Missionary making healthcare more personal

“I think of myself as a former patient who became a nurse. So it was a natural next step in my career to move from bedside care to patient experience.

The field is more than surveys. It’s advocating for more accessible, wholistic and affordable care, and connecting the voice of communities directly to the healthcare systems serving them.

Right now, we’re using game-based learning to inspire frontline team members to deliver care focused on the mind, body and spirit. Acting as facilitator for these learning events is the highlight of my job!

Interactive learning through simulation makes things personal, and I believe it is the future of hospital education. I feel honored to have studied under some of my scholarly heroes in the Healthcare Simulation program at UCF, and be part of my hometown’s story.

I overcame a lot to get here. After my lung spontaneously collapsed, I was forced to learn about a new scary world: healthcare. Through that experience, God called me to nursing. I was 20 years old. After a 30-day hospitalization, I changed my major and never looked back.

Starting over was hard work. I worked in fast food in the morning before classes at night. My mom and grandma helped when they could, as it was just the three of us. I am proud to be part of their legacy – strong women raising strong women.

Now as someone blessed with so much, I am called to give resources and talents to serve those with less. My dream is to combine simulation education and mission trips – partnering with local hospitals to run drills on emergent patient conditions to improve outcomes in understaffed and impoverished countries.”

UCF Affiliations

• Alumna of UCF’s first Nursing and Healthcare Simulation MSN cohort, ’17MSN