I am currently returning to nursing school after dropping out a year prior due to my pregnancy. During the initial COVID-19 outbreak in 2019 and 2020, I was in the middle of obtaining my Fine Arts degree. I had the goal of being an occupational therapist, specifically through the channel of art. My "aha" moment was my first global pandemic. When it first began, there was a common sense of "it won't affect me or my family" going about. I was convinced that me, my family, and my friends would all be perfectly fine. I continued to attend classes, even when everything went remote to prevent the spread. I, however, could not stay remote. I worked full time as a server at a local family owned restaurant that turned to doing solely take out due to restaurants being closed down. My "aha" moment, was seeing everyone I thought would never get sick, get sick, myself included. I saw family members on ventilators and unable to move from their bed. I wondered, who was taking care of these people? Down the hole I went, researching hospitals responses to the first global pandemic in decades. It seemed our healthcare system was inundated, and poorly prepared. Who prepares for a pandemic, after all? Nurses took the brunt of the pandemic. Nurses with family members who were immunocompromised did not get a pass, either. Nurses who lived with elderly parents or young children went to work every day, taking care of the most vulnerable. I saw news articles and videos of nurses who assisted family members say good bye on an iPhone to their loved ones, nurses work inside tents, nurses doing things they were not quite used to doing everyday. My whole life I have aspired to help others. Where my twin excelled in math and sciences and everything typically labeled "smart", I took to a canvas and paper with paint and colored pencils. I am not quite certain what made me change my entire life goal, but I watched nurses on television caring for the sick and thought, I could do that! Then, as the pandemic worsened, I saw nurses loading body bags into coolers, nurses running out of room for those they lost to the pandemic. I thought, can I do that? Can I take another person's loved one, a soul taken too early from a global pandemic, suited up in plastic armor meant to prevent the spread of the disease, and place them in a bag in a cooler on the street? An unmarked grave? I thought before I jump into this head on, I should ease myself into it. I took an EMT-basic program, a five month program while working as a server, with COVID restrictions slowly letting up, and promptly applied as an emergency room technician at OSF. I fell in love. Of course, with the fun tasks only someone who works in an emergency department can say they do, but I more so fell in love with the small interactions. I fell in love with the short bonds I made, with the people I might not ever see again, but hope they would remember that kind technician. So, I applied to nursing school, first at Rockford University where my mother worked. I passed all my first semester classes, except the ATI. I returned to Rock Valley, where I found I was pregnant and dropped out. Now, I am at Rasmussen, with a four month old, working when my family can watch my son, attending school with the same goal of helping the sick, pandemic or not.

My grandmother had cancer when she was in her twenties. When she was in her eighties in 2015, her cancer came back and relentlessly spread, until she passed peacefully with her son (my father), her granddaughters, and her husband with her. I was thirteen years old at the time, and seeing the nurses who came and cared for her, often more so mentally than physically, taught me that nursing is more than just caring for the sick or injured. As a nurse, you care for people as a whole, for their mental health and every aspect of the person. You care for every person, despite their similarities or differences. As a nurse, you do more than what a job can list for in the "roles and responsibilities". I currently work in the emergency room at OSF Saint Anthony as a patient care technician, and even now, I find the care I provide is often invaluable. The healthcare system is undeniably overloaded in the wake of COVID-19. Currently, we are seeing other outbreaks, including COVID, Norovirus, and the typical flu and RSV. I myself have a four month old son at home, and I have so much fear that I will bring these invisible foes home to him. My son is my whole world; however, the nurses caring for my grandma likely had children. The nurses caring for my grandfather who had C.diff likely had children and families. Everyday I go to work, I remind myself that I am caring for more than the sick and injured. I am caring for each individuals soul, their mental state, and by caring for the individual, caring for everyone who loves them. Knowing that the nurses who took care of my grandmother were so kind and caring for her in every aspect possible, I too felt loved by these strangers. Though the bond is short lived between a nurse and her patients, that bond is nonetheless weaker or less valuable. The bond between a nurse and her patient can precede generations, therefore lasting throughout time and countless individuals that the nurse had not even cared for. By loving and caring for my patients, I hope that family and friends of the individual shed their preconceived ideas of how cold healthcare can be. Healthcare is scary, undeniably, as no one has the power to cure cancer or mend broken bones to the same state they were before. Cancer, broken bones, illnesses, they all leave a lasting impression on every individual. However, by being a nurse who emulates what it truly means to be a nurse, by going beyond the profession of being a nurse and understanding the love that it takes to truly care for a soul, I hope to leave a stronger, everlasting impression on every individual also. Like Miss Cindy J. Visser, I would like to work part time in hospice for some time, as well as volunteer with my community. I have experience with several years volunteering at Bravehearts and the Catholic Charities Refugee Office. I grew up attending church weekly, and my goal is to raise my son in my church's community. My grandmother also passed from cancer, peacefully with her family. I hope to help guide individuals and their family members through these difficult times in hospice when I finish nursing school.

My grandmother had cancer when she was in her twenties. When she was in her eighties in 2015, her cancer came back and relentlessly spread, until she passed peacefully with her son (my father), her granddaughters, and her husband with her. I was thirteen years old at the time, and seeing the nurses who came and cared for her, often more so mentally than physically, taught me that nursing is more than just caring for the sick or injured. As a nurse, you care for people as a whole, for their mental health and every aspect of the person. You care for every person, despite their similarities or differences. As a nurse, you do more than what a job can list for in the "roles and responsibilities". I currently work in the emergency room at OSF Saint Anthony as a patient care technician, and even now, I find the care I provide is often invaluable. The healthcare system is undeniably overloaded in the wake of COVID-19. Currently, we are seeing other outbreaks, including COVID, Norovirus, and the typical flu and RSV. I myself have a four month old son at home, and I have so much fear that I will bring these invisible foes home to him. My son is my whole world; however, the nurses caring for my grandma likely had children. The nurses caring for my grandfather who had C.diff likely had children and families. Everyday I go to work, I remind myself that I am caring for more than the sick and injured. I am caring for each individuals soul, their mental state, and by caring for the individual, caring for everyone who loves them. Knowing that the nurses who took care of my grandmother were so kind and caring for her in every aspect possible, I too felt loved by these strangers. Though the bond is short lived between a nurse and her patients, that bond is nonetheless weaker or less valuable. The bond between a nurse and her patient can precede generations, therefore lasting throughout time and countless individuals that the nurse had not even cared for. By loving and caring for my patients, I hope that family and friends of the individual shed their preconceived ideas of how cold healthcare can be. Healthcare is scary, undeniably, as no one has the power to cure cancer or mend broken bones to the same state they were before. Cancer, broken bones, illnesses, they all leave a lasting impression on every individual. However, by being a nurse who emulates what it truly means to be a nurse, by going beyond the profession of being a nurse and understanding the love that it takes to truly care for a soul, I hope to leave a stronger, everlasting impression on every individual also.