Career

By Lucy M. Pritchett Julie Collings discovered that being a school nurse involves much more than taking temperatures and dispensing bandages. Julie began her nursing career as a staff nurse working in transitional care with Norton Hospital and then went on to become an outpatient surgery pre-op nurse. That was when Julie’s mother, who works in student services for the New Albany Floyd County Consolidated School Corporation, suggested that she become a substitute school nurse. Julie jumped at the chance. “I was a single mom and was hoping to get my foot in the door [...]

By Lucy M. Pritchett A promise that Anitra Durand Allen made to herself in college got lost in the ensuing years of her engineering career. Fortunately, a gentle reminder from her husband brought her to her turning point. Her promise? “I would pursue my engineering career until I was 35, and then I would stop and raise a family,” Anitra says. “At the time I was asked, ‘You don't want to do anything with your life? Why would you waste your gifts?’ I was good at math and science and heading toward my engineering degree [...]

By Lucy M. Pritchett Nina Rodahaffer’s Turning Point came when her desire to care for others led her to a nursing career and, a surprise to her, an entrepreneurial adventure. Her aha moment came over a long weekend when she was caring for her grandmother who had a medical condition that needed daily attention. Nina already had a degree in communication from the University of Louisville and was working as a manager in the restaurant industry, but those four days spent with her grandmother cemented in her mind that she wanted to go into nursing. [...]