A food and nutrition services employee became a neurosurgical intensive care unit nurse in four years, thanks to some help from Norton Healthcare.

Published: September 17, 2024

Every Norton Healthcare employee has the opportunity to grow in their own way, both personally and professionally. Take, for example, Shelby Wolfe, R.N., an intensive care unit (ICU) registered nurse at Norton Hospital.

Shelby’s career journey began on the food and nutrition services team, where she delivered meals to patients on the same ICU where she now provides lifesaving care.

That was June 2020, when Shelby already had her eyes set on a career path as a nurse. Along the way, Norton Healthcare would bring her so much more.

“I sought out Norton [Healthcare] solely for the Norton Healthcare Scholars Program,” Shelby said.

The Norton Healthcare Scholars Program offers financial assistance to students pursing designated health care related degrees. In exchange, students sign a contract agreeing to work at Norton Healthcare upon graduation.

Shelby thought she needed to be a Norton Healthcare employee to participate in the scholars program. She later learned that was not but case, but her role in food and nutrition services opened the door for her to take her first of many steps in her career journey.

During her time in food and nutrition, Shelby delivered meals to patients in the Norton Hospital neurosurgical intensive care unit, where she met and got to know Belinda Davis, patient care associate and unit coordinator.

Shelby shared her aspirations of one day becoming a nurse with Belinda, who noticed how willing Shelby was to go above and beyond for every patient she encountered. According to Belinda, Shelby would carefully prepare and cut the food for patients when she delivered their meal trays.

Belinda shared what she saw in Shelby with Rachel Farison, R.N., nurse manager on the neurosurgical ICU.

According to Rachel, Belinda spoke highly of Shelby, describing her as “really willing to help and very interested in the patients.”

One day, Shelby stopped by Rachel’s office and introduced herself.

“She came to my door and knocked. She said, ‘I’m going to be a nurse on your unit.’ I was like, OK, come on in, let’s talk about it,” Rachel said.

While they talked, Rachel shared all of the opportunities and options with Norton Healthcare that were available to help Shelby achieve her goal. The next step along her path would be to become a patient care associate.

“At that point in time, I’m almost positive I didn’t even have a [patient care associate] position. But I could tell how driven and special she was. I wanted to give her this opportunity. So I thought, I’m going to make one. Which I did, and I was able to get her into that position,” Rachel said.

Shelby began working in the new role in November 2021.

“She grew as a patient care associate and always took such great care of our patients,” Rachel said. “They were always clean, turned and bathed. A lot of that skill set has made her into an excellent nurse.”

An apprenticeship as the next step

By February 2023, Shelby was beginning a new chapter in her Norton Healthcare story by participating in the Student Nurse Apprenticeship Program (SNAP).

The first prelicensure nursing apprenticeship program in the U.S., SNAP is paid apprenticeship providing educational and clinical experiences.

With every step along her journey, Shelby “really tapped into all the great resources that Norton has to offer,” Rachel said.

One of the more challenging hurdles for any full-time student who is also working full time is balancing two — often conflicting — schedules. Rachel worked to ensure Shelby was able to maintain a full-time schedule and fit in all of her classes.

“She had a lot of scheduling restrictions with school that I was more than happy to accommodate. I was 100% willing to do what was necessary to make sure that she had what she needed to be able to get through school successfully. With going to school full time and working full time, there were hard days, I’m sure. But I could tell she was going to do it,” Rachel said.

A debt-free education, and becoming a homeowner — and a nurse

“I graduated school debt-free. That alone has allowed me to flourish in many ways,” Shelby said.

In the midst of completing nursing school, Shelby was able to participate in an employer-assisted housing program for Norton Healthcare employees who are first-time homebuyers. She becoming a homeowner at age 22.

Norton Healthcare works through The Housing Partnership Inc. to help prepare first-time homebuyers before purchasing a home. The program helps with navigating the buying process, identifying opportunities to save money and, finally, closing the deal. Budgeting, counseling, home buying education and financial assistance are all part of this program.

All of Shelby’s hard work and dedication led her to begin her career as a registered nurse in the Norton Hospital neurosurgical ICU in January 2024.

“She passed her [nursing licensure] exam on the first try and is now practicing as a full- time nurse on night shift with me and handling some of the most complex patients with ease,” Rachel said.

It is clear that Shelby is no stranger to hard work when it comes to chasing her dreams. In under four years she went from providing nourishing meals for patients to providing compassionate care at the bedside in a specialized intensive care unit.

“She’s a fantastic nurse, and I think a lot of it stems from the growth that she had on my unit from her patient care associate days,” Rachel said. “She was always so eager to learn, ask questions and see things and do things from a very early phase. So we couldn’t be prouder of her.

“All my assistant nurse managers on night shift are so proud to see how much she’s grown. We all love having Shelby on our unit. We all love her and our patients love her too.”