Happy National Nurses Day to Epiphany Center’s Nurse Practitioner Melissa Belbahri!
Nurse Practitioner Melissa Belbahri has been treating Epiphany’s clients for over 20 years.
The heart of the healthcare sector, nurses play a vital role in our lives, and we recognize this by celebrating National Nurses Day on May 6. At the end of the 19th century, Florence Nightingale essentially founded modern nursing. Thanks to her strict use of handwashing and hygiene practices while caring for wounded soldiers in the Crimean War, Nightingale and her helpers reduced the death rate from 42% to 2% — paving the way for nursing as we know it now. National Nursing Week, which runs through May 12, was first observed in the U.S. in October 1954 to mark the 100th anniversary of Nightingale’s work in Crimea.
Today we’re marking this special day by shining a well-deserved spotlight on Melissa Belbahri. For over two decades, Melissa has served as the Nurse (and Nurse Practitioner since 2013) in Epiphany’s Pediatric Clinic with Dr. Clem, often caring for our clients’ little ones from the day they’re born until they head off to college.
1. What drew you to Epiphany Center and how long have you worked here?
I had returned to school to obtain my Bachelor of Science in Nursing and Public Health Nursing certification. I came to Epiphany looking for a weekend R.N. job. (Compatible with raising teenagers!) That was 23 years ago! What has kept me here has been the clients. I have also worked with some amazing staff and, of course, our pediatrician Dr. Clem has been a wonderful colleague.
Dr. Clem and Melissa treat a client with medical school aspirations.
2. How has your work evolved to meet our San Francisco community’s changing needs and challenges over the last few decades?
As a solo nurse in this setting, I've had to make sure I am up to date on a range of topics. I obtained my Master of Science/ Nurse Practitioner certification while here and became a Certified Addiction Nurse. I say this only because it is one’s own responsibility to stay up to date and challenge previously held beliefs in any field. Particularly regarding substance use there are so many myths, prejudices, and outdated beliefs.
We now ask better questions and listen more to the reasons clients say they use. The reasons are as important as the various substances which often change over time. Language seems less stigmatizing now. There are also fewer myths re: substance exposed infants and women who use than 20 years ago. This is the third opioid wave in our country. So, the specific substances people use may change but the reasons for using maybe not as much. In the case of our clients, the reasons they are here are complex. There is more understanding and acknowledgement of the broader inequities and health disparities our clients face. We are also more strengths-based in our approaches.
3. Providing nursing care during the pandemic seems to be a rollercoaster. Often the first and last person a patient sees during a visit, nurses work so hard to care for others. How might the profession adapt going forward?
I’ve always taught health education classes here on disease transmission and prevention, the importance of immunizations for all of us, the importance of basic handwashing, how we all play a role in one another’s health. I’ve bored our clients with classes about how Tuberculosis was responsible for one out of seven deaths in the early 19th century, the story of Typhoid Mary and the 1918 flu. Since Covid, they pay attention and see the relevance more.
4. What do you find most rewarding about your work with Epiphany’s families?
Most rewarding? The opportunity to start caring for clients prenatally – to help give a child and parent the healthiest start possible by providing a stable, safe, nurturing environment and consistent quality childcare. But that really goes for anyone in recovery. I cannot recall a child who was born prematurely while her mom resided at Epiphany. That is amazing. I like knowing our kids are up to date on their vaccines and Well Baby Checks and seeing some of them for years afterwards in our pediatric clinic.
5. Of Epiphany’s values of compassion, respect, creativity, advocacy, and simplicity, which one is your favorite to practice and why?
I will say respect. Because everyone who walks in the door is deserving of respect and admiration. Respect comes easily when you listen to our client’s stories of resilience. I just listened to a webinar on stigma and substance use. I am paraphrasing the Nurse who said, “No one brings you a casserole when you go into recovery.” And why not? Basically because of all the stigma and judgement, defining others by their behaviors, the lack of respect attached to those with substance use disorders and a commonly held belief that one can recover on their own without the support systems often available for other disorders.
Thank you, Melissa for being a vital part of our families’ support systems as they overcome challenges and build healthy, promising futures!