“Puedo chequear para su fiebre?” (Can I check to see if you have a fever?) I always knew I was going to be a nurse. As a senior in high school, I traveled with thirty-one physicians, nurses, and “non-medicals” to the Dominican Republic for a medical mission trip. For five days, I visited different Bateyes—small villages set up by the sugar cane factory, populated with Haitians and Dominicans who work to survive the labor-intensive lifestyle with few resources and limited access to medical care. I took blood pressures, checked temperatures, and practiced my broken Spanish. I worked alongside CRNAs who provided anesthesia for life-changing procedures like removing dead teeth, stitching wounds, and treating chronic pain. After my trip to the Dominican Republic, I knew I was supposed to be a CRNA.
“No soy médico. Pero les puedo promoter esto: voy a hablar con los médicos y voy a hacer todo lo posible para que pueda sentirse mejor.” (I am not a doctor. But I can promise you this: I am going to talk to the doctors who are here and I am going to do everything possible to help you feel better). Even though I was not allowed to do much as a non-medical volunteer, I helped hundreds of people acquire the medical attention they needed to survive.
As a senior SRNA at the University Health School of Nurse Anesthesia, I will have the unique opportunity to travel with the same group of surgeons and CRNAs back to the Dominican Republic as an anesthesia provider to assist in the operating room. Rather than working in a non-medical role, as I did ten years ago, I will be the one providing anesthesia, and I will assist in educating the Dominican anesthesia providers and empower them to provide high-quality anesthesia in own their practice. After completing my degree, I intend to Pay It Forward and continue to attend this annual medical mission trip to the Dominican Republic. I believe it takes a special person to work with the underserved because these people need more than just health care. They need something to believe in, and I know I can be the nurse to help them find that.
As she grabbed my hand, tears began to gather in her eyes. Nila, her two-year-old daughter, reached for me, and I took her in my arms. “Te nos preocupas. Te preocupas a Nila. Gracias. Gracias por todo.” (You care about us. You care about Nila. Thank you. Thank you for everything.) I felt valuable on my trip, even though I hadn't had any training in the medical field.
During the hour and a half bus ride to the Santo Domingo airport, I couldn’t help but think of my week’s adventures. Words like incredible and life-changing filled my mind. Upon my arrival in Kansas City, my parents asked me about my trip. Overwhelmed by my emotions, the only thing I could say to them was, “I can’t wait to become a nurse anesthetist.”
I was seven years old when my mother told me we were going to be homeless. I remember that day vividly, leaving our home and asking, "where are we going?" and the sinking feeling of hearing my mother say, "I don't know". We drove our car to a rest area off the interstate and attempted to heat up chicken nuggets on the hot hood of the car for dinner. I asked my mother many questions before I realized we would be living this way from now on, and it would be seven years of homelessness before we had a home again.
I did not have to opportunity to attend school as we moved from parking lot to parking lot, from town to town, it was not conducive to our new lifestyle. I had always loved learning, and I loved science. I did somehow learn to read and spent many hours at the public library. The library was the refuge of my childhood. It was the perfect place to spend all day when you had nowhere else to go. I knew that my childhood setback was not going to define my future and my education. At the age of 14 we finally had an apartment, and I enrolled in a charter school when I turned 15. The classroom setting was new and difficult to navigate, and so my time in high school was limited. I did finally end up earning my GED at 20 years of age and began my pursuit of a college education.
Finally, I am here at 32 years old, earning a master’s degree in Nurse Anesthesia. I have been blessed with a love of learning and determination. I will pay it forward by helping others on their journey to CRNA school. I will offer resources and advice to those who are trying to navigate their way through the admissions process. After graduation, I also plan to contribute to the AANA foundation to help students pay for school as I have been helped. I now have four children that I hope to be a role model for, and a scholarship would greatly help me and my family complete this program.
As a child, I had no idea what I wanted to do when I grew up- I was interested in everything. My father worked for NASA, so I thought, “Oh, I could go to the moon!” Then I started playing soccer in my early teens and thought, “Oh, I could be a coach!”. Playing soccer competitively led me to play soccer in college, which eventually turned my world upside down. I went from having the most active days into my most challenging- being bed bound as a patient.
I suffered a brain and spinal cord injury while playing soccer my sophomore year. I had extensive injuries where I had to learn to rewalk, manage daily pain, and grapple with my new self. Coping with this as a young adult was extremely stressful. Then, the following year I was injured in a car accident. This time, I had a complex hand injury. I thought, “How can I go to the moon when I have headaches everyday, how can I be a coach when I stumble over my own words and have to go to doctor and therapy appointments weekly? No one will want to work with me like this.” But this mindset immediately changed when I met the most inspiring person while hospitalized.
Being a brain injury patient, I was not a great patient. I had many episodes of agitation, extreme pain, and fear. You would think after countless surgeries in a year, I would understand what it entailed and not be frightened. I constantly woke up after surgeries aggressive and mean. People were frustrated and just wanted to put me back to sleep. One day, someone was there, holding my hand, talking with me when I woke up and this was the only time I had not woken up in sheer panic. Her presence was comforting, her tone was angelic. She told me it was alright to be scared and that she would keep me safe. Her badge read, “CRNA”. This was the moment I knew… she was my moon and my coach. I was going to be her when I grew up.
I started my quest after graduation by going to nursing school, then channelling her calm, supportive, and comforting spirit with my patients as a bedside nurse. Today, I am honored to continue on this journey of CRNA school so I can finally land at someone else's bedside, coaching them through their potentially scary and stressful times. I want to be this bright light watching over them as they sleep and as they wake up from the darkness. I want to lead, teach and inspire other healthcare providers to prioritize patient safety and treat them with dignity like I was. I have experiences as both the provider and the patient, so I can empathize with both sides. I want to make a difference as a CRNA. I am so grateful to be considered for this opportunity. Thank you for your time.
I plan to pay it forward as a CRNA by doing what was done for me; I plan on being a mentor within my community so that other nurses are aware that being a certified registered nurse anesthetist exists. Like I did in my undergraduate program I want to mentor those who are either in the program or looking into applying. I will push for other nurses, but especially nurses of color to get into the intensive care unit as new graduates since we tend to start in medical-surgical units first. I want to focus on people of color because we make up less than 1% of the CRNA population. I am inspired by CRNA Prep School Academy and I am hopeful in the near future I can do the same and this grant will help me financially. Thank you.
