When I first started college, I was interested in the field of medicine and pursuing a career in health care, but I was not able to decide what pathway I wanted to choose. I took the opportunity to shadow in hospitals, athletic training facilities, and physical therapy clinics. Through my experience I had the privilege of hearing stories from patients and healthcare professionals. My shadowing allowed me to learn about compassion and the scope of practice each profession provides. Although I completed over 300 hours, I was still unable to decide what path I wanted until I had the opportunity to work as a Certified Home Health Aid. As a Home Health Aide learned to work alongside Certified Nursing Assistants, Registered Nurses, Medication Technicians, and Physicians. I was able to become nurse delegated through each of my clients' nurses and became efficient in tasks such as medication reminders, g-tube feedings, advising about diabetes management, and assisting with activities of daily living. This is what sparked my passion and assisted in my choice of pursuing nursing. I had never experienced meeting someone with Alzheimer's disease until one year into me being a Home Care Aide. My client was 88-year-old women was a missionary, a mother, a teacher, and a women's advocate in her early years of life. She was diagnosed with sever dementia due to Alzheimer's disease only a month before I had started assisting her. I did not understand how Alzheimer's affecter her memory and activities of daily living until a month getting to know her. She would forget what day of the week it was, where she was living, who her children were, when to take medication, toileting usage, and other personal care tasks. As her Home Care Aide, I found ways to work with her conditions and find positive triggers of her memory. We would leave notes around the home, create daily calls with family members, have her complete as many task independently, daily bible reading, puzzle games, and have her husband talk about their life together to recall memories. This all seemed to slow her progression of illness along with the medication proscribed to her. I had been working with my client for six months when she started to regress in skills, activity and memory at a faster rate. She had developed tumors, decreased balance, and was unable to eat independently. With the assistance of other care members, she was put onto hospice and end of life care. She passed away peacefully in her sleep surrounded by family members and healthcare professional. She had such an impact on me as it was my first time experiencing death with a client, in my career and with someone I have worked so closely with. She always had a saying when she was trying to complete tasks, "my mind is playing tricks on me, but I am not falling for it". She would always say thig to jog her memory, calm her tremors, or to complete sentences. She was resilient with her diagnosis and did not let it dictate her final year of life. She wrote out any stories she could remember for her grandchildren, finish knitting blankets, took walks with neighbors, wrote notes for the future, and she always remind me that everything is mind over matter. With this being my first experienced with Alzheimer's disease and death in my career I was impacted by my client. We still do not know the causation of Alzheimer's disease, but we do know it is closely linked to type 1 diabetes, genetics, and age. I am hoping for the future that we can distinguish risk factors, causes, and create cures.

When I first started college, I was interested in the field of medicine and pursuing a career in health care, but I was not able to decide what pathway I wanted to choose. I took the opportunity to shadow in hospitals, athletic training facilities, and physical therapy clinics. Through my experience I had the privilege of hearing stories from patients and healthcare professionals. My shadowing allowed me to learn about compassion and the scope of practice each profession provides. Although I completed over 300 hours, I was still unable to decide what path I wanted until I had the opportunity to work as a Certified Home Health Aid. As a Home Health Aide learned to work alongside Certified Nursing Assistants, Registered Nurses, Medication Technicians, and Physicians. I was able to become nurse delegated through each of my clients' nurses and became efficient in tasks such as medication reminders, g-tube feedings, advising about diabetes management, and assisting with activities of daily living. This is what sparked my passion and assisted in my choice of pursuing nursing. According to the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Foundation there are over 300,000 cardiac arrests that occurred out of a hospital with over 90% being fatal. With proper healthcare teams, education, and facilities to provide proper treatment, I believe this number could decrease. My first client as a CNA became my inspiration to pursue Cardiopulmonary Nursing and hopefully work in a trauma cardiac facility. I hope to shape the future by working in a cardiac trauma care center in disadvantaged medical areas in the United States. I hope to be a future leader and health advocate in the field of medicine. I am interested in research and concerned with the small amount of research that involves women health. Women are often seen as "hard" variable to have in a study because of our menstrual cycles, hormones, pregnancy and birth control factors. I also believe more encouragement for fitness and exercise in all ages is important for females' development and health. I hope with this scholarship will be able to allow me to comfortably attend school and be able to work as a Certified Nursing Assistant. With more focus on my school, I would be able to shadow emergency room settings, cardiac rehabilitation settings, and conduct a research hypothesis. This scholarship would empower me to be in leadership positions, improve my skills, and participate in university organizations for nursing students.

When I first started college, I was interested in the field of medicine and pursuing a career in health care, but I was not able to decide what pathway I wanted to choose. I took the opportunity to shadow in hospitals, athletic training facilities, and physical therapy clinics. Through my experience I had the privilege of hearing stories from patients and healthcare professionals. My shadowing allowed me to learn about compassion and the scope of practice each profession provides. Although I completed over 300 hours, I was still unable to decide what path I wanted until I had the opportunity to work as a Certified Home Health Aid. As a Home Health Aide learned to work alongside Certified Nursing Assistants, Registered Nurses, Medication Technicians, and Physicians. I was able to become nurse delegated through each of my clients' nurses and became efficient in tasks such as medication reminders, g-tube feedings, advising about diabetes management, and assisting with activities of daily living. This is what sparked my passion and assisted in my choice of pursuing nursing. My future was not always shaped in one specific direction. I am currently finishing my Bachelors in Exercise Science at Eastern Washington University and will be taking the Exercise Physiologist Certification test to complete my accreditation. With the courses I have taken and the opportunity to work with my current company, I have learned many aspects of the healthcare system The most important experience was my first client in my career. She was an excellent runner and had experienced many trail running competitions and triathlon training. My client had the misfortune of having a sudden cardiac event during one of her competitions and did not know she had a subtle change in ventricular defibrillation while she exercised. With a proper screening they would have detected the problem in an ECG, but she did not have access to this care. She was fitted for a pacemaker after her cardiac arrest and continued her passion of exercise until she reached the point where she needed assistance around the home, and this is when I started assisting her. My client told me stories of her experience in a cardiac clinic, surgery, kind nurses and educators and how she was grateful every day that she was able to get into a trauma center fast enough. According to the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Foundation there are over 300,000 cardiac arrests that occurred out of a hospital with over 90% being fatal. With proper healthcare teams, education, and facilities to provide proper treatment, I believe this number could decrease. My first client became my inspiration to pursue Cardiopulmonary Nursing and hopefully work in a trauma cardiac facility. I hope to shape the future by working in a cardiac trauma care center in disadvantaged medical areas in the United States. Thank you for this opportunity