The odyssey of a male nurse!

A guy becoming an RN today is just a flip of history and more common then ever!

By Donna Culotta

Fifty years ago male nurses were as uncommon as cowboy boots on a snake. There just weren’t many at all. Michael Guillory of Fifth Ward wasn’t out to change the odds, he just wanted to get a degree in something he thought he would like.

After he graduated from Fifth Ward High School and “didn’t really know what I wanted to do,” a cousin suggested he go into nursing. Michael’s response perfectly fit 1981, “I didn’t know men do that,” he said. The cousin went on further and advised Michael to get an RN degree.

“I didn’t even know any male nurses,” he continued, “my cousin was the only one.”

Deciding he would, “give it a try,” Michael soon found out his parents were not receptive to the idea.

That did not deter him and he began his nursing studies at LSUA.

“There were four guys in a class of 86 students and when we graduated I was the only one left with 34 females.”

He said of his time at LSUA, “I was the baby in the room, I was only 18 and the majority were in their 30s, some in their 40s and 50s. They took me in because of their motherly instincts.”

Working his way through college, Michael was hired as an orderly at a nursing home. He really liked it because “I was in a medical setting with RNs and LPNs and it gave me time at night to study.”

Sleep was a strange animal and between classes and working at night he did get a “few hours in the evening.”

Michael received his nursing degree in three years and then went on to the Northwestern State University satellite campus at England Air Force Base to get his BS in nursing. Again working to put himself through.

Michael’s motivation to succeed was his father’s idea that men were not nurses, it was a female job. “Yet,” Michael pointed out, “originally and historically men were the nurses because it was unseemly for women to deal with the underside of caring for someone. It was war that forced women into the profession because of the men away fighting.”

His first nursing job was at the VA Hospital because he wanted to give back since a veteran’s group gave him a scholarship while he was in school.

The medical profession, perhaps more with the nursing community, can be liquid. “That’s one of the beauties of it,” he commented, “if you get bored or burned out where you are you can always move to a different department.”

Michael ended up at Rapides for 27 years but had a plethora of assignments. “Going to a different area gave me a chance to learn something new.” he remarked.

With a secure job, still Michael had to moonlight because his wife, Mary, was home with the children.

Just a few of the places where he’s worked locally include Avoyelles Hospital, served as Director of Nurses at Riviere de Soleil and did shift work on weekends.

As Michael’s career advanced and he was in management positions at. one point he decided he just “wanted to be at the bedside.”

And, how does a male nurse relate to a female patient? “I can sense if someone is uncomfortable,” he began, “and I tell them ‘I’m your nurse but if you want a female, I’ll get one. Sometimes they’re ok with me and sometimes they ask for a female.” He’s learned techniques and procedures to make any situation easy for the patient.

Michael’s nursing skills and extensive training prepared him for some tragic incidents in his own life.

“In 2005 my son Derek, who was 17 at the time, was in a car accident and sustained a traumatic brain injury. He was five weeks in ICU, went to Houston for evaluation and they said he needed to be in a nursing home. I was able to use my nursing experience to help him.”

Never giving up, Derek eventually was at his high school graduation, went to college, received a degree in business and is now married with two children.

“It was a turning point in my faith,” Michael said, “and Derek’s faith is very deep. I always say that when I grow up I want to be like him.”

The other experience had to do with Michael’s father who didn’t want his son to be a nurse.

“During my life I did CPR on my dad and mother and had to pronounce them dead. The same with my grandparents. The irony is when my dad died I used my nursing skills on him that he was against.”

The rest of the story: Eventually Michael and his father came to terms and there came a point when he would tell people that his son was a nurse.