Lippincott NursingCenter.com is partnering with Lippincott Solutions to bring you an inspired nurse’s story every month. Here is July's nurse story, “Meant to be a Nurse.” 
 
Meant to be a Nurse
Adriana Pirez, BSN, RN
Saint Luke's Cornwall Hospital, Medical/Surgical Unit
 
All my life I've wanted to be a nurse. The inspiration was in my family, as my aunt Mercedes was the nurse coordinator for a private hospital in my native country of Uruguay. She married a doctor and one of their sons became a doctor too.

On Sunday's when we would gather at grandma's house, as a little girl, I remember hearing conversations about new drugs in the market to fight illnesses, and many stories my cousin would tell about his experiences as a new doctor doing an internship in a local hospital ED. I was mesmerized by their stories, their intelligence and mostly for their love and dedication to their professions. It took me a long time as a woman, a mother, and a wife, in my forties to realize that that dream of being a vocational nurse could be possible here in the U.S. So, after working for years in different hospitals as a unit secretary and a registrar for the Emergency Department, I enrolled in a nursing program at my local community college.

Finally, after so many struggles, lack of support and discrimination from some professors for me speaking with an accent and being different, I maintained a positive attitude, and transferred to a new nursing program in a prestigious Christian College in Rockland County, NY. In 2013, I graduated with honors. It wasn’t always easy, but I would do it all over again – nine years, three colleges and a huge debt in student loans.
Today, I work in my local hospital, the one where the nurses in that ED inspired me even more. I love the smiles on my patients when they see me coming on my second day of my shifts. Their smiles and their trust in my care is the greatest support I can get, knowing that nursing is in my heart and in my Christian soul, and that I was truly meant to be a nurse.

To see all 2016-2017 stories or to share an inspiring story of your own about being a nurse, or how you were inspired by another, and enter to win prizes, visit http://lippincottsolutions.com/inspirednurses.  Be sure to check our blog every month for a new inspired nurse’s story.