Love Connect Tend

05/10/2024

Happy Friday, everyone! Meredith McKown here, founder of Love Connect Tend, snapping a super psyched selfie with ‘s first two nurse mentors, and Maura Rodriguez!
We are developing a mentorship program between retired/veteran nurses and new nurses at the Birthing Center at Martha Jefferson . We are so excited!!Also joining us are the former nurse manager, MaryannLucia, and former assistant nurse manager, . If you would like to learn more or be a part of this project, message us here. The more, the merrier! Let’s bring some and to our community hospital, where many of us begin our journey of parenthood, the ultimate work of .

05/08/2024

We are honoring Brenda Deller for her exemplary tending today! She was recognized by her colleague, Kimberly Elgin.
Brenda is a Clinical Nurse Specialist in the Acute Renal Unit at UVA Health. She has been a nurse for 30 years!

Love Connect Tend is asking our tenders a few questions that we want to know. Any of you following along here may want to ask yourselves the same questions. We would love to hear your answers in the comments!

1. What drew you to nursing?
While visiting her grandmother in a nursing home, Brenda met the nurse in attendance. The nurse allowed Brenda , then 10 years old, to shadow her for the day while the nurse went about her tasks of tending to residents. “She really took me under her wing.” Brenda found that she thoroughly enjoyed the work , and this experience led her to pursue a career in nursing.

2. What about your current job motivates you to stay?
“My team”. The consistent presence of a supportive team of coworkers motivates Brenda to stay in her current job.

3. What about your current job threatens to drive you out?
The pressure to “hang in there”, stay late, work overtime, even when it is at a disservice to your health.

4. What are you doing to tend yourself?
"I try to make time to quiet my mind, be still and do nothing for a little while”, Brenda said, as well as eating a healthier diet with more protein and less sugar.

Brenda is pictured here with her adorable pup, Channing, one of her favorite tendees. Please go to our website for more photos!

https://loveconnecttend.org/portrait-of-a-tender

Thank you, Brenda, for your exemplary tending! We see you and we appreciate you.

Meredith McKown Photography

05/06/2024

Today is the first day of National Nurses Week, so we are kicking the week off with our first ever Portrait of a Tender. Adelle has tended thousands of our tiniest Charlottesvillians over the last 33 years working in NICU and newborn nursery at SSentara Healthand at UUVA Health
She's tending today, in fact, caring for newborns and their families. In 2022 she accepted a board member position at LLove Connect Tend and we are honored to have her aboard.
Please hit the heart button and give her a round of applause! Thank you, AAdelle Karaca!!

"The American Nurses Association is celebrating National Nurses Week 2024 May 6 - May 12, and throughout May. This year's theme, "Nurses Make the Difference," honors the incredible nurses who embody the spirit of COMPASSION and care IN EVERY health care SETTING."

Keep an eye out. Brand new Portrait of a Tender coming this week!

AAmerican Nurses Association

05/02/2024

YES!!! THIS!!!

The longer I live, the more deeply I learn that love — whether we call it friendship or family or romance — is the work of mirroring and magnifying each other's light. Gentle work. Steadfast work.
Life-saving work in those moments when life and shame and sorrow occlude our own light from our view, but there is still a clear-eyed loving person to beam it back. In our best moments, we are that person for another.
-James Baldwin, American writer, 1964

*

Safety. Community. Connection. That's polyvagal.
Learn more about the art and science of human connection on our website at polyvagal.org

05/02/2024

"Any form of art is a form of power; it has impact, it can affect change – it can not only move us, it makes us move.”
- Ossie Davis





Calling all HEALTHCARE WORKERS!
Honor a NURSE who excels in looking after others.

https://loveconnecttend.org/portrait-of-a-tender

04/19/2024

Healthcare workers! Nominate a NURSE for ! Show them you appreciate their work of tending, the work of looking after others. They will receive a free portrait session with ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

04/11/2024

We need your help! Anyone interested in learning more about Love Connect Tend, Portrait of a Tender, nurse mentorship or TENDY events please message us here or at [email protected] and join us for our planning event this Saturday 4/13 from 5-8 in Cville! Live music, best pizza, and cool people promised.

03/19/2024

Our ability to connect with others is rooted deep in our biology.
Oxytocin/Love drives us to connect. Vasopressin/Fear drives us to protect. How they work together to modulate these functions is dependent on how safe we feel in our environment. This is an ancient survival mechanism. The duality of love and fear is innate in all of us, and fear has both a biological and an environmental advantage. We must work to cultivate connection in our lives. It is truly embodied medicine. Love leads to wellness, whereas fear leads to illness.
Check out our page on “Love as Embodied Medicine” for more!
https://loveconnecttend.org/love-as-embodied-medicine

03/19/2024

Our ability to connect with others is rooted deep in our biology.
Oxytocin/Love drives us to connect. Vasopressin/Fear drives us to protect. How they work together to modulate these functions is dependent on how safe we feel in our environment. This is an ancient survival mechanism. The duality of love and fear is innate in all of us, and fear has both a biological and an environmental advantage. We must work to cultivate connection in our lives. It is truly embodied medicine. Love leads to wellness, whereas fear leads to illness.
Check out our page on "Love as Embodied Medicine" for more!
https://loveconnecttend.org/love-as-embodied-medicine

03/18/2024

Calling all of Charlottesville’s physicians and healthcare workers! We are currently accepting nominations of NURSES who excel at tending for our project. We will choose one nominee per month for a portrait session with . Nominate a coworker and let us show them some LOVE!!! Link in bio.

03/13/2024

Charlottesvillians! Sharing time and space with Kim Munson of is an incredible experience, and is offering this wonderful opportunity to anyone and everyone who would like to attend. Please consider joining and be sure to let your favorite tenders know about it as well! It is FREE and open to the public!