated.”
“It is an honor and a privilege to care for the men and women who sacrificed so much for us,” she says of working at the SELVH. In her years there, she has gotten to know what they went through to protect our freedoms and she feels they did more that she could ever do.
SELVH is a 156 bed facility located on 20 acres just 27 miles from New Orleans. It is conveniently located next to St. John’s Parish Senior Citizens Center and the V.A. Community Based Outpatient Clinic. The facility offers a variety of amenities including a fishing lake and a large chapel, in addition to complete medical care including skilled nursing, physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, Alzheimer and dementia care, and transportation services.
To find out more on how to apply for LDVA nursing home job openings, please visit the Louisiana State Civil Service website, at: https://jobs.civilservice.louisiana.gov/.
