PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — This week is National Nurses Week, and for Dorilee Kuhns, the Surgical Services Director at Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center, her heart and soul is nursing.
"I've kind of run the whole gamut here at Palm Beach Gardens," said Kuhns.
In 40 years, Kuhns has worked her way up the ranks at the hospital. Making things easier is the fact that her son, Nick Kuhns, works right down the hall as a cardiac catheterization lab nurse.
"It's OK, everyone kind of knows her," said Nick Kuhns.
"So now I got to be careful what I do," said Dorilee Kuhns. "Make sure I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing."
The family connections don't stop there. Kuhns' mom and aunts were nurses, so she knows how a nursing family works.
"It's natural. A nurse and a mom go hand-in-hand. And the nurse and the wife go hand-in-hand. With the physicians, I'm their wife. With my staff, I'm their mom, so it's real easy to transition," said Kuhns.
"She was just a regular mom at home,” said Nick Kuhns.
National Nurses Week means a lot to this duo. They know so many nurses are literally saving lives out there.
"Thank them all for what they do," said Dorilee Kuhns. "I know how hard of a sacrifice it is to be a nurse. How much you put up with and how many different personalities of patients you put up with. But it's rewarding in the end."
"We're here helping people every day, and a lot of people every day," said Nick Kuhns. "We put a lot of hard work into what we do."