CRAFTING WELLNESS STORY

WOMAN BECOMES NURSE PRACTITIONER AT SAME HOSPITAL WHERE SHE WAS ONCE A CUSTODIAN

A woman with a dream to become an NP started out working her way through nursing school as a custodian in a hospital. Ten years later, she is showing the world the true meaning of discipline, hard work and determination by now treating patients as a nurse practitioner in that very same hospital. Check out our latest Crafting Wellness Podcast to hear her story and how she is inspiring people all over the world.
@j.m.a._dnp

TRANSCRIPT

SPEAKERS: Jaines Andrades, Brooke Smith

Jaines Andrades 00:00
My journey has taught me that you really have to let go of this idea of perfection, I think that we have sometimes have a one sided view of what it means to be successful. And a part of success is failure. A part of success is falling down. A part of success is, um, you know, just being genuine to who you are. And I think that my journey, because I've had failures, because I've had setback, it taught me that success isn't one sided.

Brooke Smith 00:45
Hi, everyone, welcome to our crafting wellness podcast. Today I have the pleasure of introducing you to Jaines. Well, thank you so much for joining our podcast. And for everyone who doesn't know your story and know who you are, can you just give us a little rundown and introduce yourself?

Jaines Andrades 01:00
Hi, my name is Jaines and I'm 30 years old. I live in Massachusetts, and I'm currently a trauma nurse practitioner at my local hospital.

Brooke Smith 01:11
That's awesome. Yeah, for everyone who doesn't know Jaines has a really interesting story of how she became a registered nurse practitioner in Massachusetts. Do you want to tell us a little bit about kind of how you became a nurse practitioner.

Jaines Andrades 01:26
My journey in nursing started in 2010. I had wanted to be a lawyer my whole life, got discouraged in high school, and felt that I couldn't do it. So then I had a conversation with the nurse in the emergency room one day, I was there with a family member. And he described to me nursing how great it was, how social you know, you get to talk all the time and meet new people. And he mentioned that you make a lot of money. And at that age, I was like, yep, this is like I can do this. So I decided that I was going to go to community college for a year to make sure that I liked science and that I could actually like perform well in nursing because like I said, everything that I had taken prior to that was with the goal of being a lawyer. So I went a year to a community college in my area and then said, Yep, absolutely. Nursing is for me, and started nursing school in 2010. At the same time, I got a job as a custodian at my local hospital. And my idea for that was just, I needed a stable job while I was in nursing school, and I applied for everything environmental and dietary, like anything that I was qualified for. I applied for and I got the custodian job. So I worked in the day stay operating rooms, so people would come in for surgery and then leave the same day mostly. So I would clean the operating rooms at night after the surgeries. And I worked doing that my entire nursing school. I graduated in 2014. With my bachelor's in nursing, I didn't immediately get a job in the hospital that I work in. Currently, I went out to work in the community in substance abuse and as a correctional nurse. In 2016, I decided okay, I'm going to go back to school to become a nurse practitioner. I got my degree as a nurse practitioner in 2020. Um, and I currently now work in the same hospital that I worked in as a custodian. But now I'm a nurse practitioner in the trauma surgery department.

Brooke Smith 03:48
Yes, I love this story so much! I just I can't get enough of it. I do have a question hearing you talk about this. So while you were a custodian back in 2010 to 14 while you're in nursing school initially, were you working nights and going to school during the day? Like how did you balance your work? career life, your school career? How did you How were you able to kind of get through school because I know nursing school is not easy. And instead we're working. Can you talk a little bit about your hours and what that grind was like?

Jaines Andrades 04:20
So I honestly I was just young, right? So I was like 19,20 I had a lot of energy. And I had a lot of drive because I knew that like I had to do this I had to become a nurse to be able to support myself financially. And just because like my dream had always been to graduate from college. So I had just like this unrelentless motivation to keep going no matter what. My day is usually started around seven. I would go to school, go to clinical and then I worked Monday through Friday 6pm to 10pm. And then if I was able to like squeeze in Some extra hours because maybe, you know, a week wasn't so heavy with schoolwork then I would work like either six to 1130 or 6pm to 2am depending on my schedule with school, but like I said, I just had this, like, fire inside of me that I had to finish that, um, it was a lot of sleepless nights. A lot of caffeine. Um, but I made it through. It was worth it. Yeah, definitely. Yeah, yeah.

