Hey! I see there's already a thread about "what you think of nursing pins", but I've been online for hours about this and this is my last stop tonight!
Briefly, I got my RN 18 years ago, after 10 years as an NA and LPN. For most of my career, frankly I didn't wear my pin, although at times I had a little clip-on "badge holder" with it and other pins. Two or 3 years ago, it was "lost" at the huge hospital where I worked. Offered $100 cash reward - no luck. Someone could have hocked it for a few bucks, or maybe it fell in a trash can. Since then, I've been out of work due to chronic illness, waiting for disability settlement any day now.
How many seniors and disabled people have I felt for, in their sense of being a "has been" or a "nothing"? I've made a point of not asking people, "What did you USED to do?" (substitute, "What kind of work have you done?"). My point: now it would mean a lot for me to have that school pin, or even a pin from any "St John's Hospital and/or Nursing School". My school merged with a university, and they don't even make those pins any more.
Maybe someone out there has a "St John's" pin that they don't want. Or you may have some info that I have yet to find searching the Web. One site had almost 300 old nursing pins! but not one I could use. Lots of St Mary's and St Luke's,etc, etc.
Finally, let me just say, "Don't be too quick to decide you don't want/need that pin." Try looking down the road a few decades, when you may be retired or disabled or in another field. That pin might be a priceless memento from this unique part of your life. Or you could just go out and get one of those cute "I Love Nursing" pins with the syringe, bandaid, etc!
Oh, I will always be a nurse, whether for pay, as a volunteer, or just as a big part of "who I am".
