The certifications in wound and ostomy care attest to Leslie Martin’s ability to help patients recover from the abrasions and lacerations and festering sores that insult the surface of their bodies.
But those same patients will tell you that it is not Martin’s refined skills in wound debridement (the removal of dead or damaged tissue), cleansing or dressing that make her special. Rather, it is her deft employment of other tools at her disposal: a ready ear, a comforting hand, maybe even a dashing red-white-and-blue removable tattoo.
"I’m pretty good at reading people," says Martin, who handed out hundreds of American flag tattoos on the Fourth of July. "I’ve never been the kind of person who could just sit at a desk behind a computer. I like to interact with people."
Martin traces her ability to quickly connect with people to an itinerant childhood as the daughter of a Rockwell Power Tools salesman.
"We lived all over the U.S. — Maryland, Michigan, New Mexico, California." Martin says. "I learned how to make friends quickly because I never wanted to be left out."
Eventually, Martin met and married a postal worker whose family was from Hawaii. When the couple moved to the islands 25 years ago, Martin found herself once again having to assimilate quickly.
"It wasn’t that hard," Martin said. "I avoided a lot of problems by never starting a sentence with ‘Well, on the mainland …’"
Martin found work at Castle Medical Center. There she got her first experience in wound care and prevention while caring for an ailing monsignor. She eventually became the facility’s unofficial wound care nurse.
After 18 years at Castle, Martin took her current position at the Queen’s Medical Center and earned certification in the care of wounds and ostomies — surgically created holes for the removal of bodily waste.
A quarter-century in nursing has taught Martin that patient needs often extend beyond the physical. And so Martin does what she can to attend to each patient’s unique needs, whether that means praying with a cancer patient who is having a crisis of faith, educating two generations of the same diabetes-afflicted family or lifting ward morale with one of her famous holiday get-ups.
In Thanksgivings past, Martin has dressed up as a pilgrim, a Native American and a turkey. Last Halloween, she dressed up as a blood pressure kit. This year — shh! — she plans on going as a blue hospital sign.
In these simple if conspicuous ways, Martin says she hopes to give patients an extra boost in their healing processes and express her gratitude for what she calls her "dream job."
"You’ve got to love your job," says Martin, a nurse at Queen’s for the past six years. "I like coming here, but I know that none of the patients want to be here."
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Reach Michael Tsai at mtsai@staradvertiser.com.
