MSN-Ed, RN, CGCP
I have lived in Alaska for most of my life. My grandparents were homesteaders in South Anchorage way back in the 1940s and my mother was raised here, so even though we lived in western Washington when I was little, we were always in Alaska for holidays, summer vacations, etc. We moved up here “for good” in 1980, when my grandfather died.
Like a lot of Alaskan teenagers, I moved to the Lower 48 after high school and stayed there for about seven years before my high school sweetheart found me and brought me back up here. We live in Anchorage with our two adult children, Davren and Makena, one dog (Dexter), and one cat (Nebula Kitty). As a family we enjoy camping, fishing, hiking, and bike-riding in the summer and skiing in the winter.
I’ve always wanted to teach. In high school I wanted to teach HS math and science. A long-time friend, with whom I worked as a CNA many years ago, recently reminded me of this fact when she said, “you wanted to teach the CNA class!”
I began my career in healthcare as a CNA in 1989, working in long-term care and home health for a few years before going to nursing school. I was in an AAS program and didn’t get a high enough grade in microbiology, so I had to withdraw, becoming an LPN in 1992. I graduated from UAA’s AAS program in 1999. After spending two years in NICU/PICU/Peds at Providence, I moved into a perioperative role at a free-standing surgery center, got my BSN at UAA in 2009, and eventually my Master’s Degree in Nursing Education in 2018.
My work experience includes gerontology, NICU, PICU, pediatrics, perioperative nursing, and school nursing.
