3 minute read
School of Nursing feature
Making a difference: Standout nursing student finds his prayers answered
Graduating nurses will always remember their candle-lighting ceremony in a tradition hearkening back to nurse Florence Nightingale, the “Lady with the Lamp.”
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The outcome of nursing education at Palm Beach Atlantic University is a competent nurse who is reflective, inquiring and able to apply nursing theory within the context of the Christian worldview while recognizing the needs of the patient, family and community.
Degree options include:
• Bachelor of Science in Nursing • RN to BSN (online) • Master of Science • Doctor of Nursing Practice
Learn more at Go.pba.edu/nurse In 2016 Israel Montero discovered his calling to be a nurse while flat on his back with rock-bottom hemoglobin. “If you had waited one or two more days to get here, you could have died,” they told him at the hospital. For three days he was drowsy and dizzy from his stomach ulcer and loss of blood. But he was alert enough to notice how hard his nurse worked to care for him. “She was dedicated, compassionate, smart and respectful,” he said. “I remember saying to myself, I want to be like her.” A pastor’s son from Peru, Montero lay in bed praying and wondering if his illness could be a message from God. He was thinking, What am I doing with my life right now? I’m not doing anything “And at that moment,” he recalled, “it was like I’m going to be a nurse I prayed to God and asked Him to please let me do this, to provide meaning to life by being a servant of others.” Montero was a high school graduate at the time, living in Washington State and working at Home Depot. Straightway he enrolled at a community college and began his prerequisites for nursing school. He volunteered at a hospital, worked a year and a half at a nursing home and another year and a half on a hospital unit that receives patients from the ICU. He earned his associate’s degree and studied the school directory of NursingCAS, an application service for nursing programs. The Palm Beach Atlantic entry jumped out at him. Oh wow, he thought. PBA is a Christian school. It would be amazing if I could go there. So he applied and prayed, making God a promise to be faithful if granted this opportunity. He’d never been to the East Coast before, but when the PBA acceptance came, Montero quit his job, sold his car, packed just one suitcase and headed to West Palm Beach. He had barely a couple months’ rent. He didn’t know a soul in the city, but he knew one thing: I’m meant to be here After his first semester, spring 2020, he began working at Good Samaritan Medical Center as a nurse assistant. In the fall he became a nurse extern, qualified to do more procedures. Montero, formerly without purpose, was impressing hospital staffers and nursing professors alike. “This young man is one of the most amazing hires I have ever encountered,” said Susan Théroux, administrative director of service
line programs at “Good Sam.” “There is absolutely no doubt that he will be one of the best nurses in the field.” Théroux has seen plenty of nursing students during her 30 years in healthcare. “Israel just has a level of compassion that is unmatched,” she said. “He’s intelligent, full of respect, and gives 100 percent to every task.” Dr. Kathy McKinnon, PBA assistant professor of nursing, has found Montero to be the first to answer questions in class. “And he answers with such wisdom that it motivates other students to speak up too. He always has a positive attitude, and his love for others is evident.” Going to nursing school full time and working shifts at the hospital is hard, but Montero loves it. “You go out and realize you’re making a difference in somebody’s life.” He’s set to graduate in May, and he’s excited about his future in nursing. Meanwhile, he has helped Administrative Director Théroux recruit several workers from Palm Beach Atlantic. “We’re excited to work with the PBA program,” said Théroux. “Keep sending us great people like Israel.”
– Susan Théroux, administrative director of service line programs at Good Samaritan Medical Center
