Bridget Morris has wanted to be a nurse for as long as she can remember but the realities of her family’s financial situation made it impossible for her to realize this dream, or so she thought. She couldn’t afford to quit her day job and most nursing schools only offered day classes.
Bridget had previously earned a diploma from the medical billing and coding program at the $$Pikeville Campus. She was able to accomplish this by taking classes at night so she could work during the day. When she heard that the campus started a new nursing degree program she said, “I knew I wanted in.”
Bridget was one of the first students to enroll in the new program and now she is a registered nurse fulfilling her dream. She said that getting her degree wouldn’t have been possible without the flexible class schedule at National. “There is no other program that would have worked [with my schedule],” she explained.
Now, Bridget is working for the pain management clinic at Pikeville Medical Center and her career is everything that she thought it would be. “I love where I’m [working]. I love my doctors. I love my patients. I love my job,” she said.
In her new job, Bridget rotates through four areas of the clinic — triage, the office, the procedure room, and recovery. She feels well prepared by her training at National to handle them all. “The class size was so small that we got a lot of one-on-one when we needed it,” she shared. “It was easy to grab one of the teachers and say ‘Hey, I’m having trouble with this, will you show me?’”
Bridget said she may someday continue her education and pursue a bachelor’s degree in nursing but for now, she’s enjoying each day in her new career. “It’s a good feeling knowing that you’re doing something good for somebody,” she said.
She encourages others who dream of a career in nursing to consider attending American National University. “If not for American National University, I wouldn’t be where I am today. I would never have been able to move forward.”
