KENTUCKY, USA — Healthcare workers don't run away from danger, they run towards it.
Collins High School graduate and current Eastern Kentucky University student Hailey Hayden is choosing to go straight into a dangerous situation to help people in need.
“I started taking nursing classes in high school,” Hayden said.
She credits her high school teachers for showing her how to be compassionate through nursing.
“She wasn’t afraid to ask questions if she didn’t understand anything or it didn’t make sense to her,” Shelby County Area Technological Center pre-nursing instructor Jennifer Willard said.
Hayden graduated from Collins High School in 2018. Now, she is working towards a degree in nursing at EKU. But next week, she will start a new adventure, amid the pandemic.
“I like to be there for people in their most vulnerable state,” Hayden said.
Hayden is heading to New Jersey to work as a nursing assistant for 13 weeks. It’s an area that is in desperate need of healthcare workers.
“I’m nervous that I don’t know what I’m walking into,” Hayden said.
But even with the nerves, she’s excited to get her career started, and so are the people who helped train her.
“When I got the text the other day that she was going to New Jersey, it brought me to tears because I was so proud of her,” Willard said.
Hayden hopes to have a career as a traveling nurse after she graduates from EKU. In the meantime, she’ll learn what it takes to do the job in a dire situation.
“It’s going to give me like an eye-opener, especially during a time when there’s such a high need,” said Hayden. “I’ll get to see what travel nursing is really about.”
Being a healthcare worker is a dangerous job right now, but Hayden’s former teacher says she always does what she needs to do to get the job done.
“I’m worried for her safety, but I know she’ll be fine,” Willard said.