Why I Became a Nurse: From Compassionate Child to Cannabis Nursing Pioneer 

Sherri Mack BSN, RN

Nursing is not just what I do—it is a big part of who I am. My journey to becoming a nurse didn’t begin in college or during my first clinical rotation; it started long before, shaped by childhood experiences of both receiving and giving care. From a 10-year-old patient in the ICU to a 12-year-old triaging my bleeding brother, to working in Boston’s renowned teaching hospitals and leading national initiatives in cannabis nursing—every step of my journey has been guided by compassion, purpose, and an unwavering dedication to service.

The First Turning Point: A Patient at 10 – When I was 10 years old, I was admitted to the ICU at Children’s Hospital with Reye’s Syndrome. I was critically ill and nearly died. It was a terrifying experience, but what stood out most were my nurses. Their calm presence and gentle care amidst the chaos became my anchors. They made me feel safe, seen, and human. Their compassion planted a seed that would later blossom into my life’s work.

The Second Turning Point: Caregiver at 12 – Two years later, I found myself on the other side of caregiving. My two-year-old brother was running down the driveway when he tripped, fell, and split his forehead open—blood was everywhere. Without thinking, I rushed to him, scooped him up, and carried him back to the house as he screamed in pain. Instinctively, I began tending to his wound until my mother stepped in to take over. Afterwards, she said to me, “You’re going to be a great nurse.” My father suggested I should become a doctor instead. But what stayed with me wasn’t their words—it was the realization that I wanted to be a nurse. I aspired to be a source of calm during someone’s crisis, offering both reassurance and expertise in their moments of fear, guiding them toward healing from whatever they were facing.

Building the Foundation: From Bedside to Beyond – My passion for caregiving and nursing only grew stronger over the years. In middle school, I began volunteering at a nursing home, where I assisted patients with feeding and provided them with care and comfort. I also had the opportunity to volunteer at a camp for children with Down Syndrome, serving as a personal guide and offering dedicated support to a different child each day. These experiences were profoundly rewarding and further solidified my commitment to helping others and making a meaningful difference in their lives. A simple smile or a gentle gesture from those I cared for had a way of brightening even the toughest days, reminding me why I chose to be there. Each small moment of connection filled me with a deep sense of purpose, making all the effort of volunteering feel truly worthwhile.

When I was younger, I also found inspiration in the world of health and medicine through television. In the 70s, I was captivated by shows like Emergency and MASH. In the 80s, ER and Doogie Howser became favorites, and later I was drawn to series like Scrubs, House, and Grey’s Anatomy. These shows fueled my curiosity and love for the medical field.

In high school, my passion for science, biology, and math solidified my ambition to pursue nursing. I knew without a doubt that it was my calling, and I set my sights on nursing school to turn that dream into reality. I attended the Boston College School of Nursing, where I gained invaluable experience through clinical rotations at Boston’s renowned teaching hospitals.

Interestingly, I once had a fear of needles—something I overcame by working part-time as a phlebotomist. I also harbored an irrational fear of locked psychiatric wards, likely fueled by watching too many horror films. It wasn’t until my clinical rotations in nursing school that I confronted that fear head-on. I didn’t initially feel drawn to mental health nursing until I faced my own personal traumas within the healthcare system. That journey—and how I navigated medical, pharmaceutical, and emotional trauma—is a story for another time. Later in life, it was plant medicines that helped me process those experiences and transform them into healing and post-traumatic growth.

From the start, I aspired to be a bedside nurse in a hospital setting, and that’s exactly where my journey began in one of the big teaching hospitals in Boston.

I earned a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Boston College and launched my career at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, where I dedicated over 25 years to patient care across various specialties. My experience spans orthopedics, plastic surgery, post-operative recovery (PACU), surgical intensive care (SICU), ambulatory medicine doing clinic and telehealth nursing, infectious disease, and occupational health. There was a time when I cross-trained across multiple ICUs, and I truly discovered my passion in being on call for any type of assignment. Whether it was the Surgical ICU, Medical ICU, or Cardiac ICU, I found immense fulfillment in adapting to the unique challenges each setting presented.

My nursing career shifted from bedside care to ambulatory care as I sought greater flexibility to balance work and family life. When I became a parent, ensuring I could be present for my children became a priority. I gained extensive experience in ambulatory care nursing, where I helped manage a telehealth clinic and developed hospital-wide telehealth protocols. These protocols enabled nurses to efficiently triage and treat patients for conditions such as UTIs, yeast infections, poison ivy, conjunctivitis, and constipation, streamlining care delivery for telehealth and improving patient outcomes. I participated in Research and led a team of research nurses to complete a project with one of the primary care physicians in the ambulatory care clinic. The published article called “Medication safety messages for patients via the web portal: The MedCheck intervention” published in the International Journal of Medical Informatics, Volume 77, Issue 3, Pages 161-168 is housed in PubMed.

