By Hannah Oswalt
Jamie Blevins is someone who has a heart for the community and is always wanting to give back. She’s most known for putting on “The Route 66 Steps For Success” 5K that used to be in Sapulpa and now she’s giving back in another way.
Blevins’ sons, who had a love for running, spurred her to bring a 5K back to Sapulpa.“The whole premise was fitness and community,” she shared. As part of the program, Blevins worked to include multiple departments of the school system into the race—from the art programs designing the t-shirt to the drumline playing at the event, to students earning community service hours by volunteering to work the race, and many other school organizations pitching in one way or another.
One of the more notable moments from one of the races came when a blind man wanted to sign up, “He had never done a race ever and he had his dog,” she said. “When our racing service said we could not do that, my son and then one of his buddies ran with him,” she added.
The Route 66 Steps For Success 5K ran for nine years and Blevins would work all year long to make sure she knew every aspect of the race. Over that time ”We probably gave over $50 to $75,000 to the school, depending on the bills that we had to pay for all costs involved,” Blevins said. ”I think we really did a great service for our community for as long as it was able to.”
Jamie was a nurse for 30 years and an educator for about 17-and-a-half of those years who, after having a takotsubo cardiomyopathy (broken heart), transitioned into the world of writing and entrepreneurship. During that time she also had to step away from putting on the 5K.
March 26th of 2018 is when she had a stress-induced heart attack because of incivility in the workplace, but out of that adversity, she’s been able to turn around and educate people on the importance of being kind to one another.
“Nursing is a wonderful profession and there’s a lot of wonderful people but that’s a huge problem that needs to be fixed. Nurses want to fix everything, it seems like, but for some reason, incivility gets overlooked,” stated Blevins.
According to an article from nursingworld.org, “Incivility, bullying, and violence in the workplace are serious issues in nursing, with incivility and bullying widespread in all settings.” The website defines incivility is “one or more rude, discourteous, or disrespectful actions that may or may not have a negative intent behind them”.
Blevins talked about how the heart attack changed her whole life and was one of the hardest things she’s ever had to work through. “I felt good being this independent, educated person and making a difference, and then it was like, ‘I’m lost,’ and it was probably a good six to eight months before I would go out of the house.” She went on to say she would still go to the school and grocery store and some other places “but I mean it was in and out…I think because I was broken and thinking, ‘Okay, who’s gonna hurt me again?’”
As a way to process her situation, she shared, “I just kind of started writing in this little orange notebook. Just random stuff, I didn’t know where it was going and I’d put hope and trust, love, accountability, responsibility.” She was 46 years old when this happened. In her notebook she talks about 46 different character traits and incorporated the incivility, she described it as “Where God has created in me these different concepts” and how ”it was a healing process going through that and looking at my whole life, flashing through my eyes and some of the meditations were a little harder to get through than others.” She went on to say, “there’s a lot of scripture in there that kind of talks through different things and how God had helped me process through everything.”
Blevins shared her vision in that hopefully through this medium nursing would pay attention, “From a personal perspective and experience and hoping that it would not happen to anyone else.” She explained how, “we’re over 40 million nurses in the world. I mean, it’s huge, and I can’t tell you about the countless people that I’ve spoken to and I’ve personally watched and experienced these good people being treated so poorly and they go out of the profession altogether.”
Her book, “Mindful Meditations of a Nurse Warrior,” was published September 28th of 2020 and is available on Amazon.
Writing her book has expanded into other opportunities to share what she’s learned through her situation. “I didn’t want it to just be the book, but that’s my foundation.”
She has created, repurposed and renewed different types of art from pillows, to ornaments to wreaths, etc. Blevins creates from gently-used or brand new stuff and turns it into different kinds of products that signify her brand,and puts a heart somewhere on that particular product. “It’s all homemade. It’s mindfully thought through in the creation. And so that’s what I’ve been doing probably the last year and a half pretty solid,” she said.
Her logo—which is also on her book—is a heart made from her fingerprints. “It all comes from the heart and I’m hoping the message to re-instill that there’s still a lot of good in the world, kindness is so important.” She went on to say she wants, “To help hearts become whole again.”
One of the ways she hopes to make an impact is by spreading her mindful meditations on social media. “Every day I write mindful meditations of a nurse warrior through Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn,” she said. Where after reading “my daily bread” she will interpret her takeaway and habit to apply.
“#ANW(a nurse warrior) advocating for healthy lives, homes and work environments. And so that’s kind of been my motto if you will, that you know in order for us to live well whether it’s at home or at work.” Blevins says that through this, “It helps me to connect with God every day and realize how powerful He is in what He does for me in my family every single day.” She shared how she’s a lot more mindful of her priorities and what’s important in life.
“If I can at least touch one person’s life or help them that day, that’s all that matters.”
If you would like to know more about the products she offers or her book you can reach out to her at anursewarrior@gmail.com