Brooke Smith 05:31
There's this saying about like, uncomfortable now, for a more comfortable future, you know, you got to work hard now. And that uncomfortable, the sleepless nights, the sacrifices and all that so that later down the line, you can be where you want to be. And when you were when you went to nurse to become a nurse practitioner in 2000, what 17 or 1616 2020? were you doing similar? similar work at the hospital while you were when you were you were a nurse in that hospital while you were going to school to become a nurse practitioner. So what was that schedule like?

Jaines Andrades 06:09
Okay, so that was a little bit crazier than my bachelor schedule. Um, so, oh, gosh, it's like PTSD going back to those times. No joking. So, um, basically, I worked part time 7pm to 7am. Um, and because I was part time, for a part of it, I was full time a part of it, I was part time. But either way, I work 7pm to 7am. And then I had school on Wednesdays. So I never worked Tuesday nights, so that I could go to school on Wednesday, and then I fit my clinical hours in where I could show like, on my weekends off, thankfully, because I worked in acute care, sometimes my clinicals were overnight, so I could just keep on the same schedule. Sometimes they were like at eight in the morning. So I would have to like go to clinical all day from eight to five and then work seven to seven. Um, so it just depended on what clinical I was in. Really what my schedule was, but I really just again, many sleepless nights, many sleepless days, I think the longest I went without sleeping was 48 hours. I think I didn't sleep for two days, trying to like, um, you know, I had to work go to clinical and work again. Um, just to like, get my hours in. Um, but it's done.

Brooke Smith 07:40
Wow, congrats on graduating last last year, to become a nurse practitioner. That's amazing. I know that you've had a few challenges along the way. COVID being one of those. I'm sure you did you graduate during during the pandemic? Did you actually get a ceremony? No.

Jaines Andrades 07:57
So, um, yes, I graduated during the pandemic and no, I didn't get a ceremony. Um, yeah. So it was just really a different experience to find a job through a pandemic, graduate through a pandemic, take my boards through a pandemic. Um, I think it was kind of the cherry on top of my whole experience of, you know, going from a custodian to a nurse practitioner. It was just a cherry on top, the last like, obstacle I had to like overcome to get to where I am today.

Brooke Smith 08:28
Yeah, that's incredible. I love your journey so much. For everyone who was kind of watching and listening who doesn't really know, can you explain? Because you are custodian in operating rooms? Right. I think I read that in the article. Okay. Can you tell us a little bit about that journey? Do our custodian in the hospital that you work at currently now as a new owner, but while we're going through nursing school and your entire journey, you were working as a custodian in that hospital? Is that right?

Jaines Andrades 08:58
Correct. So I started working at my hospital in 2010. As a custodian, and I worked there for four years through nursing school, I didn't immediately get a job there. As a nurse, I left for about a year and a half to work out in the community. And then when I decided to go back to nurse practitioner school, I wanted inpatient nurse practitioner or acute care nurse practitioner, so I needed to work in the hospital. And then I applied again with more experience as a nurse and became a nurse at BST. I want to say it was 2017 ish. And then I worked there as a nurse until I graduated last year.

Brooke Smith 09:47
For those who don't know what acute care is. Can you explain that for everyone who doesn't know?

Jaines Andrades 09:48
Sure. So, um, nurse practitioners, um, their education or our education is divided into populations or Um, so for example, there's a family nurse practitioner who can take care of people mostly in the outpatient setting from birth to death, they have the full spectrum. But acute care nurse practitioner, I can take care of patients 13 and older. And my focus is more inpatient acute care. So, um, whether it's the ICU or the regular floor, a lot of my education was geared to in the hospital.

Brooke Smith 10:27
Thank you for explaining that. I also wonder, you talk a little bit about how after you went to nursing school initially, and graduate in 2014, you went out and worked in the community, can you tell us a little bit more about what you were doing out there,

Jaines Andrades 10:40
initially out of nursing school, I worked at a correctional facility, the men's county jail here in my area. And that was an interesting experience, I, I would say that it's it works a lot like the urgent care, or like a doctor's office, where you see patients for different things to hold, back pain, chest pain, things like that. And then maybe a little more acute things like people after they've been in altercation and things like that, but it functions a lot like in urgent care. And it was a great place for me to learn my assessments, because sometimes it was just myself and another nurse, so we didn't have like a physician or any provider nppa on site. Um, so that definitely helped me be stronger in my assessment skills. And then, um, I did that for about a year or so. And then I worked in a substance abuse clinic, I'm out in the community, helping patients who were using opiates, like helping them through the process of not using drugs anymore.

