ELK RIVER, Minn. — In Nov. 2019, Elk River girls Reese and Remi Erickson were born conjoined. Parents Rob and Kate Erickson said they are both fighters and have faced difficult health challenges.
But now, the family is asking for help finding a nurse amid an alarming nurse shortage.
According to the National Council of State Boards of Nursing, about 100,000 nurses left the workforce because of the pandemic, and nearly 700,000 more are considering leaving by 2027.
The Ericksons are facing that reality head-on.
When the girls were born, they shared a liver and were connected through their chest wall, abdomen and pelvic area. They were separated in April 2020 at four and a half months old, but now Reese still needs special care.
“They were both big and healthy and crying when they came out, but Reese went downhill pretty quick,” Rob said. “One in 200,000 would be conjoined but conjoined in this specific way with Reese’s heart block and heart condition, as far as we know, she’s the only conjoined twin to be born in heart block [and] survive."
The girls were separated at four and a half months old. Since then, parents Rob and Kate said that Reese has had to fight.
“She needs constant supervision," Kate said. "We are helping her work on therapies, meet goals and just try to get to the next step. To get to something similar to Remi, as normal of a life as possible. She needs medications, she has tube feedings, she will sometimes need suctioning."
“She’s still a very sick kid and she needs us for absolutely everything but she’s doing really well. Yeah, for everything she’s gone through, [she is] doing really, really well,” Rob said.
The Ericksons said that Remi is healthy and thriving.
“You look at her and you wouldn’t be able to tell she went through any of that. She’s just a spitfire,” Kate said.
They’re grateful to all be together after months and months of hospital stays. But the family is looking for professional help.
Rob and Kate are searching for a nurse to go to preschool with Reese. Before now, she was going to school until her former nurse had to leave for other commitments.
“We need somebody who's got that big heart and really wants to be a big difference in her life because she could be like this for the rest of her life if she doesn’t get that stimulation and that interaction that normal kids would get,” Rob said. "Just being stuck at home all day in her room isn't going to help her grow at all."
“The staff there [at her preschool], they play with her, they teach her, and the nurse is basically there to keep her safe and, if there’s an emergency, to help with that,” Kate said.
The nursing shortage is certainly an obstacle. But the Ericksons said it is no match for Reese, just one more chapter to overcome.
“She’s a lot tougher than you think. She just looks like a little girl but she’s really strong,” Rob said.
Rob and Kate said that Reese's preschool teachers offered to come to their home for about an hour a week to interact with her but they're still hoping she can get back in the classroom soon.
If you're interested in applying to be a nurse for Reese, click the following links below:
Or call 612-252-4590 for more information.
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