My path to this place, started early in my life. Growing up in a working-class family, my father a police officer and my mother a school secretary, I was taught to hold people in healthcare in high regard. But an early trauma taught me another important lesson. My grandfather suffered a massive stroke during open heart surgery, leaving him partially
paralyzed with minimal function. His life, and my family’s life, was changed forever from that day forward. Being just a boy I was old enough to see what was happening but had no capability to understand the “why”, the “how”, or the “what now”? This helped cement a desire and drive to pursue a career in healthcare and help people to understand the “why”, the “how” and the “what now”. I have had many incredible experiences during my career including working in a Heart Transplant ICU as well as three different Emergency Departments, additionally serving in the United States Air Force as a flight nurse during Operation Iraqi Freedom, Enduring Freedom and Deep Freezer (over a 6-year period) as I secured my Master’s degree in Nursing.
