![\"\"](\"https:\/\/goodnewsmags.com\/fayetteville\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/10\/Story-1-photo1-1024x683.png\")
After a successful 31-year career in teaching, Higgins began to think about her next chapter in life. Both her daughter, Morgan, and son, Sloan, were pursuing careers as nurses. Drawing inspiration from them and her mother, she decided it was time to pursue her long-time love of nursing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She knew the journey wouldn\u2019t be easy, but she also knew her love of the profession would help her reach her goal of becoming a nurse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI was in my 50s when I went back to nursing school, said Higgins. \u201cBoth my children are nurses. Seeing them do it, I thought if I\u2019m going to do something different, I\u2019d better do it now. So, I started. I started taking classes just to see if I could do it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Enrolled at the University of Alabama-Huntsville (UAH), she began classes. She would find lots of help from her children and also some of her past students, incidentally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m sitting in class and they\u2019re calling roll on the first day,\u201d she said. \u201cThey call the name of Caroline Mills, and I think to myself that I remember teaching a Caroline Mills. Sure enough, it was her, and we ended up going through nursing school together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Higgins said her children and former students, such as Mills, gave her the support and help she needed to succeed in school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThey offered so much guidance and answered countless questions, especially since they had already been through the nursing program at UAH,\u201d she said. \u201cI definitely couldn\u2019t have done it without them. And of course, when I decided to go back, I absolutely couldn\u2019t have done it without the love and support of my family.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In May this year, Higgins took all that hard work and officially began her career at Lincoln Medical Center. For Higgins, it marks the completion of a full circle \u2014 after many years of receiving care at the hospital for herself and her family, she now has the opportunity to give back by working there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She works in medical-surgical (med-surg), helping patients daily. She said she is living her dream of helping others and is thankful for those helping her get into the swing of things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2019m currently working on the med-surg floor, caring for patients, and I\u2019m incredibly grateful to Shana Jennings for hiring me and allowing me to work at our hospital,\u201d said Higgins. \u201cI\u2019m also thankful to Claudia Cunningham, who is guiding me through orientation \u2014 I\u2019m about halfway through now. Claudia has been a wonderful teacher and mentor. Everyone at the hospital, across all departments, has been so welcoming and friendly. It\u2019s truly been an amazing experience.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n As she continues on her new journey, Higgins said that she is learning that caring for others is so much bigger than what meets the eye. Both require a lifetime of dedication to one\u2019s community, but it is also a dedication that Higgins is proud to make. Caring for others is her life\u2019s work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2019m learning every day that teaching and nursing are very similar professions,\u201d she explained. \u201cIt is so much more than teaching a student or caring for a patient. It involves providing knowledge, skills, love, and support to families as well as the student and\/or patient. I look forward to learning and growing as a nurse so I can become the best nurse possible. I am very excited about the future.\u201d GN<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n This story is sponsored content.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" NURSES ARE vital to our communities. Often serving on the front line of health care, they are compassionate, composed, knowledgeable, and work tirelessly to build strong relationships while taking the very best care of their patients. From big cities to rural areas, they are trusted members of the community. They have a deep understanding of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":24559,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stories"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/goodnewsmags.com\/fayetteville\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/10\/2-1024x683.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n