Associate degree in nursing just the beginning for Denise Coleman

As patient care manager at Ringgold County Hospital, Denise Coleman oversees a large department of nurses and a variety of hospital functions. But as recently as a decade ago, a career in the medical field was one of the last things on her mind.

Coleman graduated from high school in 1995 and discontinued studies at Northwest Missouri State University (NWMSU) in the middle of her second semester. From there, she worked a few part-time and factory jobs, finally ending up at a sports apparel factory, where she spent the next seven years.

Then she received bad news.

“One day in June, they came to us and told us that they were shutting our factory down and the jobs were going to the plant in Mexico,” she said.

But there was also good news. As part of the Trade Adjustment Assistance Program, Coleman had the chance to receive two years of school in an approved area of study for free while receiving unemployment benefits. Coleman decided to take nursing courses at Southwestern Community College (SWCC) beginning in 2006.

Two years later, she would graduate with her associate degree.

Coleman is currently working toward her bachelor’s through Clarkson College in Omaha. She plans to eventually earn a master’s in the family nurse practitioner field. As she continues to advance in an occupation she loves, Coleman attributes her career turnaround to that second chance at a degree she received nine years ago.

“I firmly believe that it’s the basis and education that I got from SWCC that allowed me to do that,” she said. “It absolutely changed my life and changed my kids’ lives.”

Why nursing?

Coleman didn’t love nursing right away. In fact, she said she mostly chose the nursing field because she had two friends who were going back and doing the same thing. But once she began working with patients, she realized she was actually enjoying it.

“About midway through your first year in nursing school, you start to have patient contact,” she said. “That really is what made it for me, when I actually began to care for patients and get experience in the field.”

As a single mother with three preteen children, Coleman had to be disciplined to also balance her studies and a part-time job. But she said the workload was manageable because of her desire to succeed and the cooperation of her children.

“They’ve always been great self-managers,” Coleman said. “They allowed me to do my thing. I couldn’t have asked for better support.”

The age gap

As she attended classes that enrolled a combination of traditional and adult students, Coleman said studying alongside fresh high school graduates was a unique experience.

“You feel behind the curve,” she said.

However, she said that variety of viewpoints also added to the course experience.

“It was an interesting mix, but it also made for interesting class periods (and) interesting discussion because you had different perspectives,” she said.

During her first year, Coleman did some studying under first-year nursing instructor Kathy Scott, who was the former patient care manager at Ringgold County Hospital. Scott is an experienced adult learner herself — she began nursing school at age 31 — and she said that background helps her relate to the older nursing students, which comprise the majority of the program. In 2014, 39 of the 47 graduates of the two-year program were adult learners.

Scott said Coleman was always a great student.

“She was always wanting to learn new things,” Scott said. “She was willing to put the work in to do it.”

Now, Scott occasionally works under Coleman as a PRN nurse at Ringgold County Hospital.

Commencement

Coleman graduated a member of SWCC’s chapter of the international honor society Phi Theta Kappa. By the time she graduated, she had already been hired by Ringgold County Hospital, where she had done two nursing rotations during her studies.

And the feeling when she walked across the stage?

“It was fantastic,” she said. “My kids and my family came to watch me and this was a big feeling of pride because this was something in my mind that had been delayed too long.”

Coleman’s advice for potential adult learners: Prepare for what it’s going to take to apply yourself to your studies.

“I would say investigate the time commitment that it’s going to take and make sure that you have the time to commit,” she said. “You’ll have the greatest amount of success that way.”