MIDLAND, Texas — We need nurses now more than ever, and trying to graduate from nursing school during a pandemic is a real challenge.
But for one new nurse it was a challenge worth every ounce of hard work. Every hero's story starts with overcoming a challenge.
"It's been the hardest most rewarding then I've ever done in my life, and graduating in the pandemic was kind of like the icing on the hard cake,” said Ashley Lindsey, nursing student.
Lindsey walked through the doors in the Emergency Room at Midland Memorial as a nursing student and technician.
“It was really humbling for me to be challenged in ways that I didn't realize I could be challenged. To really grow into this position that, I knew my heart was there, but now I truly understand that's where I'm supposed to be."
Just when she was supposed to really put her nursing training to use, COVID-19 hit.
"That was the hardest thing, finally getting out there and putting my hands on patients and really show them this is what I know, this is what Texas Tech has taught me. Having to change gears was hard," said Lindsey.
Now she’s traded a classroom for a keyboard.
"It's kind of part of nursing. It's kind of like the ultimate 'this is what you do', you have to evolve and you have to adjust. Regardless of what is handed to you."
But as a nursing student at Texas Tech Health Sciences Center, she knew she was already prepared.
"They didn't skip a beat. We all finished when we were supposed to. We were all able to still get our education. I don't fell at all like we were cheated. We just had to finish in a different way," Lindsey said.
When Ashley got the news she graduated as a nurse, she knew she was home.
"Everybody I've talked to has been like, ‘You’re going to be a great nurse. We're going to teach you everything you know. Don't worry you're not by yourself,’ and it's such a great experience. You're like a whole family,” said Lindsey.
Now she is on the frontlines of an even tougher challenge.
"So my definition of a nurse is a form of a warrior. We are your rock when you need it. We are your shoulder when you need it. We are your knowledge, your understanding. We are your teacher, we are so many different things wrapped up in one person,” Lindsey said.
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