Serving Adults With Autism With Nate Myers RN, BSN, CDDN | E. 56

Health equity and caring for people with intellectual disabilities.

 

 

Episode Introduction 

 

In this episode, Jim Cagliostro, VIE Healthcare’s Clinical Operations Performance Improvement Expert, interviewed Nate Myers to discuss his experience serving adults with autism. Topics include the motivation behind Nate’s move to Keystone, the goal to provide health equity for people with autism, the growing demand for medical experts and advocates in the field, and the ‘’Platinum Rule’’ of Keystone Human Services. 

 

 

Show Topics

 

 

• Working towards healing and wellness by focusing on strengths

• ‘’We grow the most when we’re stretched’’

• Providing community support to adults living with autism

• Leadership begins with having a passion for your work 

• Achieving a certification in developmental disabilities nursing

• Striving for health equity for people with autism or disabilities

• The need for more experts and advocates in the medical field

• The ‘’Platinum Rule’’ of Keystone Human Services

 

 

 

03:08 Working towards healing and wellness by focusing on strengths

Nate said his decision to become a nurse was influenced by understanding that everyone deserves positive relationships and experiences. 

 

‘’I'm pretty patient, I'm good at keeping a positive regard and encouraging others, so it just seemed to work. And I quickly developed an understanding and appreciation that every person desires and deserves everything good in life, to be understood, to be appreciated, to be independent as possible, do things that they enjoy, have positive relationships and be healthy. So that's the same for people with intellectual disabilities or autism. Of course, they want those things just like everyone else does. And so I learned a lot about what it means to be a human, and deciding to become a nurse was kind of just an extension of what it means to care for someone who's in a vulnerable position for sure but also working towards healing and wellness and focusing on strengths and not weaknesses. So all that kind of came together in my decision to be a nurse. And actually, when I told my wife, "I think I want to go to nursing school," she was like, "Yes, that's perfect. Go for it." So she was always an encourager for me and rooted me through a lot of the difficult aspects of becoming a nurse.’’

 

 

07:49 ‘’We grow the most when we’re stretched’’

Nate said that asking lots of questions helped him to develop a keen understanding of the nursing basics. 

 

‘’I think that's really important when you're in nursing is to challenge yourself. And I remember, going back to that encouragement from my wife, I remember when I started in the ICU, I felt so new and like I was in over my head. And my wife reminded me, we often grow the most when we're stretched, when we feel stretched. And so I've remembered that. I've taught that to other people. And I just remember every time I face a challenge that I'm stretching and I'm growing at the same time. So I think that's important to remember on anyone's journey. But in all those settings, I developed kind of a keen understanding of all the basics of nursing: physical assessment, clinical skills, differential diagnoses, how to do patient education, just working with people. And I always