Wanting to Be A Nurse

From the earliest time I can remember, I wanted to be a nurse and I wanted to help others. When I was a child, my idol was a nurse who was a neighbor of ours in South Texas. I loved watching her leave for work in her crisp, white uniform. I noticed the compassion she showed the worried mothers in the neighborhood. She would support and guide them when their children were sick. I remember the way she flicked the glass thermometer with confidence and authority. I wanted to be like her.

When I was about 4 years old, my older brother suffered with tonsillitis, and I volunteered to take him his medicine, juice, and food. At age 10, I bottle-fed some kittens we had found, and I made sure they were comfortable before I went to school. The start of my nursing career was delayed by some of my choices. I got married as a young woman and moved from Texas to New York.

At the age of 30, I found myself divorced and living on Long Island without a solid career. After trying many jobs, such as sales, secretarial work, and modeling, I moved to upstate New York, where Corning Community College offered a 2-year registered nurse program. While the program was intense, I enjoyed every minute of it. Nothing was going to distract me again. I would graduate and become a nurse.

My First Nursing Job

My first job as an RN was at a skilled nursing facility, Founder’s Pavilion, in Corning, New York. While I had not anticipated working with older adults, it was the only job available at the time. For a year, I wrote nursing plans, passed medications, did postmortem care, and supervised other nurses. I took my job seriously and begged the administrators to let me learn management skills. One day, I was called to the assistant director of nursing’s office. I was not sure if I had done something wrong, and I took a deep breath as I entered her room.

The assistant director of nursing asked, “How brave are you? We do not have a supervisor for the 11 to 7 shift, and we were wondering if you could do it.” I remember feeling both excitement and fear. I accepted the challenge and learned as I went along. I became the night nursing supervisor and thought that I would never leave this job. I then met a man who encouraged me to move to the west coast, where he would be working in San Francisco, and he became my husband a year later. While in San Francisco, I worked in challenging positions until my husband’s work took us to Reno, Nevada, in 1992. This is where my advocacy work was launched.

Back to School

After moving to Reno, I decided to return to school to get a bachelors degree in nursing. I learned a great deal in class, but working in the community allowed me to see problems that needed attention. In a community nursing class, I learned of a social service organization called Nevada Hispanic Services. The organization had a small AIDS education program. The state of Nevada had little money to fund agencies like this, and I became an advocate for the Hispanic population (who were becoming infected with HIV/AIDS at an alarming rate). Another student and I embarked on developing better services for the Hispanic community. I requested meetings with state officials to discuss data that substantiated my requests. The program at Nevada Hispanic Services received funding, and in 1996 we received the National Latino Children’s Agenda La Promesa Award for program development in the Hispanic community.

After completing my bachelors degree, I decided to continue my education again and entered a family nurse practitioner program at the University of Nevada, Reno. One of my instructors, Dr. Alice Running, asked me if I would join some medical students in the development of a clinic for the area’s homeless. The students met on Saturday mornings at the local Salvation Army office, and we would see many people with desperate needs. We had one volunteer attending physician, and our clinical setting was very basic. We had fun as a team, and I learned about the needs of underserved populations. I felt that my volunteer work was an integral part of my life.

While I attended graduate school full time, I started to volunteer and to serve on some local and state boards. I participated as honorary co-chair for the Susan G. Koman Race for the Cure (to support breast cancer research), and I volunteered to do cancer screening for Hispanic and African-American women at churches and health fairs. I found that I could make a real difference in people’s lives through these activities, and I gained important experience.

The Value of Volunteering

You may wonder why I devoted so much time to do volunteer work and participate in many organizations. My desire to make the world a better place may seem “Pollyanna-ish,” but it is the primary reason for my participation. The more I volunteered and the more problems I tackled, the more I realized how important it was to use my skills to advocate for others.