Brooke Smith 11:57
I love your journey so much, because I think kind of took a very a perspective that I don't think a lot of people have, I mean, think, think just working in a hospital as a custodian, I'm sure you saw a lot of things met a lot of people learned a lot of things just by being there and watching while you were in nursing school. And then also, you know, working out in the community with others, that experience had to be really great to prepare you for the position that you're in. Now, I think it's really inspiring to, for people listening in watch, you understand that, you know, life is a journey. And it doesn't always go like one way it kind of continue all these different places. But when it does, it's only preparing you for the next step in your life. And at the end of the day, we can get there all kinds of ways everybody's journey and story is going to be different on how they got into health care, and how they found that calling. But I think your journey is so beautiful. And I would love love love to talk a little bit more about I know in the article, kind of just talk about how I can't exactly remember the quote, but it was really beautifully said it was something about how you know, having an education is great. And it's something you're very proud of, but it doesn't make you better than someone else. And I think that's such a beautiful message. Because at the end, you know, at the end of the day, we're all just people trying to do our best and trying to love each other and trying to get through this crazy life,

Jaines Andrades 13:21
my journey has taught me that you really have to let go of this idea of perfection. So when I said that, that education is a is a great thing. I mean, it's what helped me get to where I am. Um, but it's, that's not the case for everyone. Because I think that we have sometimes a one sided view of what it means to be successful. And a part of success is failure, a part of success is falling down. A part of success is, um, you know, just being genuine to who you are. And I think that my journey because I've had failures because I've had setbacks, it taught me that success isn't one sided, because although, you know, um, education really got me here, something like I'm being able to speak to you and help motivate people is beautiful, and it's a different success than my education, you know. So I think that it's really important to say, and make a clear point that success for every one is different and to not feel discouraged, because you don't have a doctorate because you don't need a doctorate to be a successful person. Success isn't academic success isn't a degree success is what you think it is. And as long as you work hard towards that and understand that you're worthy to reach that, then, um, I think that that's what's important.

Brooke Smith 14:53
I couldn't agree more with you. You know, just, I think when you know, when I was younger, it was one of those things Everything felt like such a big deal. You know, if I failed the test or, you know, my boyfriend broke up with me, whatever that was, it felt so devastating. And now that I'm older, and I realized, like, actually, all of the things that happened in my life, that were heartbreaking, or were difficult or traumas that you overcome, all they do is make you stronger. It's, it's, it's not the fault that matters. It's how you recover from the fall that matters. And so I think, I think it's such a great message to know that like, failure, the only way that really you can fail is if you don't get back up, you know, because failure, there's so much to learn failure. And failure is like, what makes you grow, the setbacks are what make you grow, and what is what makes you a better person. That's what makes you more empathetic. It brings an understanding that maybe you didn't have before. And I think it's just a really great message for everybody watching and listening right now to remember that even in your hardest, toughest days, even in your greatest failures, that you're not actually failing, you're just you're you're falling into greatness, you're growing more of who you are meant to be. So I just think that's such a message. And thank you for sharing that kind of already talked about this, because you just gave such great advice. But do you have any other kind of advice for maybe younger people who want to get into what you're doing? How to kind of inspire them or tell them? You know, actually, I wish I had known this when I started.

