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Student Profile: Ashley L.

Ashley L. was working in customer care, but she wasn’t satisfied. She wanted to do something more with her life. Her boyfriend’s mother, who worked at Kaiser Permanente, recommended Ashley check out Futuro Health’s Patient Care Representative Program.

Ashley has always loved helping people and has always aspired to have a career in the medical field. Plus, she is surrounded by friends and family who work in allied health. Ashley’s sister is a licensed practical nurse. Her best friend is a registered nurse (RN), one of her cousins is working to become a registered nurse, and another cousin just passed the RN exam. She took a look at the program and it seemed like a natural fit.

Over the course of the program, Ashley studied two-to-three hours a day in addition to working at her fulltime job. It wasn’t an easy task. Then, something came along that made it even more challenging: Ashley found out she was pregnant.

“I had a lot of morning sickness,” says Ashley. “And I was tired all the time.” Nonetheless, Ashley pushed through and kept studying. The course was difficult, but she had support from her faculty and Futuro Health navigator.

“Anything I didn’t understand, I could always message my teacher,” says Ashley. “She was very prompt. She was very helpful.”

Throughout the program, Ashley was able to learn about various patient issues, such as chronic illnesses, and how to deal with them. In many ways, she found that patient care is a lot like her current job in customer service: the patient (or customer) always comes first. Ashley says that the coursework wasn’t easy, and retaining the information could be a challenge, but Ashley passed the program. And she’s glad she did.

“I’m really happy I got through it,” says Ashley. “It’s going to be good for my future, and for my future baby.”

Ashley’s baby is due in June 2022. For the moment, Ashley is still at her customer care job, but once the baby comes, she’ll start looking for a job in the allied health field. Eventually, she’s considering maybe one day becoming a nurse herself, just like her sister, best friend, and cousins.

To anyone else considering following a similar path, Ashley has this to say: “Just go for it! You may doubt yourself, but at the end of the day, it’s worth it.”

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