Faked concussion, high school biology lead Auburn Medical Center RNs to nursing

Mike Duckworth, RN, spent much of his youth in the hospitals of Michigan, where he grew up.

“I was diagnosed with a bunch of diseases; none were accurate,” says Duckworth.

That was true — until the time he faked it.

When Duckworth was 11 years old, he pretended to have a concussion so he wouldn’t have to take a science test at school. His mom took him to the emergency department, where he was given a CT scan.

The doctor came back with good news and bad news.

“He said the good news was that my brain wasn’t scrambled,” Duckworth recalls. “The bad news was I had two large masses in my right temporal lobe, near the brainstem. One was the size of a plum; the other a golf ball.”

Fortunately, the masses were benign and Duckworth had surgery to remove them in September 2001. Unfortunately, his troubles weren’t over — a neurologist later diagnosed him with complex partial epilepsy.

Medications have helped stabilize him so he could live a somewhat normal life.

“I was always treated so nice by the doctors and nurses,” he says. “After the surgery, I knew I wanted to help others.”

Duckworth attended college in California, earning a bachelor’s degree in kinesiology. Nursing kept calling, however.

He and a friend were the last two students accepted into the nursing program at Sacramento State in 2019.

Duckworth’s friend now works in Seattle, and Duckworth came to MultiCare Auburn Medical Center in August 2020. He currently works in the medical-surgical unit.

‘Dissecting things’ sparked interest in nursing for Larsen

Another nurse on the medical-surgical unit at Auburn Medical Center remembers her high school biology class inciting her interest in the field.

Cory Larsen, RN, grew up in Renton. When she was a freshman in high school, she took an honors-level biology class, learning about cells and the human body.

During the “dissecting things” segment, she knew what she wanted to do, she remembers.

“That triggered me,” Larsen says. “I went home from school and told my dad ‘I’m gonna be a nurse.’”

Larsen earned a bachelor’s degree in interdisciplinary studies, with a focus on health education and a minor in sociology and health sciences from Eastern Washington University.

Afterward, she returned home to attend Renton Technical College and became a registered nurse.

‘Treated us like family’

In March 2022, Duckworth and Larsen were presented with the DAISY Award for extraordinary nurses. Nurses are nominated for this award by patients or their families.

The family member who nominated both nurses was grateful to the Auburn Medical Center staff who cared for his mother, and specifically called out Larsen and Duckworth for exceptional care and consideration:

“Your team of doctors and nurses were outstanding,” they wrote. “The care [my mother] received gave us precious time with her before she ultimately passed a little over a week later. [Larsen] went beyond normal care, kept us informed, was always available and treated us like family during my mother’s care.

“My mother’s death was devastating for both myself and her husband. But [Duckworth] made that awful event bearable and comforting while we were there. I cannot say enough about the experience [he] helped us through.

“You should be proud of the professional staff you have, but even prouder of the way he cared for us. We will always be grateful and thankful for the care we received from all of you.”

A teacher and her student

Both Larsen and Duckworth came to Auburn Medical Center through MultiCare’s nurse residency program.

Larsen arrived at Auburn Medical Center nearly eight years ago and knew it was where she wanted to stay.

“The people, they’re my family,” she said. “As busy as it is here, I fell in love with it.”

When she started in nursing, Larsen thought she’d begin on the medical surgical unit before moving to critical care and ultimately to the emergency department.

“I literally fell in love with med-surg. You get everything here,” she says. “I love my co-workers. Having good managers helps, too. Their door is always open. They hear my concerns.”

In the coming years, Larsen is considering a role as a nurse leader, and eventually plans to earn a bachelor’s in nursing.

Duckworth originally applied for positions at three MultiCare hospitals. Within 12 hours of applying, Doris Moil, RN, nurse manager at Auburn Medical Center, called him for an interview.

“Within two days, I had a job,” he says. “I love it here. It’s an amazing group of people.”

In fact, Larsen was Duckworth’s preceptor through his residency program. She guided him during his first weeks of being a nurse and helped him build confidence.

“I love teaching new residents; I teach them why I love this work,” Larsen says.

‘Great lengths to care for everyone’

It takes a special personality to be a great nurse. Often, nurses care for the family as well as the patient.

Larsen and Duckworth both exhibit outgoing and empathetic personalities when comforting patients and their families, according to Moil and Laura Rhodes, RN, assistant nurse manager at Auburn Medical Center.

“Cory and Mike are outstanding nurses,” Moil says. “Both of them are able to quickly assess how the people around them feel and will go to great lengths to care for everyone.”

Larsen and Duckworth both say they were surprised to be nominated for the DAISY Award and that they were just doing their jobs.

“I take the family on as my patients too, especially during this pandemic,” Larsen says. “I think, ‘What if this was my grandma?’”

“I find that little part of someone that I can grab onto and relate to,” Duckworth says. “Anything I can do to make the family feel a little bit better, because that’s how I’d want to be treated.”

The DAISY Award is presented at hospitals across MultiCare, and honors licensed nursing professionals in more than 2,000 health care facilities worldwide for outstanding patient care, clinical skills and extraordinary compassion in nursing.