Anita Reinhart listens to the heart and lungs of a patient Wednesday evening in the Progressive Care Unit at Henry County Hospital. Dianne Stephens, left, assisted Reinhart with an IV change. (C-T photo Max Gersh)

Lana Harsh remembers the night she shocked a patient back to life 17 times.

The man was only in his 30s, but a heart attack sent him to Henry County Hospital. And Harsh, an emergency department nurse, was in charge of his care that night.

As the man went into cardiac arrest over and over again, Harsh was forced to use the defibrillator. But when she called a doctor into the room, he just said, keep doing it as long as you keep getting him back. Harsh didn''t think her patient would make it through the night.

"I defibrillated him too many times," she said. "I didn''t think I could do it again and get him back."

But when her shift finally ended, the man was still alive. Harsh said he''s had a heart transplant since then and is doing well today.

Not every day in the life of a nurse is that dramatic. But HCH nurses say each day in patient care is just as important. This week they''re honored for their service in national Nursing Services Week.

Harsh, a 45-year veteran at HCH, said a nurse''s daily duties can be summed up in four words: keep the patients happy. But what that entails changes all the time.

Each day the nurses start IVs, give medicine, change bedpans, help patients walk, dress and undress them, give medications and whatever else is necessary.

An average shift for licensed nurses is 12 hours long. Anita Reinhart, a registered nurse in the progressive care unit, said those hours fly by on a busy day. On slow days, though, 12 hours can feel like a lifetime.

But Reinhart said she can''t imagine doing anything else, or being anywhere other than HCH. After five years on the floor here, she said she left to try another hospital. One and a half years later, though, she came back.

Her nursing career began when she was just 16 years old. She worked as a nurse''s aide before going to school.

"But you learn more in the first year than you do in school," she said.

Once she was hired at HCH, she started in the operating room and was trained in surgery trauma. She said that taught her to think quickly on her feet.

But she also received unofficial training from an older nurse on the floor. The woman was from Arkansas, and after 38 years as a nurse, she was almost ready to retire.

"She''d take me and say, ''Now honey, it''s OK to cry. You can hold their hand,''" Reinhart said. "... I''ve carried that with me ever since."

Janice Margison, a certified surgical technologist, has been at HCH for 45 years. But no matter how much experience you have, she said, losing a patient is never easy. She''s a professional, she said, but she''s still human.

"In surgery, you always expect them to make it," she said, her voice catching in her throat. "But there''s a few who don''t."

Reinhart said when she loses a patient, she has to step aside for a few minutes to regroup and take deep breaths. Sometimes they even cry, whether alone or with the family.

Even in those moments, though, she said she gets satisfaction from knowing she and the hospital staff did everything they could for that patient.

Dianne Stephens, who retired from HCH in 2007 after 30 years, still works at the hospital in the nursing office as well as in patient care sitting. She''s seen her fair share of difficult patients, she said.

But each time she tries to remember that those patients are sick. When she doesn''t feel well, she said, she knows she might be grumpy too. So instead of retaliating, she tries to overlook it.

Ever-Changing Field

On top of patient care, nurses must constantly adapt to the ever-changing methods at the hospital. Margison said in her 45 years at HCH, she''s seen surgeries move from open procedures to mostly laparoscopic techniques.

Harsh said they used to sharpen needles with stones when needles and syringes were reusable.

And where paper was once the norm, Reinhart said almost everything has switched to computers.

That''s why it''s so important to always ask questions, Harsh said.

"Everybody I had worked with and trained with always told you to ask," she said. "If you have a problem, go to somebody if you don''t know what to do."

Even with the changes and the occasional difficult patient, Harsh said it''s still a satisfying career. She can''t imagine doing anything else, she said, and to this day she never has.