The Little Things
Story 19

“I remember as my dad's disease progressed, he started showing signs of dementia,” Beau recalls. “At one point, he called the police and said, ‘My son won't give me my medications.’ That's when I realized two things: I can't do this on my own, and I want to be better. I think that was the turning point."

After running a business together with his father for 20 years, Beau Huebner completely reinvented his career by going to nursing school. He started school while he was still caring for his father, first earning his associate degree in nursing and ultimately his bachelor’s degree.

Since March, Beau has served as a nurse on the Medical-Surgical Unit at Simi Valley.

“I really am enjoying it,” he says. “It's very overwhelming, but it's also very satisfying. At the end of the day when I say goodbye to patients, I can tell that I have a connection.”

It’s in little things, Beau says, that he knows he’s making meaningful connections. “They smile. They say good night,” Beau says. “They ask, ‘Will I see you tomorrow?’ That's one of the big indicators. They say, ‘Please come back!’"

Beau (right) and his mom.

As he has learned from his own experiences, these moments can make a lasting difference in someone’s life. “You never know what a person is going through,” he adds. “And for every person, whatever they're going through, it’s their worst thing.”

While he hopes his own worst moments are over, Beau remembers them daily. And his personal experiences, he says – with his parents’ health crises, as well as his own – have forever shaped how he approaches those in his care.

“I want to be the one who people say really made the difference in their journey to getting well,” Beau says.