Hi, I'm Litton Reese. I'm a certified walk nurse, aka, a wound, ostomy incontinence nurse, and I supervise the walk departments at Northside Hospital, Gwinnett and Duluth. This week is Walk Week, and a time to celebrate this unique profession. I have been a nurse for 10 years and a walk nurse for seven, and I cannot imagine a more rewarding career than this. I oversee a team of amazing certified clinicians that get to see and help some of the most challenging patient cases in the hospital. Any person can have a wound, young, old, healthy, chronically ill, and my team sees all of them, from NICU to trauma ICU. We get called on by the nurses and doctors to solve big problems, and we get to come into the patient's room and let them know that we are going to help them heal, and we get to watch it all happen. When you get it right and you have all the puzzle pieces together, you really get to see the body heal. It's very powerful. The theme for this year's Walk Week is, "Walk nurses spread sunshine and healing," and it couldn't be more true. Happy Walk Nurse Week 2025.

Hi, I'm Theresa Garin, and I'm a certified WOC Nurse, that's short for Wound, Ostomy, and Continence Nurse. This week is WOC Week, and I would love to take a moment to share a bit of my story with you. Nursing is actually my second career. I've been an RN for around 12 years now, and I've been with Northside for 10. I have always been intrigued by wounds, even in nursing school. My nursing career actually started at Northside Atlanta on the ortho unit as a nurse extern. I remember walking into patients' rooms as a brand new nurse and seeing the WOC team in action. I was always so curious about how they were caring for these patients with complex wounds and ostomies. I felt like there was a whole other layer of patient care that I just really didn't understand, but I really wanted to learn more. That curiosity led me to discover the WOC specialty. I knew that it was exactly what I wanted to do, so I signed up and earned my certification. That was a little over six years ago. Now, I am proud to be the Clinical Supervisor at Northside Cherokee, where I get to share my passion for wound and ostomy care, educate others, and lead a team of incredible WOC nurses. Together, we are making a difference in the lives of our patients with wounds and ostomies every single day. I am so proud to be a WOC nurse. Every day, I'm reminded of why I chose this path, and how rewarding it is to support my patients on their healing journeys. Thank you for letting me share my story, and happy WOC Week.