Latisha Dukes (Fortis Institute – Scranton, Class of 2022) had always been a caregiver, but it wasn’t until she nursed her husband back to health after a horrific automobile accident that she realized she wanted to make it her career by going to school to train to become a Practical Nurse. The 37-year-old wife and mother of five girls had been a medical assistant for six years but wanted to provide more for her family and demonstrate to her kids that goals were attainable no matter where they were in life.
“I realized that if I could take care of him, I could take care of anyone,” Dukes says. “And my kids were watching me. I wanted to set a standard and build a foundation for their expectations and school.”
But the simple path to a nursing degree wasn’t in the cards for Duke. Shortly after starting her first module of online classes, she found out she was pregnant again–and her beloved baby boy wasn’t making it easy on her. She struggled with gestational diabetes, placenta previa, and placenta acreta, making working, studying, and caring for her family overwhelming. But she persevered–she had a point to prove to herself and her daughters. She knew she could do it.
After a difficult delivery and immediate hysterectomy, she returned to school, splitting her time between class in Allentown and the hospital, where her son was in NICU for three weeks. She tried to keep juggling it all–postpartum overwhelm, school, family–but it finally came crashing down. She turned to her professors for guidance.
“I reached out to the Director of Nursing, and she helped me tremendously in understanding what I was going through,” Duke says. “With love and understanding from my family, I picked myself up and finished what I started.”
With guidance and support from the faculty at Fortis Institute Scranton, Duke stopped working and focused on her studies. She used every resource available and finished strong, performing so well in a mock interview with Commonwealth Health Regional Hospital of Scranton that she was offered a position.
Now, she’s thriving as a nurse, basking in the compliments of her patients and crediting her success to her teachers, whose guidance shaped her into the best nurse possible.
And the icing on the cake? Now, she can comfortably provide for her family.
“The best feeling from this whole process is when my kids ask me for something, I can get it,” Duke says.
If you’re ready to pursue a career in nursing, Fortis can help you explore your options. Click here for more information or call us today at (855) 436-7847 and speak to one of our career advisors.