Adriane Flower was born and raised in Colorado. At 17, and still in high school, she worked as a professional horse trainer. Her father was a doctor; she decided to follow him into the medical profession during her first year in college. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in nursing from the University of Northern Colorado in 1999.
Flower came to Hawaii 20 years ago to escape a violently abusive marriage (“I literally did it to save my life,” she said recently). Within a month, Flower was working at a local hospital as a registered nurse. She continued her professional training and became a specialist in pediatric nursing and neonatal intensive care. Outside of nursing, she discovered through Kirsten Pennaz, a friend and fellow nurse, that she also enjoyed doing musical theater. In recent years, she has devoted herself to her nursing career and community service.
In October, Flower, 43, was crowned Mrs. Hawaii 2020. On Friday she is co-hosting a virtual pau hana dinner, concert and silent auction that will be livestreamed starting at 7 p.m. on Facebook (see Team Hawaii 2020’s Facebook page or go to 808ne.ws/team
hawaii2020fundraiser). The proceeds benefit the Victoria’s Voice Foundation’s programs to reduce drug abuse and overdose deaths, and to cover miscellaneous expenses during the Mrs. America competition, which will take place on Jan. 22-30 in Las Vegas.
Congratulations on being Mrs. Hawaii 2020. What inspired you to go for it?
I was approached by Arlene Newman, who is a former Mrs. Hawaii, way back in 2016. She knew about my volunteer work outside the hospital and being a nurse, but I wasn’t sure. Then in 2017, I got really sick. I was sick for many months and I had a small stroke, and when I recovered I decided, “Life is too short, why not?” My other reason is that I work for the Domestic Violence Action Center, and the girls I work with are (age) 10 to 13. Those girls and their families are also my “why” — to give back to this island, because this island gave me my life back. I owe this island so much. I really, really do.
How did you go from pediatric and neonatal intensive care to musical theater?
In 2005 I met Kirsten (Pennaz) at work and she invited me to one of John Rampage’s dance classes at Diamond Head Theatre. John mentioned that he was having auditions for “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum,” and we (both) auditioned and got in. I had never done theater in my life, but it was an amazing cast and a great show. I did the show at Diamond Head and then I did one at Army Community Theatre, I did one at TAG (The Actors’ Group) — and I spent a lot of time studying dancing in the studio with John.
What would you like to be doing in five or 10 years?
Personally, I want to spend as much time as possible watching my son grow up. For me professionally as a nurse, eventually I’m going to get involved in management. I’m still (working) at bedside but my dad told me, “Make sure you’re done doing bedside before you go to management because it’s harder to go back to bedside than vice versa.” Eventually I’ll get there when I’m completely done and ready to move up the food chain.
How do you decompress after working with critically ill infants?
That’s been a long, hard road for me. It’s still hard to me to step away. I’ve always thought of every child as “my child,” even before I had my own son. If I have a critically ill child (as a patient), I don’t sleep. I get in there early, I stay late, because that family is my family. Before it was really hard — I had some serious PTSD from some of the things that I’ve seen — but running in the morning is how I break away from everything. I talk with Kirsten, I talk with my mom, and they listen, so talking to my friends and family, and running, helps.
For information on the Domestic Violence Action Center, to find out ways to help or get help, call 531-3771 or visit domesticviolenceactioncenter.org.