Jaines Andrades 16:31
I think that the main thing is to get out of your own way. Because I feel like in my journey, I let like my insecurities or the fact that I didn't know something be a barrier, when there's so many resources out there to help you whether it's, you want to go to college, and you don't know how to pay for it. There's so many scholarships and organizations that are willing to help, you just kind of have to speak up and say, like, the squeaky wheel gets the grease, you just have to like step up and say like, hey, I need help. I think we a lot of the times, like I said, we get in our own head, and we kind of sabotage ourselves out of great opportunities. So I think my advice to someone who wants to do what I've done is like, just believe in yourself, be kind to yourself, on the way and get out of your own head. Because I think we're so critical of what we're doing that we ourselves block opportunities, I think life is hard enough, the journeys gonna be hard enough, don't make it harder by being down on yourself. You know, and I think another thing is remembering that it's kind of like a sum total of all of the effort that you put. So it's not you like putting the application to college, and then the return is your diploma. Right? So there's like studying, there's staying up late, missing out things with family, maybe people don't support you, whatever it may be. All of those things together will give you the final product. So remembering that in the hard times that like, yeah, this moment right now is really tough. But it is one moment in time that's gonna add together to make me achieve my dream. I would love to know a little bit about you and let everybody kind of get to know you.

Brooke Smith 18:26
I would love to know a little bit about you and let everybody kind of get to know you. Can you tell us where you grew up? and kind of just a little bit about your hobbies outside of healthcare and what kind of drives you, your passions.and kind of just a little bit about your hobbies outside of healthcare and what kind of drives you?

Jaines Andrades 18:34
I was kind of a nomad on my mom, we like moved a lot. But I was born in Buffalo, New York. And then I moved to the south, and lived in the south until I was 14, mostly in Alabama. And then at 14, I moved up to Massachusetts, and I've been living in Massachusetts since then. So it's been 16 years that I've been up north. So for a long time, I resisted the idea that I was a northerner because to me, I loved the South. And it was really hard for me to transition here, but now it's like, oh, okay, now now I'm just from the northeast. But what I like to do for fun, I am really into traveling. Um, the pandemic really, obviously slowed that down, but I love to go travel not only like for fun, but visiting different like historical sites. I've been to the Mayan ruins, and to Acropolis in Greece. So I really love like history and things like that. And now that I'm not in school, it's a lot of fun because I can go back to like reading things that aren't medical. And I like to try to stay active. I'm not always great at it just being honest. But I really do value like fitness, getting a walk in going for a hike. Things like that

Brooke Smith 20:01
traveling is so much fun because you learn, especially when you go you're going to the Mayan ruins that's awesome is to get to see history, you know, things that have been 1000s of years. And it's a really interesting experience when you go and you actually like, even things that you read about, if it's even not medical, you just read about something and you actually get to go see it in person, it's a completely different experience, I definitely recommend traveling, even if it's in, in the United States going and seeing, you know, the Grand Canyon and getting out there and just kind of seeing the world because it's such a big, big, big world. And sometimes we, I think get lost in the fact that everything in our life is just like, so important. But at the end of the day, it's a big world, and there's a lot going on out there. Mm hmm. You're just a really, really beautiful person. And I'm really honored to have you on our podcast.

Jaines Andrades 20:53
Thank you so much. Um, I just, you know, sometimes I'm still in awe at everything that has happened, because I think through those really hard times, there was really, really low days. And then you have days like this where I get to have like, see the fruits of the labor, you know, know that those sleepless nights and all of that was worth it, because I get one the opportunity to, like, do all of these podcasts and things like that. But also knowing that like, my story will hopefully help someone who felt the way that I felt one day, you know, so I really appreciate the opportunity. And I have no doubts that you will continue to touch lives and inspire people to go after their dreams with that fire and passion that you have in you. And that work work ethic. No matter what career people are in while they're listening to this podcast.

Brooke Smith 21:43
I think that you just really proved that resilience and perseverance more than anything. Well, we'll always win in the end, you know, perseverance. Fall down seven times, get up eight, you know, like, keep, keep going. Yep. Jeunesse, thank you so much for joining our crafting wellness podcast today. It has been such a pleasure getting to know you, you're incredibly inspiring. And for everyone watching and listening. I'm going to be linking all of her information in this video, so that you can give her a follow and check her out. I'm sure she's more than welcome to give you advice or answer any questions that you may have.

Jaines Andrades 22:19
Yes, absolutely. Feel free to ask me any questions. Send me DMS. And thank you again for the opportunity to be on this podcast.

WELCOME TO THE NEW SCHOOL.
LET'S ROLL

BE THE CAUSE

This is our oath and we need you. The WORLD needs you. We need your heart, your mind, your skills, and your partnership

MORE CRAFTING WELLNESS STORIES

IN HONOR OF OUR WELLNESS HEROES