Caring for Patients Worldwide On Nursing Missions
I found myself as a single mom when my daughters were three and one years old. I was afraid I wouldn't be able to provide a good life for them and decided I needed to go to school to get my RN.
I'm Deborah Roy. I currently am a recovery room nurse in the hospital at Saint Francis downtown. I take care of patients after they've had surgeries.
Balancing being a single mom, going to school, and working full time was an extremely challenging thing to do. There were days that I can remember calling my dad and saying, “Dad, I cannot do this. How am I going to get through the rest of my life raising these daughters?” I just couldn't imagine it was possible. He said, “Deborah, you do it one day at a time—one task at a time. That's how you get through it.”
Guidance to Complete My Degree After Two Decades
24 years later, I decided I wanted to finish my bachelor's. I had to work full-time, but this program was very wonderful. I was able to do it a class at a time every seven weeks, and it worked out very, very well to be a working nurse and be able to further my degree at the same time.
Getting my bachelor's degree was something that I never thought that I would do, but I was able to graduate in May of 2021. It was a very exciting moment for me. It was worth all the hard work.
Deborah Roy
Getting my bachelor's degree was something that I never thought I would do. So the fact that I was able to get through this program and got to check off that box every step of the way made me feel like I was accomplishing something.
When I had questions, the SCOPE office was there to answer them. I hadn't been to school in 20+ years, and they were there to guide me. Every question I had they answered. It was easy to get a hold of someone. They were friendly and welcoming and wanted me to succeed, and I felt that.
I was able to graduate in May of 2021. What was so exciting about this was that my daughter was getting her master's degree, and we both got to walk that day together. So I got my bachelor's degree, and my daughter got to be on the stage as well, crossing it with her master's degree. It was a very exciting moment for me, a day I didn't think I would get to. It was worth all the hard work.
Caring for Patients All Over the World
I've been on five medical mission trips so far. I've functioned as an RN on these trips. I've been to Tanzania, Vanuatu, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Haiti. What I've seen there is poverty and a lack of availability of care. As a nurse, I was able to do a lot, but I need to be an advanced care provider so that I can do even more.
I'm currently attending Vanderbilt University, pursuing my master's degree, so that I'm able to be a nurse practitioner. This is going to allow me to treat patients all over the world, and that is just a privilege to me that I never thought possible.
If I hadn’t gotten my bachelor's degree with such ease through this program, I would never have made it to pursuing my master's degree. It was an impossible dream at the point that I started, and they made it all possible.
When I had questions, the SCOPE office was there to answer them. I hadn't been to school in 20+ years, and they were there to guide me. They were just friendly and welcoming and wanted me to succeed.
Deborah Roy