Nearly five years ago, UALR senior and North Dakota native Joy Johnson set her sights on Little Rock. She had some family and a few friends in the area and was ready for a change.

Shortly after securing a job as a patient care technician at Arkansas Children’s Hospital, she decided it was time to go back to school and earn a nursing degree.

“I have eight years’ previous experience as a paramedic, so the medical profession and, more specifically, emergency medicine, was not unfamiliar to me,” Johnson said.

“But going to college in my 30s was definitely a new and scary decision,” she added.

She chose UALR because she could complete her degree in 18 months and start her career while attending school. On Dec. 20, she will have accomplished that goal when she receives her diploma and becomes a nurse of pediatric emergency medicine at Children’s Hospital.

Johnson initially did not realize she wanted to be a pediatric nurse.

“I was pretty convinced that the ER was where I would end up because of how much I enjoyed my work as a paramedic, but I also figured that it would be in an adult setting,” Johnson said.

Eventually, her experience at Children’s Hospital convinced her that although emergency medicine would always be part of her makeup, the age of the patients she wanted to provide nursing care for had shifted.

“Kids are some of the funniest, toughest, and most resilient patients I have ever had the opportunity to help care for, and I realized pretty quickly that this was a group of people who I wanted to continue to treat as a nurse,” Johnson said.

The nursing program at UALR prepared her for the new challenges ahead by providing a solid skill base and a broader understanding of nursing care she had not previously experienced, according to Johnson.

“The role of nurses in caring for sick and injured people is more significant than I ever realized, and I look forward to accepting that role very soon,” said Johnson.

Johnson said it was hard for her to imagine what her life would look like in five or 10 years, but she hoped to continue doing what she loved by encouraging and bringing hope to someone’s life each day.

“That is my goal anyway,” she concluded.