Kimberly May

Whoever would have thought that the last words that my aunt would say to me would be, “You know, you would make a great nurse.”

My response to her was that I didn’t know if I would be a nurse but whatever I chose, I would be the best at it.

She died in October 2007 and on August 18, 2008 I sat in my first nursing class at the Medical College of Georgia. I knew that I was put in this situation to make a difference in the lives of people both seen and unseen.  My steps have been ordered by God, and I was chosen for this career.

Nursing gives me the opportunity to provide families with excellent and compassionate care- the kind of care that some of my family members have received and the kind of care that I would like for them to continue to receive if necessary.

In addition to helping people, I am also the start of a trend that hopes to increase diversity in nursing.  I have three cousins; two of them are age four and the other is five years old.  When they ride with me in my car, they ask, “Can I see that?” referring to my stethoscope hanging on my rearview mirror.

“Yes, of course!”  They immediately know that you can listen to your heart with it since seeing it in use at their checkups. Now they are trying it out on each other.  Once we get home, I show them the proper way to use the stethoscope and let them listen to my heart, lungs, and stomach.  At this point, I am so excited that my little cousins- two girls and a boy- now have an interest in using a stethoscope. I see that I will be setting a trend.

There are no nurses in my immediate family but eventually, I will hear people say, “They come from a family of nurses.”  Since beginning at the Clinical Nurse Leader program, Community Health Nursing clinical has provided me with memories that I will have forever.  The opportunity to go out and provide services to people in rural areas who are sick was an experience that made me become more appreciative of what I have and thankful that I am from a small town.

Thanks to the generous and most appreciated scholarship from The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s New Careers In Nursing, I am able to really focus on school and finally fulfill my passion, desire, and destiny in life.  Whenever I get the chance, I spread the word about the need for good, compassionate and caring nurses who will treat people the way that they want to be treated.  I hope that I can serve as a role model to people, an advocate for the clients, and show that I will always strive to do everything in the best interest of the clients and the families that I will be serving.