Current Position: Home Care RN with Firely Pediatrics
Story Last Updated: Summer 2024
GMercyU Nursing Alum Continues to Spread Mercy
Ever since the 10th grade I knew I wanted to attend Gwynedd Mercy University and get into the nursing program. I was beyond ecstatic when I got my acceptance letter my senior year of high school. I cannot believe that was back in 2011; even more so, I cannot believe how much I have accomplished since then.
I have been blessed with several opportunities to practice what I have learned during the course of the BSN program. Since becoming a registered nurse I have served on medical mission teams to Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Nepal and Honduras. Never in a million years would I have thought I would have had these experiences before even receiving my BSN. I always pictured myself maybe going to Africa or another developing area to do medical mission work someday…like perhaps when I was 40+ years old and comfortably settled into my nursing career.
I did not even have two years of nursing school under my belt when I heard about the opportunity to serve on a medical team in Haiti but felt God calling me to be a part of that team. I got my RN license only a few weeks prior to flying to Haiti to serve on my first mission trip. I felt like I was not qualified nor did I feel like I had enough experience, but I soon realized all I had to do was show up with willing hands and a caring heart.
In Haiti, I fell in love with the people—people who appeared to have absolutely nothing on the outside but were so full of love and faith on the inside. My first medical mission trip opened up my eyes to more possibilities of what nursing can be and what I could do to be a part of it. I “drank the Kool-Aid” as they say, and was hooked.
My experiences at this Mercy institution combined with my experiences serving in developing nations ensured my hunger for missions and my desire to make them a part of my nursing career. I want to be committed to social change around the world, keeping in mind the Sisters of Mercy’s critical concerns, as well as find critical concerns of my own to address as I travel across oceans, to wherever I am called next.
After graduation, I will be spending my first year with Mercy Volunteer Corps, volunteering as a nurse on a Navajo reservation in Arizona, working with children and adults with developmental disabilities.
My experiences and the relationships that I have built at GMercyU in both the ASN and BSN programs, have well equipped me to step out into the “real” nursing world and cannot wait to spread a little bit of “Mercy” as I continue on in my nursing career.
