March 23, 2021

CNO Melissa Fradette: This Is Why I’m a Nurse

Central, Rural Health

It’s been six short weeks since Melissa Fradette stepped into the role of system Chief Nursing Officer. In that time, she’s visited many sites and met with teams of nurses. “Just hearing people’s stories and listening to their experiences has changed me,” Melissa said. 

Her credentials and experience are impressive. She is an MSN, RN, CCRN-K. She’s been a staff nurse, charge nurse, nurse clinician in the ICU, and Director of the Magnet Program. Most recently, Melissa held responsibilities for the system perspective on the Incident Command planning section. 

She’s more likely, though, to tell you about growing up on a dairy farm, how much she loves sports, and that she’s a total Disney junkie. 

But if you want to get to know Melissa Fradette, ask her about being a nurse. 

“This is why I’m a nurse,” she began, “In critical care, I have seen people at their absolute worst. Not only patients, but their family members, too. And that is the one thing I’ve always appreciated about being an ICU nurse, we not only help a patient recover— or not — but we also help guide the family through difficult questions at a difficult time. It’s really about being able to make a connection with patients and families during some of the darkest moments of their lives.

What we face in healthcare is heartache. That existed before the pandemic, but the pandemic has amplified the feeling.

I used to live in Milaca which is about a 45-minute drive and I don’t know how many times after a shift I cried all the way home or called my Mom to say, ‘Just in case I may never be able to tell you again, I love you.’ What we face in healthcare is heartache. That existed before the pandemic, but the pandemic has amplified the feeling. That’s something nurses have always felt. 

And it’s not just critical care nurses. There are deaths on the oncology unit and everywhere. In ambulatory care, patients go to their primary care provider and nurses and the health care team come to know them. Then one day they stop coming. So, there’s that grieving process because we make a connection with the patient.”

Melissa believes nursing brings people together to provide the best possible care for a patient. “We pull everyone together and we look at patient care across a continuum. It’s not just acute. It’s not just ambulatory. It’s not just long-term care. It’s looking at healthcare from the day you were born to the day you die and connecting all the dots,” she says.