By Maya Bell
Mayra Arana, B.S.N. '16, M.S.N. '20, was at work, in her third year as a
pediatric nurse, when she received news that sent her bolting from Miami's Nicklaus Children's Hospital in tears. When a
concerned security guard followed her outside, she tried to assure him they were tears of joy. "I was crying so
much I could barely get the words out. The email said I was getting the
scholarship for my master's degree," recalls Arana, the U.S.-born daughter
of Peruvian immigrants who completed the School of Nursing and Health
Studies' one-year Family Nurse Practitioner program this past August.
"It was such a blessing, a sign I was on the right track," adds Arana, a
first-generation college student. "I really wanted to go back to school, to
grow, to learn more, to be a leader in health promotion." Arana's
scholarship from SONHS, supported by a federal grant for students from
disadvantaged backgrounds, covered most of her tuition. She earned her
undergraduate nursing degree from SONHS debt-free, too. "I was a little bit
of a nerd in high school, so I got a Bill Gates Scholarship," she says of
the full-tuition award given to just 300 outstanding minority students from
low income households each year. Throughout her master's program, Arana
continued working part-time at Nicklaus, which enabled her to keep
contributing to her parents' household. "They sacrificed a lot to give me
the opportunities I've had," says Arana, who in middle school remained in
Miami with relatives when her parents and older brothers were deported to
their Peruvian homeland. Those were difficult days, but summer trips to
visit her family led to her calling. While in Peru, Arana and her mother
volunteered for organizations that provided food and health screenings to
people living without everyday necessities, like clean water. "It taught me
the importance of having access to health care to prevent disease, not just
treat it," she recalls. At Nicklaus, Arana is already making a
hospital-wide impact. Last year, she was selected to help create, pilot,
and launch a new position of admission, discharge, and transfer nurse. "It
was definitely a growth opportunity," she says. "Every day I go to work I
am still fine-tuning the role to see how it can be even more effective for
the flow of care for our patients and their parents." Since helping to
safely improve the hospital's throughput processes for patients and staff
alike, Arana has cross trained two colleagues for the position. "I'm
super-thankful the nurse leadership team trusted me in carrying out this
vision in being the first ADT nurse," she says, noting that her master's program taught her to think more holistically about the hospital system and
disease management. Arana has known she wanted to be a nurse since high
school, when she began volunteering as a bedside buddy for the young
patients at Nicklaus. "I loved the role of the nurse," she says. "How you
know the most about the patient. How you integrate the whole family. How you address lifestyle issues. How you can connect them to
resources that will improve their health." As a nurse practitioner, Arana
hopes to continue doing all of that, on a scale beyond the walls of one
hospital. "My goal is to work with vulnerable populations across South
Florida on health promotion and disease prevention," she says. "Right now,
too many people seek health care only when they're acutely ill. I want to
help change the paradigm. I want them to have preventative care to stay
healthy."
