emergency room nurse.

when i graduated from nursing school, i knew what i wanted to do. i wanted to work in the emergency room. i wanted to serve the uninsured and underinsured people of los angeles particularly those of south central. this population is sick. they need good patient care, education, and someone to care about them. i wanted to be a person to help meet this need. when i graduated, my dream was to work at harbor ucla. harbor is a county facility and serves the population that i wanted to work with.
over the last 2 1/2 years of working in inglewood, i have taken the majority of my patients to the hospital in the middle of inglewood, centinela hospital medical center. i had always said that i didn't want to apply there, because i wanted to be pushed out of my comfort zone. i wanted a change. and i didn't see much of a change working 1 mile away from my current station.
but then i started thinking. and praying. and talking to people inparticularly detoy. yes, i wanted to work at harbor. but how long would that application process take? and what if i didn't get a job? meanwhile, i have the nurses and friends at centinela pestering me like no tomorrow to apply, and that they would put in a good word for me.
so, during one of my shifts near the end of june, whether or not i should put in my application to centinela was all that detoy and i talked about. for 24 hours he was such a good friend that day. i sent him a text the next day thanking him for his advice, and he replied saying:

"you deserve to use your skills and knowledge to help others and right now you are limited. its not your dream but you'd be able to make a difference."
to tell you the truth, i think that text message was the thing that really convinced me, and so i submitted my application to centinela 4 days later.

i had an interview on friday, and was offered a position in the emergency room.
the hospital isn't magnet. it isn't in a nice city. it doesn't have brand new equipment. but i will be able to make a difference. all of my reasons for wanting to work at harbor apply to working at centinela. i get to serve incredibly sick patients. i get to serve incredibly undereducated patients. i get to be incredibly busy. i get to gain a ton of experience. and i am already really familiar with the population.
was this my dream when i graduated from school? no. definitely not. but slowly, it is becoming my dream. but most importantly, i know that i am going to be able to make a difference there. and for that reason, i couldn't be more excited.