Care at Akron Children’s influenced my path to nursing

I have 13 years of service with Akron Children’s Hospital, and I am only 35!

When I was in high school I started working in my uncle’s orthopedic office, Dr. Pat Riley, Sr. This was my first exposure to working in the vast medical arena.

However, when I was 5, I was a patient here in the hospital for about a week. I still have the note that my nurse sent to me after I went home.

Even though I was only 5, I remember many things about that hospital stay, from the wagon rides to get a new IV started, the nurses that cared for me, and the hyper crib I had to sleep in.

I started at the University of Akron in 1998. Too scared to go after my BSN, I chose business as my major. In 1999, my youngest sibling was severely injured in a pedestrian vs. car accident. I found myself at her bedside every free moment I had.

I was in awe of the nurses caring for her, and the impact that they had on my sister and my family. It was then, while I was sitting on her hospital bed, thanking God and the wonderful staff for healing my sister, I decided to change my major and become a nurse.

From that point on I have never looked back. In the summer of 2002 I was hired to be a nurse tech in the NICU, and that began my nursing career.

Here I am 13 years later. I continue to work as a nurse for Akron Children’s Hospital and I am so very grateful to have a career that I love.