Full Circle: A Career of the Heart
Michael Chavez, RN, of Sacramento, recently graduated from Samuel Merrit's accelerated RN degree program. A graduate of U.C. Davis' Political Science program, Michael worked for eight years as a registered lobbyist and fundraiser in our state's capital, and spent the last four years of that time raising funds for the California Medical Association, among other duties.
When his wife suffered from pre-eclampsia (PIH) 27 weeks into her pregnancy, she was seen at Kaiser Permanente Morse Avenue, where the couple spent several days in the Labor & Delivery department until labor was induced and their son was born, 13 weeks early. The two spent a lot of time in the NICU department, day and night, for five months while their child convalesced, trying their best to provide the closeness their son would need to survive, and getting to know the nurses who helped him grow healthy and fit.
During this time, Michael, motivated to change his career, decided that he would become a nurse. "I wanted to make a difference on a community level," he explained about his work in politics, but he learned that in the nursing field "every day makes a huge difference."
Almost three years later, his son is healthy and well, and Michael has graduated with a degree in nursing. He just finished a month-long clinical preceptorship at Kaiser Permanente Roseville, and will work in the Med/Surg department at Kaiser Permanente Morse Avenue. "I'm completely happy that I chose nursing...it was what I was looking for in a profession." Although he had other offers for employment, Kaiser Permanente was his first choice, owing to the quality of care his son received from the NICU department. "I'm coming full circle," he muses, "working right around the corner from where my son was born."