Illustration: Names
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Updated
November 08, 2010
The story appeared in the January 29, 2003, edition of The Washington Post. Titled "Picabo's Problem," it is a story about the well-known Olympic gold medallist, Picabo Street. The article notes that she's much more than a famous skier. Between training on the slopes and traveling around the world, she managed to get an education and earn a degree in nursing.
"Early in her nursing career, she was assigned to work briefly as an Intensive Care Unit nurse in a large metropolitan hospital. She did outstanding work, but there was a slight problem. The head nurse had to tell her not to answer the phone in the ICU because of the confusion it caused when callers would be connected to the ICU and hear Picabo say in her best professional voice: "Picabo, ICU." What a story! Can you imagine? Only problem is that it's not true.
Picabo is not a nurse -- never has been. She gets the joke, though, and has a good laugh with others. Since childhood, she's been teased about the name her parents gave her, who got it from an Idaho town that takes its name from a Native American word meaning "shinning waters." (from Jimmy Gentry, Tabernacle Baptist Church, Carrolton, Georgia)
"Early in her nursing career, she was assigned to work briefly as an Intensive Care Unit nurse in a large metropolitan hospital. She did outstanding work, but there was a slight problem. The head nurse had to tell her not to answer the phone in the ICU because of the confusion it caused when callers would be connected to the ICU and hear Picabo say in her best professional voice: "Picabo, ICU." What a story! Can you imagine? Only problem is that it's not true.
Picabo is not a nurse -- never has been. She gets the joke, though, and has a good laugh with others. Since childhood, she's been teased about the name her parents gave her, who got it from an Idaho town that takes its name from a Native American word meaning "shinning waters." (from Jimmy Gentry, Tabernacle Baptist Church, Carrolton, Georgia)