Michelle started her journey into the healthcare field by working as a CNA for nearly 10 years.
She initially didn’t think she’d become an LVN, but eventually enrolled in an accelerated program.
“Being in an accelerated program, it’s a lot harder than a regular program,” said Michelle. Those who don’t meet the program’s requirements are either held back or have to restart the program entirely. “But I just had that drive to get up every day and work and go to school, and I was able to graduate and become an LVN. That’s what pushed me to get out of the normal of being a CNA.”
Now, Michelle is in her 4th year as a Licensed Vocational Nurse. She joined the Recruitment Alley team in December of 2020, right as the COVID pandemic was at its peak. Her goal as an LVN was to provide holistic care to all of her patients and ensuring that they feel loved and nurtured at all times.
Despite all the chaos caused by the pandemic, Michelle remained focused and confident in her abilities as an LVN. Her can-do attitude, paired with her drive to provide holistic care for her patients, has earned her the title of Healthcare Rockstar of the Month for August 2021.
“It is hard sometimes to come and be that voice of reason,” said Michelle. “But when it comes down to it, if the place is burning down, you have to be the one to put everybody back together again. [Being a nurse] gives me the chance to reach out and speak for the ones that can’t speak for themselves. That’s what helps my drive, the people I meet, the people around me—it’s always positive and beneficial.”
Michelle was initially hesitant to switch to working for registry, but her experience with Recruitment Alley has proven to be worth the risk.
“I was kind of a 9 to 5 girl, full time at one place. You hear about registry, but you really don’t know the background or what’s going on with it,” said Michelle. “And then you come to Recruitment Alley and they fill you in and welcome you and give you all the information you need. You’re kind of like ‘Is this for real? Is it this easy?’ and it is!”
One of her favorite things about working for RA is the flexibility in scheduling. With Recruitment Alley, she is able to work whenever she wants: whether that’s the morning or night shift, 8 hour or 12 hour shifts.
“Right now, my status of living has been very well thanks to my new job,” said Michelle. “My schedule is flexible— I can still have a life and work too, if I wanted to have a family, if I wanted to do a hobby, I can still do that and work at the same time, so it’s working for me.”
Although she is interested in pursuing additional degrees in the distant future, Michelle is satisfied in her work and the knowledge and experiences gained as an LVN. Her fondest memory of working with the company was on Christmas Eve in 2020, with the Recruitment Alley team covering a facility’s entire red zone. As a token of appreciation for all of their hard work, RA’s internal staff brought gifts to their team on the field: cookies, chocolates, and Starbucks.
“This facility, none of their nurses wanted to work through the red zone, through the COVID, and RA came in and we were pretty much working every day,” said Michelle. “And it was Christmas time, and the recruiters and the leaders came through with Starbucks cards, cups, and made us feel like we are appreciated. They were able to bring us gifts and say, ‘I know you’re working hard, but we’re gonna get you through it. You’re appreciated, whatever you can do just do your best and that’s ok.’”
Michelle believes that the most important quality to have as an LVN is to be reliable. She acknowledges that it is hard to be working full time while balancing the struggles of life, but it’s important to communicate when you’re having a hard time.
From her experience, as an LVN people will approach and expect the LVN to have certain knowledge about disease processes, the way they are feeling, or the way their loved ones are feeling. She encourages LVNs to approach situations like these as kindly and as honestly as possible.
“If you don’t know, be like ‘You know what, I understand you, I really want to help you, let me check this out and I’ll help you.’ If you do know, ‘Hey I can teach you this, I can teach you that, let’s try this before we go onto medications,’ just do what you can do,” said Michelle. “Don’t try to take on everybody else’s payload and just run yourself thin. Do your very best, the best you can do, don’t try to do 10 different things at once until you feel more comfortable.”
