Nathan S. practiced combat medicine while serving in the Navy, which sparked his interest in pursuing a full-time healthcare career after he retired.
He had completed a semester of study toward a nursing degree at a local community college, but after taking a break to care for a new baby, he couldn’t get back into the program.
That’s when he discovered Concorde Career College.
“I saw Concorde’s Garden Grove campus when I was driving one day and looked them up,” Nathan said. “Concorde provided a great foundation for students and I could start right away.”
Concorde’s staff welcomed Nathan and made his application process easy and transparent, allowing him to start only days later in August 2018.
Learning at Concorde
Nathan was in the Navy for eight years as a corpsman, including serving in Afghanistan. It was an adjustment to go back to school while balancing his full-time job as a transporter/tech for a hospital and spending time with his growing family.
“There were many times I doubted myself,” Nathan said. “But Concorde never let me get in the way of my own success.”
Nathan found Concorde faculty always were available to help students in his cohort. Instructors broke down concepts so everyone could apply them during clinicals, applying strategies such as mnemonics that helped him remember specific processes or procedures.
“All my instructors from lectures and clinicals gave me the confidence to practice everything I was learning,” he said. “It was because of this a classmate and I were ready in the field and even helped save a patient in distress while we were still students!”
Making a Difference
Nathan graduated in August 2019 and was hired immediately by a home healthcare company. As Nathan spent more time in the position, however, he decided he wanted more of a challenge.
Today, Nathan has two jobs. In the evenings he works as a hospice nurse for Cadence Hospice and during the day he is a research nurse in Anaheim, California, helping develop and administer COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials with well-known pharmaceutical companies including Johnson and Johnson and Pfizer.
“What I love about my jobs is that I get to do something different every shift and help people in such a big way,” Nathan said.
In both of his positions, he assists with COVID-19 related tasks and patients. As a research nurse, Nathan is responsible for tasks such as recruiting vaccination trial subjects, conducting COVID-19 swab tests, administering vaccines and tracking patient outcomes.
As a hospice nurse Nathan has recently worked with patients suffering from coronavirus complications. He works to comfort and help them say goodbye to family through phone calls or video chats.
“I’m so thankful that I’m in a position that allows me to help people and continue to pursue a nursing career,” Nathan said. “Concorde has helped me build a strong foundation. They’ve given me the opportunity to tell my kids that I was a part of helping people during one of the most historic moments in our lifetime.”