After the birth of my third child, who was diagnosed with a rare genetic disorder, I made the decision to take time off to focus entirely on his care. This experience became a crash course in pediatric nursing, as I developed new skills in real time to meet his unique needs. His incredible journey, shared on The Holistic Caring & The Green Nurse Blog, became a source of inspiration for me. It was his resilience that motivated me to specialize in pediatric nursing, focusing on home care and home infusion, where I could make a meaningful impact on families like mine. Having a child with a rare genetic disorder allowed me to deeply empathize with parents and families facing similar challenges. This experience enabled me to design and implement discharge plans that were not only safe and effective for the child but also supportive and practical for the family and aligned with the hospital’s standards. I was often requested by families to be that nurse to come to the home to access their child’s portacath and give the home infusion. In my role as a clinical nurse liaison and educator, I frequently provided patient education in the hospital and also served as the nurse transitioning them to home care, ensuring a safe and seamless admission process. This approach became a standard practice adopted by the Home Infusion Company I was working for at the time. Having the same nurse handle both in-hospital education and the home care admission promotes continuity of care and a smoother transition for the patient after discharge.

During this time, I became a certified oncology nurse, specializing in both Oncology Nursing and home chemotherapy. Recognizing the growing need for in-home chemotherapy services, I embraced the role, providing care to both adult and pediatric patients. My work in home infusion frequently involved caring for palliative care patients who were not yet ready for hospice. This experience naturally led me to hospice nursing, where I worked part-time on weekends and on call to earn extra income during a challenging time in my life—helping to fund my divorce (another story for another time).

Hospice nursing became one of the most rewarding aspects of my career. It allowed me to keep the true “Art of Nursing” alive in deeply meaningful moments with patients. I’ll always remember a supervisor’s comment: “You’re the only hospice nurse I know whose patients don’t want to die anymore.” Many of my hospice patients lived beyond their initial prognosis, as I took my role to heart, fostering compassionate, enriching care experiences. For many of them, it wasn’t just about comfort—it was about rekindling their desire to live, even in the face of such profound challenges at the end of life. I had the opportunity to incorporate my energy healing practices into my role, allowing many patients to benefit from Reiki and Reconnective Healing. One moment that stands out is a patient who, after a Reiki session, shared that he was no longer afraid of dying. Those 30 minutes of therapeutic touch and energy healing helped him connect deeply with his soul, offering a sense of peace and readiness for the journey beyond this world. THAT is the art and science of nursing!!

Leading with Purpose: Holistic Nursing and Cannabis Medicine – After decades in conventional medicine, I saw the need for a more integrative approach to healing. My personal story of becoming a cannabis nurse can be found here on my first substack. My personal journey of healing with cannabis as medicine, combined with my professional expertise in holistic caring using lifestyle as medicine inspired me to create The Green Nurse. This vision eventually evolved as I became the co-founder of Holistic Caring & The Green Nurse, where I also serve as Chief Nursing Officer, as well as for Bloom Hemp CBD. Alongside my business partner, Elisabeth Mack, we have developed symptom-targeted cannabinoid products, curated comprehensive clinical education programs, and built a global platform dedicated to educating both patients and healthcare providers on the therapeutic potential of cannabis.

Through podcasting, public speaking, and advocacy, I have worked to empower both patients and healthcare providers—particularly nurses—to embrace the medical potential of cannabinoids. By educating others about the endocannabinoid system (ECS) and addressing the stigma surrounding plant-based medicine, I aim to foster understanding and acceptance in this growing field. As a dedicated member of the American Cannabis Nurses Association, I am honored to serve on the board of directors while mentoring nurses worldwide. Together, we continue to expand knowledge and advance meaningful conversations about this transformative area of healthcare.

Read my full journey into cannabis nursing here: Becoming The Green Nurse

Why I Stay – Nursing has always been a demanding yet deeply rewarding profession—one that I embraced wholeheartedly, regardless of the specialty I worked in. However, I eventually chose to step away from the traditional healthcare system, a decision shaped by several factors. A pivotal reason was the inability to integrate cannabis as my medicine into my personal health practice, something I am now able to fully embrace. This choice aligns with my commitment to prioritizing my well-being—physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, and social—and staying true to my values.

Today, as a plant medicine nurse, I believe I am contributing more to the nursing profession than ever before. The emotional and physical toll of bedside nursing in hospitals is undeniable, but what has always driven me is the greater purpose behind the work: the power to advocate, empower, and heal. Whether I’m supporting a patient navigating a terminal diagnosis or training nurses to educate others on the safe use of cannabis, I know my efforts are making a difference.

I carry with me the memories of a young girl in the ICU and a 12-year-old with blood on her hands—moments that shaped my journey and my resilience. These experiences fuel my passion and guide the work I do today, reminding me why I chose this path in the first place. My work continues to evolve—as does nursing itself. We are at the forefront of a new era in health care, where compassion, evidence, and integrative therapies intersect and plant medicine is at the forefront. I remain committed to being a guide, an innovator, and a voice for those who need it.

Nursing is not just my profession. It is my soul’s work.

Happy Nurses Week with Love
Nurse Sherri Mack

References

National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, & Medicine. (2021). The Future of Nursing 2020–2030: Charting a Path to Achieve Health Equity. The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/25982

Rushton, C. H., Batcheller, J., Schroeder, K., & Donohue, P. (2015). Burnout and resilience among nurses practicing in high-intensity settings. American Journal of Critical Care, 24(5), 412–420. https://doi.org/10.4037/ajcc2015291

Weingart, S. N., Hamrick, H. E., Tutkus, S., Carbo, A., Sands, D. Z., Tess, A., Davis, R. B., Bates, D. W., & Phillips, R. S. (2008). Medication safety messages for patients via the web portal: The MedCheck intervention. International Journal of Medical Informatics, 77(3), 161–168. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2007.04.007