Michelle Tingley, a registered nurse, loves working with Dr. Paul Baek, a BayCare Clinic neurosurgeon. As a neurosurgery nurse, she works as the surgeon’s second set of hands.
She so enjoys what she does that she met recently with groups of fourth- and fifth-graders in hopes of inspiring them to join the medical field, too.
Michelle met with students at Pioneer Elementary School in Ashwaubenon during their annual Career Day.
Michelle’s decision to speak at Career Day was an easy one.
“My son approached me last year about Career Day, but unfortunately I was unable to make the scheduling work with our clinic, travel and surgery schedules,” Michelle says. “So, when he asked me to do career day this year, I was happy we could make it work.”
During her presentations, Michelle talked to the students about surgeries done by neurosurgeons, how to spot issues in the neck, back and brain, and what her typical day is like.
“I’m definitely hopeful the kids today learned at least a little something about neurosurgery or even nursing in general,” she said after Career Day. “I did my best to make things somewhat fun and help them get excited about things. At the very least, I hope that they took away some knowledge about protecting themselves from potentially dangerous, yet preventable, injuries – like wearing a bike helmet!”
One student has already been inspired to go into neurosurgery. Michelle’s son, Kaeden, decided a few years ago he wanted to join the same field.
“My son first told me he wanted to be president and then an astronaut. … For the past two or three years, he’s been consistent in telling me he wants to be a ‘neurosurgeon like Dr. Baek.’ He asks questions about how many years of school it takes to become a surgeon or how long a surgeon works every day,” Michelle says. “He even centered his social studies and math projects around neurosurgery …”
Michelle and her son, Kaeden.
Michelle says she’s confident there are other future neurosurgeons or nurses at Pioneer School.