Oosthuizen said he was closing the bathroom door Tuesday morning at the place his family is staying for this week's Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial. Sophia was on the other side.

"Her finger was on the side of the hinges," Oosthuizen said. "It nearly cut off the finger completely."

Oosthuizen rushed his daughter to the emergency room at Cook Children's, which is located in Fort Worth and is the primary charity for the Crowne Plaza Invitational.

At the hospital, they met with Dr. Pamela Sherman, an orthopedic surgeon and hand specialist. She explained that it was important to repair the nail bed on Sophia's finger and give the new nail a chance to grow in order to save the finger. Dr. Sherman then performed the surgery.

"It was a scary moment," Oosthuizen said. "It was Sophia's first time under anesthesia. You never know what's going to happen.

"Dr. Sherman was great. ... She told us it's important to have the proper people doing it, and they have some of the best there."

Sophia will go to Cook Children's on Sunday for a check-up before the Oosthuizens return home.

Louis Oosthuizen is grateful for the attention his daughter received at Cook Children's.

"If I'm in doubt ever to have any surgery or something for my kids, I'll fly in to see them," Oosthuizen said. "The way they handled it, the way they spoke to us and treated the kids -- it was amazing to us.

"I didn't even know there were hospitals like that."

“Luke” Ronny Lucas lost his job in March of 2002, after dodging two prior rounds of layoffs. He’d been a lead systems engineer working on software to land planes at DFW International. After 9-11, the money for his department was re-appropriated to the Transportation Security Administration. Lucas was left without a job and with little desire to remain in that uncertain career field.

Now what?

“My wife was in nursing school and I had always wanted to do something medical so after looking for an IT job for 8 months I decided to become a nurse,” Lucas said. “I worked in many roles on my way to becoming a nurse from respiratory supply technician to unit secretary, to student nurse and eventually nurse.”

Lucas, who is now a nurse manager for cardiothoracic surgery and the Cath lab at Cook Children’s, graduated from Weatherford College with an associate degree in Nursing in 2005. He was one of three who made it. Two others in his class didn’t stay with it. This is their loss, according to Lucas.

“It’s a very rewarding profession that has more opportunities available than any other profession I know of,” Lucas said. “You can be an ED nurse, ICU nurse, case manager, educator and the list goes on. You have so many opportunities as a nurse that you should never get bored.”

But with all of those options, even in this day and age, male nurses still get teased sometimes.

“One night at a party, an individual didn’t realize how many male nurses were at my house and made a comment about me being a male nurse and wearing a skirt,” Lucas said. “After the reaction from about 10 other male nurses and all of the females, he quickly became silent.”

Darrell Daniel, a nurse manager in Vascular Access, was the only male in his graduating class in 2003. He was a high school teacher prior to going into nursing and was helping with special needs children at camp each year.

He’s taken his teaching skills into nursing.

“I get to help kids through the most overlooked and painful part of being in the hospital, IVs,” Daniel said.

Daniel tells younger nurses going into the profession to be prepared to be treated differently by some; including people thinking that males can’t be as caring or nurturing as their female counterparts. At least in his case, he said that’s definitely not the case.

Jason Brooks may be the youngest nurse in this article, but in his graduating class of 2008, he still only had two other men with him. Brooks is a registered nurse in 5 Main at Cook Children’s, which is a general medical floor.

Brooks has a long history of nurses in his family, including a brother, aunt and cousin. He first got into nursing to become a doctor like one of his brothers. Today, he has aspirations to someday become an orthodontist.

But for now, he’s happy as a nurse. Even though, he sometimes gets mistaken for a doctor.

“It happens all the time,” Brooks says while laughing. “People will be on the phone and say, ‘I have to go, the doctor just walked in the room.’”

Brooks said he gets treated as an equal by his female counterparts, except when he’s needed to help lift a heavier patient or occasionally if there’s a cultural aspect to a family’s care.

“Some male patients are more comfortable to be examined by another male and some cultures would rather have someone of the same sex,” Brooks said. “We care for all types of people. But we always want kids to be happy and have fun. The great thing about my job is that it’s always different. I may see a patient 1 foot long or 6 feet long. The adult population isn’t as diverse. I really enjoy the diversity of Cook Children’s.”

Ken Longbrake, a nurse manager for the Emergency Department, has gotten some good natured ribbing through the years about his profession. He laughs that off, as well as the frequent confusion of what happens when he visits a patient’s room.

“People think you are a physician,” Longbrake said. “When a man in scrubs enters with a stethoscope, they assume you’re a doctor.”

After serving in the Army, Longbrake went to college looking for a career with stability where he had the opportunity to help others. He found it in nursing. As a manager today, he has found that he not only helps the patients, but “I get to care for the caregiver and ensure their needs are met so they can focus on the patients.”

Longbrake calls the staff at Cook Children’s his family. He said it all fits into what he looks at as his calling.

“At some point, we are all in a position where we need assistance from someone,” he said. “Nursing provides me the opportunity to help others during one of the most difficult and scary times in their lives. It’s a special profession. The opportunities in nursing are endless. You can work in a multitude of areas and the profession is not only secure, but rewarding.”

Donald Murphey, M.D., medical director of Infectious Disease at Cook Children’s, worries over the fact that diseases like measles and pertussis are once again in the news.

“It’s alarming to see the rise in these diseases that were so common prior to the advent of effective vaccines, but largely disappeared with immunization,” Dr. Murphey said. “It’s frustrating too because we have safe vaccines that prevent these diseases. The solution is for kids, teens, and adults to get immunized.”

Measles is a highly, dangerous, but preventable disease with vaccinations.

The CDC report says that many of the cases are from people who visited other countries. Of the 129 cases reported by the CDC, 34 were “importations” from other countries. The Philippines has seen 20,000 confirmed or suspected cases of measles cases from Jan. 1 to Feb. 28 and 69 confirmed deaths.

But why is this happening? “The increase in importations from this outbreak and subsequent transmission in certain settings in the United States highlights the importance of ensuring age-appropriate vaccination for persons traveling to areas where measles is endemic and maintaining high vaccination coverage at the national and local level,” The CDC report states.

Parents can make an important step in preventing their children from catching measles through the use of two doses of the MMR vaccine.

“We thought we were on our way to eradicating these diseases,” Dr. Murphey said. “Our goal was that these diseases would be completely controlled by the year 2015. But misinformation and fear about immunization has prevented that from happening. It’s a very sad situation because children suffer, but it can be much worse if segments of the population refuse to receive their vaccines.

Measles is particularly contagious. Transmission is by coughing, sneezing or simply being next to someone laughing. It’s that easy.

Dr. Murphey said what’s particularly frustrating is that these diseases can be contained and even eliminated if we do our part. MMR vaccination remains the most effective way to prevent outbreaks. In children, the first MMR vaccine dose is usually administered at 12-15 months and the second at 4-6 years.  However, the MMR vaccine is recommended for children as young as 6 months old when they are traveling abroad. Children under 12 months of age and traveling internationally should receive 2 doses of MMR, separated by at least 28 days

All college students, international travelers, and health care personnel should receive two doses of MMR vaccine, unless they have other evidence of measles immunity.

“I can’t stress enough if you are traveling abroad, the importance of making sure you are updated on your immunization,” Dr. Murphey said. “This holds true for pregnant women, infants, kids, teens and adults. We all have to do our part and have our shots updated to keep each other healthy.”