Walters State to Host Screening of ‘NURSE: Empathy Heals’

Walters State Community College will host two screenings of “NURSE: Empathy Heals” on Oct. 22, giving students, faculty and community members an opportunity to see a documentary built around nurses telling their own stories.

Screenings are scheduled for 5 p.m. and 7 p.m.

Created by filmmaker Chusy of Plan A Films, the documentary explores empathy and the emotional realities of nursing through first-person stories. Nurses reflect on experiences of grief, joy, compassion, uncertainty and resilience — offering a look at the human side of a profession centered on caring for others.

The film grew from the Nurse Narratives Initiative, an East Tennessee State University-based collaboration involving StoryCollab, the College of Nursing, the Tennessee Center for Nursing Advancement and the ETSU Research Corporation, with support from Ballad Health. The initiative uses nurses' stories to encourage reflection and conversation about empathy, resilience and patient care.

The documentary also has a Walters State connection, featuring a former Walters State nursing graduate and a current faculty member.

Dr. Sheila Williams, dean of Health Programs at Walters State, said that connection makes bringing the film to campus especially meaningful.

“Nursing requires tremendous knowledge and clinical skill, but there is also a deeply human side of the profession that can be difficult to put into words,” Williams said. “Our nurses care for people during some of the most vulnerable moments of their lives, and those experiences stay with them. This film gives us an opportunity to listen to those stories and to think more intentionally about empathy — for patients, for colleagues and for the people providing the care.”

Walters State screenings will take place Oct. 22 in the Lyceum on the Morristown campus. Admission is free.

Walters State provides a quality nursing education to East Tennessee. Learn more here.