Ian Pruitt, home care specialist for BJC Home Care
Photo provided by BJC Careers
NURSING PROGRAM: Missouri Baptist School of Nursing
AREA OF FOCUS: Home care
YEARS OF SERVICE: 3
Pinned between two trucks in the parking lot of his high school, Ian Pruitt saw his life flash before his eyes. Seconds earlier, he had headed out of class and was just walking across the school parking lot when he felt the crushing sensation of the vehicles.
“At the time I was a three-sport athlete and was working toward a college scholarship to play baseball,” said Pruitt, now 24. “Upon arriving at the ER minutes later, I was told I could lose one of my legs and the other one was pretty smashed up, too. It was a pretty chaotic time, to say the least.”
Pruitt was transferred to Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital, where a male nurse kept him calm while further tests were done.
“Fortunately, they were able to save my legs,” he said. “They told me the only thing that had saved them was the ball hitch below the truck’s back bumper, which prevented the two vehicles from completely crushing them. I went home the next day with some severe bruising and ever since then, because of my experience at the hospital, I knew I wanted to become a nurse.”
Two years later, after graduating from high school, Pruitt enrolled at Missouri Baptist University School of Nursing. While there, he worked part time as a patient care technician on the neurology floor at Mercy St. Louis. Upon graduation, he took a job working in the pediatric intensive care unit at that same hospital for two years. Last spring, he became a home care specialist for BJC Home Care in St. Charles County.
BJC HealthCare, the non profit health care organization based in St. Louis, includes two nationally recognized academic hospitals, Barnes-Jewish Hospital and St. Louis Children’s Hospital, which are both affiliated with the Washington University School of Medicine.
In his current role, he manages care for a group of patients in their homes, providing him more autonomy with his schedule. He does wound care, infusions, blood draws and more for an average of five to seven patients a day who have experienced everything from organ transplants to traumatic injuries.
“I learn the most from the transplant patients,” he said. “Many of them have been waiting for years for a kidney, liver or even a heart, and it’s just amazing to see their growth and gratitude. They have a new outlook on life. They were struggling before in their lives and now they have new lives. It makes me feel very grateful.”
Pruitt said the switch to home care was something he needed to do.
“My wife and I had just had a healthy baby boy, and working in the PICU just hit too close to home in terms of seeing the really good days balanced out by the really bad days with the little patients. Losing patients that young can take a toll on you,” he said. “That was the tough part.”
His wife, whom he met at Mercy while in nursing school, continues to work nights in the NICU unit. His switch to the day shift as a home health care provider also allows them to take turns caring for their son.
Even though Pruitt still works one weekend a month and is on call two to three nights every six-week period, he loves what he does.
“I have no regrets,” he said. “Getting hit by that car years ago really opened up my eyes into what I really wanted to do. Though I have to admit, I still look around a lot whenever I step foot into a parking lot.”
Pruitt’s love for his job is contagious, too. His younger brother is currently enrolled as a junior in nursing school at Missouri Baptist.
“He was inspired by me to become a nurse as well,” Pruitt said.
