"You are 36 year-old single mother that is still in college, you are not doing good for yourself!" This comment was made to me by my father a couple months ago. Was it hurtful? Yes it was. Did I let it affect me and my schooling? No I did not. I am a single mother of 3 children who are 12, 13, and 18 years old. I was a young mother and did not go to college immediately because of that. I wished I would have known better because my parents said I had to work rather than go to college because I was an "adult" since having a baby. 18 years later, I am in school yet again. I did go to school when my youngest were babies and earned my associates degree. I later went back and obtained my licensed practical nurse license. Since the summer of 2020, I am finally going into my last semester of LPN to RN program at Allegany College of Maryland! With being a single mother, I want to show my children that you can succeed at anything if you put your mind to it. There are sacrifices that has to be made to make a better lifestyle when being a young mother. No only am I a single mother, but a survivor of domestic violence. My children's father suffers from substance abuse disorder and has been in and out of our lives. I made him leave our family 4 years ago because of his addition which was not an easy task. I though I could not function without him as a person and a family. But once I did, I was able to prove to myself as well as my children that you can succeed at anything if you persevere. I was always the bread-winner of my family and always had one income. When I decided to go back to school, I had to try to manage financially so I can pay for college and still maintain my household. There have been times I had to choose to pay for food over an electric bill or water bill. I apply for financial assistance but do not qualify because I had gone to school prior and used my quota for grants/loans. To pay for the schooling now, I try to save any extra money I made working overtime at work and I sell my plasma every week as well. I am empathic to the fullest and that is what makes me a good nurse. I plan to continue to this and helping the community by providing the best nursing care I can give. My ultimate goal is to help single mothers and families that have suffered from addiction as well. Going to school is helping me obtain my goal so I have the knowledge and skills to do this. Any financial assistance would be greatly appreciated and would help me reach my goal.

A nurse is often misconstrued as a person there is get a patient something. Till recently, the pandemic has shown that nurses go above and beyond for their patients. With currently being an LPN during the pandemic, it was nice to be seen as a helping hand. I decided to go back for my RN so I am able to do more to help people. As a LPN, my license only allows me to provide certain care but a RN license will extend that. My strive to help people, that is what gives me pure happiness. I currently work at a long care facility for veterans. During the pandemic I have seen families suffer without seeing their loved ones as they pass. I have held hands while being on FaceTime with families as their family members passed away. I did what I could do within my scope of practice. With going to school and furthering my education, this widens my scope of practice to allow me to do more. With obtaining my RN license, I would be able to work in acute care settings so I can be on the frontline to help during a pandemic or catastrophe. A nurse manager I worked with at a doctors office gave me the initiative to start my nursing career. She was a registered nurse at the time and now is a certified nurse practitioner. She told me the possibilities of becoming a register nurse and the one that stuck with me was her helping during Hurricane Katerina. With her nursing license as a register nurse, she was able to go down south and the help people that were in need of medical attention. That is what gave me the will-power to start my nursing career. Then possibly of helping as many people as possible is my ultimate goal. As a licensed practical nurse, I am able to do this on a small level but still give that same impact to patients and their families. Going to school would allow me to do this on a larger scale and to help more people. Being nurse is continuously learning and staying up-to-date with new treatment. So being a nurse is important to value education because it is a part of the career. I am passionate to helping people and therefore I am passionate about my education. Without this education it wouldn’t allow me to continue helping people.

Red is Dollys color! Dolly is an English bulldog beagle mix. She was rambunctious, silly, corky, and a runner. We live by the woods and unfortunately she got a lot of ticks. Even though she did have a collar on, she got Lyme’s disease which ultimately took her life at the young age of 2. She was best part of those two years. She was absolutely adored by all that met her. I’m this picture she got “red handed” chewing on my red lip stain. Needless to say she was like that for about a week!

Mental health affects everybody at some point in their lives. I personally suffer from mental health disorders. Being a nurse and working through Covid, it was very difficulty for my mental health. Not only was is physically draining working 13 hour shifts and overtime in N95 mask, face shields, gowns, gloves, and have short staffing issues, it took a tool on me mentally. There were days that I just cried for hours because how devastating it was. I am currently a LPN that works with veterans from World War 2 through Iraq/Afghanistan Wars. Many of the residents have suffered mental health disorders because of being in an active war zone of WW2, Korean War, Vietnam, and the most recent of Iraq/Afghanistan Wars. Not only do they deal with the aftermath of being United States heros and serving during active war, they had to fight Covid with their families. I treat them as my family, as I even tell my children during the holidays that my other family needs me right now so we can celebrate on another day. Trying to maintain a health mental health for my resident as well as myself during Covid was difficult. The residents were quarantined to their room 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Nobody was allowed on our units other than nursing staff or the essential staff that had direct care with residents. With the limited staff, it was difficult to appease all of the residents with daily activities so there were times they just sat in their room in silence doing nothing. After months of this, it was wearing on staff as well as residents. I personally would call resident families so they can talk on the phone. I even sat with a dying resident and FaceTimed his family so they can have their last moments with him since they were not allowed being in the facility because of Covid. I plan on staying in this field and working with our veterans that deserve the best care possible as they put their life on the line for United States of America!

Nurses are not pill pushes but extended families. I currently work as a LPN and going back to school for my RN. I enjoy being a nurse and want to further my education so I can continue helping my residents and help teach the new nurses coming into the facility. Before entering into the nursing field I saw nurses as pill pushers. Needless to say when I became a nurse, it changed my mind. I am a hand to hold of a dying resident, a shoulder to cry on for a despaired resident, and an ear to listen for an upset resident. I strive daily at work to help my residents, to make them comfortable and happy with where they are in life. Especially with the current Covid pandemic, I became very close with the residents as they were unable to see family. In one circumstance, that will forever stay in my heart, was a resident that had declined and was actively dying. Our activities staff was unable to sit with the resident to have a virtual conference call with the family and administration was not allowing families to come in at that point of the pandemic. I finished passing my medication and documentation so I asked if I can have the IPad to FaceTime the family. They gave me a time limit of 30 minutes but I stayed on for an hour and a half. I pestered with his family and listened to music. Talked with his wife and learned a great deal of information that I didn’t know before. As the time ended with the call, his wife said her goodbyes. I stayed with my resident so he can listen to his favorite song. He passed away as the song ended. I called his wife immediately and told her the news. She was heartbroken but happy because she knew I was there and considered me family. I want to continue doing this for families and residents as they deserve to have someone with them in the time of need. Not only does the actively dying resident need someone next to him/her but the family needs someone too. I want to continue with my associates and work towards my bachelors and masters so I can teach people coming into the nursing field the holistic measures of treating patients and families. This encourages me and strives for me to continue what I do for a living. My children sees me as a nurse but always are upset when I can not make it to a holiday or a special function. I always tell them “my second family needs me today and are unable to make adjustments to their lives whereas I can”.