Kaysha Foote – Nursing is in her blood

KAYSHA Foote, 28, says she has always wanted to be a nurse, but she knew achieving her goal wouldn’t be easy, so she had to carefully plan her journey.

“I was always the loving, caring person. Whenever anyone in my family was sick I would run towards them. I also loved the nurses’ uniform and envisioned myself wearing it. If my friends got a cut I’d be the first to run towards them,” she said.

At the age of five, Foote said someone spoke the prophetic words over her life that she would become a nurse and believed wholeheartedly that she was destined for the profession. But growing up in a single-parent home in Savanna-La-Mar, Westmoreland, was no bed of roses and funding for nursing school looked dim, so out of humility and a spirit of determination she did what she had to do. This meant that after leaving Petersfield High, her only option was to seek employment.

“I had to work, otherwise I wouldn’t be able to go. There was no other way,” she said.

And so, she took up a job at the then United General Insurance as a filing clerk, but pointed out that she knew it wouldn’t be for long, as whenever the nurses came in to register their vehicles she would run to the front and admire them. So it came as no surprise to anyone when she applied to the Cornwall School of Nursing and Midwifery to be admitted to the registered nursing programme, but for a brief moment she became discouraged as she was informed that she lost her space as she took too long to accept the offer.

“I had applied to Cornwall for the registered nursing programme and after the pre-entrance test and interview I listened for a call, but they didn’t call. When I phoned they said they sent a letter to say I was accepted but it was too late to take up the offer. At that point I gave up on my dream,” she said.

But as fate would have it, she received another offer from the school for the midwifery programme and accepted it. Subsequently she worked at the Savanna-La-Mar Hospital as a registered midwife for four years; however, still wanting to realise her dream, she left and enrolled in the bachelor of science in nursing programme at the University of Technology (UTech).

“Working at Savanna-La-Mar I wanted more, as midwifery is a specialised area but nursing is a generalised area. I needed more knowledge and needed to move up in the profession. I felt like I wasn’t reaching where I wanted to reach in nursing, so after I completed three years of midwifery, I decided that I would apply and in my fourth year I left to pursue my dream,” she said.

Now in her fourth year at UTech, her tenacity and drive to achieve her life’s goal helped her to win the title of the 2015/2016 Lasco Nursing Student of the Year. She said though the journey was not easy and is challenging based on the volume of work the nursing programme requires, she has not regretted her decision.

“I would not have been happy with myself if I didn’t pursue the nursing degree,” she said.

As for her professional goals, Foote said she intends to become a nursing educator as there is room for people to have an impact on younger nursing students.

“As an educator you can be that model for them. When students see certain things in you they can emulate it if it’s good. I also believe in nursing research as it is what will propel the profession forward — evidence-based nursing practice,” she said.

Foote, who is also the president of the University of Technology Association for Nursing and Midwifery Students and a past member of the Rotaract Club of Savanna-La-Mar, has a special interest in working alongside people with disabilities, as a result of the community service she did at the Salvation Army School for the Blind throughout her first year at UTech. During her term as nursing student of the year she intends to do a project with the disabled community.

“All we need to do is invest more in people with disabilities and help them to achieve their goals. When I worked with them in my first year it left an indelible mark on my life. I wanted something that you could identify with nursing. I didn’t just want to do it. I needed something that would leave an impact,” she said.

“Before going there I thought people with disabilities just existed, but I saw they could help themselves, they interacted, had social lives, listened to popular music and were disciplined. These were people who had ones and twos in CSEC despite their disabilities. From there I realised they had the potential and needed assistance, so that’s where I’m looking to.”

When she’s not chasing her dream, she enjoys singing, dancing and experimenting with the culinary arts, in which she also expressed a high interest.

Additionally, she strongly believes in family time and sticks closely to the few friends she has But what matters to her is that she attains the full measure of her childhood dream without being deterred.

“Courage is not the absence of fear but the ability to overcome it, and I can do anything with Christ — nothing is impossible,” she said.

Her Accomplishments

Now in her fourth year at UTech, Foote’s tenacity and drive to achieve her life’s goal helped her to win the title of the 2015/2016 Lasco Nursing Student of the Year. She said though the journey was not easy and is challenging based on the volume of work the nursing programme requires, she has not regretted her decisions.

AW creds

Foote, who is also the president of the University of Technology Association for Nursing and Midwifery Students and a past member of the Rotaract Club of Savanna-La- Mar, has a special interest in working alongside people with disabilities, as a result of the community service she did at the Salvation Army School for the Blind throughout her first year at UTech. During her term as nursing student of the year she intends to do a project with the disabled community.