All nurses are being celebrated on National Nurses Day, but an urgent care center in Culver City wanted to celebrate one nurse in particular after she’s spent the last 38 years taking care of people.
Her heroes were Mother Teresa and Florence Nightingale. By age 16, she was the youngest person in her nursing program. At 18, she became the good Samaritan who performed CPR and saved the life of a car accident victim. Jodi Schilperoort always felt destined to become a nurse.
“I think when my mom said Jewish little girls don’t become nuns. That’s when I started fighting my career,” Schilperoort said.
On Wednesday, Schilperoort was honored by her colleagues at Urgent Med in Culver City. There was cake passed around as coworkers exchanged warm words for a nurse described as a great example of the heroic work nurses do around the world.
“Jodi is an incredible human being. She’s selfless, she’s brave, she’s caring, she’s loving,” medical director Dr. Jacob Rastegar said.
She’s worked all over Southern California at Providence, and Cedars Sinai hospitals. She says her family and friends do worry about her work, but she says she is super careful, treating both Covid-19 and non-covid patients, with the proper gear.
“I’m very honored. I’m very blessed to give back that was given to me in my nursing career,” she said. “To be honest, I didn’t know today was National Nurses Day.”
She said nursing is a sisterhood, a privilege she shares with all those who take care of us.