My journey into healthcare
Imagine a 15-year-old girl with no idea about what she wanted to do with her life. At one time she had contemplated cosmetology school, but without someone to look up to, she lacked career guidance and direction. This girl did well in school, but never spent time thinking about her future and what would come after high school. She hadn’t really thought much about it.
This girl was me and this was my exact situation until my sophomore year of high school when my best friend’s mother became sick. I remember going to her house and seeing a hospital bed and other supplies, but not truly understanding what that really meant until I was sitting beside her at her mom’s funeral one year later.
As a junior in high school, I began attending vocational school and learning cosmetology. During this time, one of the LPN instructors approached me and asked if I would be interested in the Practical Nursing Program. The program would take two years to complete–the first during my senior year of high school, the second after graduating. I talked about the opportunity with my family but didn’t receive the reaction I would have hoped for, and it became clear that as soon I graduated high school, I would have to fund the second year myself.
During my senior year, I went to high school for half the day and attended the LPN program the other half of the day while also working every day to save up enough money to pay for my second year of the program. I left home at 17, finished the LPN program as valedictorian at 18 and started my nursing career as soon as I graduated.
I knew I didn’t want to stop there, but sometimes things in life happen in ways you don’t expect. When I welcomed my daughter at 19, I became a single mom who was living on her own, working full time, and ultimately, just trying to make it. For me, making it meant doing what I could to continue to advance, so I worked full time and went to school full time in order to complete all of my prerequisites for the RN program.
Needing to work full time, I tried to find an RN program that would allow me to be in school and employed. I even attempted to work full-time Friday through Sunday, but unfortunately this didn’t fit with the programs that were offered back then.
However, I didn’t let these challenges deter me. I switched my major and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in business management with a Human Resources concentration. From there, I transitioned from nursing into HR and went on to earn my master’s degree in healthcare administration.
While I have held many titles over the last twenty-five years–manager, director, System Strategist, VP, COO and now Hospital President–I will be forever grateful for the seven years I spent practicing at the bedside as an LPN. Those years truly served as the foundation that the rest of my career has been built upon.
My own leadership motto is “to engage, inspire, empower and encourage.” A phrase that applies to all areas whether it be serving people, change management, innovation or building a culture of resilience and trust. I love looking beyond a situation that is right in front of me in order to see what could be.