XXXX University is my first choice for graduate study since it is the only Nurse Anesthesia Program in Utah. Last year, I applied to your program and earned a spot on the waitlist. Since then, I have retaken the GRE and modestly improved my scores. I have also finished my BSN with a 4.0 GPA. I want to stay in Utah for the sake of my family. Motherhood consumed my life alongside nursing up until recently. But now my children are older and very independent. It is now my time. My husband and I are even thinking of moving to downtown Salt Lake City so that I will have less driving time as a student at XXXX.
Nothing in my life can compare—except for the possible exception of the birth of my children—with the sheer joy that I felt last May 2015 when I was given an Honors Award from the state of Utah in recognition of my outstanding service as a nurse. This award focused on the positive impact I have had on my patients and coworkers and my humanitarian work. I have been working full-time as a nurse since 1998. Since 2007, I have been serving at the center of the action as a Charge Nurse for my hospital’s Intensive Care Unit. Throughout this time in the ICU, I have kept the closest eye on the CRNA, noting their duties, strengths, techniques, etc. This is because I know that this is my destiny.
I grew up in Utah in a family with eight children; my father is a physician assistant. I currently live in the mountains near Salt Lake City and settled in this area to care for my mother with cancer. My son, 24, is also a nurse who shares my goal of becoming a CRNA. My daughter, 22, is finishing her BSN. And as if there were not already enough nurses in the family, my youngest daughter is in her first semester of college with aspirations of also becoming a nurse and eventually a CRNA. My husband is a family practice physician who gets to dabble in the ER and endoscopy. I also have a beautiful grandson who is eight months old. Around our dinner table, during family outings, and even during quiet time in the living room, we talk about medicine, nursing care, and especially anesthesia.
My husband and I have gone on medical missions to Africa, the Dominican Republic, and Haiti together. We took our son to Haiti, and all three of our children accompanied us on medical missions to the Dominican Republic. In Haiti, we were met at the top of the mountain by villagers who carried our supplies down with donkeys. We ran a clinic for seven days from sunup till sundown. People hiked in from all around the area, some even traveling most of the night to wait in line the entire day, hoping to be seen. Many children were anemic, malnourished, and frequently suffering from severe scabies.
I noticed a large abscess on his thigh while covering a small boy who was extremely ill with scabies. We were able to drain the spot but had to pack it for it to continue to drain. We treated the child with antibiotics and Tylenol to reduce his fever. We convinced his brother to return him for continued antibiotic treatment and repack the wound for several days. This boy carried his younger brother miles each way to be treated. On his third return visit, he presented us with fresh fruit he had picked from a tree to thank us.
The above story exemplifies many memorable moments I have enjoyed alongside my husband on medical missions. I look forward to many more decades going on missions as a CRNA. For this reason, I am regularly improving my conversational skills, especially in medical Spanish.
Thank you for considering my reapplication to your CRNA Program at XXXX.