I have always heard, "You can't teach an old dog new tricks." I am here to tell you that I may be an old dog, but I am still able to learn new things everyday. I am currently working as a paramedic in the emergency department at Hennepin County Medical Center. I have been there for five years and I worked in the emergency department at Regions hospital for eight years. I began my career as an Emergency Medical Technician in Louisiana and then became a paramedic shortly after. I moved to Minnesota twelve years ago searching for a better environment for my family. I have five children and one grandchild. I thrive when I am under pressure and nursing has always been that fun career I can achieve success with and I feel good about what I am doing and how I am making a difference in the world. My love for helping others came when I had my first child at sixteen and she was born with Cerebral Palsy. She has taught me so many things about the medical field that I would have never experienced if I had not been blessed with a special needs daughter. Everyday, I am either working at the hospital or I am at an assisted living facility taking care of my charge nurses mother because she refuses to accept their care or I am home taking care of my family and our pets, baking and dancing to all genres of music. When my grandmother was diagnosed with stage IV colon cancer, I was her primary caretaker. I would take her to MD Anderson's, chemo treatments and everything in between. My life mission is to help the sick and wounded. I was once in a place I needed help and I would like to continue to help others but in a more professional, higher level of care type of way. We have a saying in New Orleans that goes like this: "laissez Les bon temps rouler", which means "let the good times roll". Not all times will be good but all times can roll into something more beautiful and lucrative if we put our mind and heart in it. I hope you will consider my application for this award and understand that I would do everything in my power to show why I deserve this award and a chance to fulfill a dream!