The Manhattan Community Health Foundation provided Dacey Harms with one of six Ascension Via Christi Hospital Manhattan Education Scholarships for the 2023 and 2024 academic year. Dacey will graduate from Manhattan Area Technical College in May 2023 and begin her healthcare career. We had a chance to learn a bit more about her.
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"Sometimes, you can change their life;
mine was changed for sure."
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When did you know you wanted to be a nurse? I initially became a nurse because I wanted to go into hospice care. My mother had breast cancer in 2019, and we placed her in hospice care. With the month she passed, but in that period, I could see how much of an impact nurses, especially hospice nurses in this situation, have on the lives of their patients and their families. It's been a lasting impact that has brought me here regarding how I got on this path. I can't say enough how much respect I have for other nurses. This profession can sometimes be a calling, not a career, so it brought me here for those experiences.
What do you find rewarding? I can list a lot of rewards. One reward is that with patients in a long-term care setting, you go to the same people daily. You get to know them, their family, and their likes and dislikes, and it is very easy when you know someone so well to notice and tell quickly if something is not right or off with them. So, it's easier to detect acute issues on the clinical side because you know them so well.
Who helped you along the way? I started in the hospital pharmacy as an IV Technician, and I had a great director there who encouraged me to go on this path. I was telling him I wanted to go back to school. He told me he was there to make my career happen, whether in the Pharmacy or another hospital area. He was very helpful in setting me up with talking to people and who to talk to. Thank you to Kevin Ohme, the director of the hospital pharmacy. He's a great person if anyone's ever interested in working in the pharmacy, then work for him. Thank you to everyone who donated and everyone who made the foundation possible.
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How would you go about inspiring others to do this kind of work? To people who haven't been touched by a situation or seen any nurse in action, which I find hard to believe, think about others. If you really want to help others, the best way is to help care for them. One of the main things about who I am and how I describe how I got to this point is generally wanting to make a difference in people's lives. Sometimes, you can change their life; mine was changed for sure. So, people coming into this or thinking about it, go for it. It is entirely worth all the hard work and dedication; being able to change lives or just affect the day for someone can change your whole outlook.
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How has the scholarship helped you? As an LPN student, I paid out of pocket with student loans and cash. I couldn't borrow enough to pay for the total amount of the program. I was going to school full-time and relying on my husband’s income. It was hard financially. This impacted my relationship with my husband, friends, and family. I never got to see them. Having a scholarship to pay for school has completely changed my life. It's allowed me to focus more on myself, my mental health, my husband, my family, my friends, and my school, everything. Thank you to everyone who donated and everyone who made the foundation possible.