TOLEDO, Ohio — Few understand the urgency to become a nurse more than a person studying to get into the field during a pandemic.
For Olivia Flores, a nursing student at the Mercy College of Ohio, the time is now.
"I feel that you'll always be needed and it's a rewarding job. We already feel that we are nurses even though we technically aren't.," said the 21-year-old Flores.
She's determined to become a registered nurse despite the grim reality that 3,600 health care workers died in the first year from the coronavirus according to a report by the Guardian.
U.S. Marine Corp combat veteran, Gaven Smith, felt the same drive to join the military after 9/11.
"I remember my mom coming upstairs and saying a plane just hit the world trade center and I was like what? I saw it and saw the second one hitting, and it was patriotic duty," said Smith.
Smith was one of the more than 180-thousand people who signed up for active service in response to the terrorist attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center.
According to the Department of Defense, it saw an 8 percent increase in enlistment after the attacks.
20 years later, a different crisis is continuing to impact the country with a different set of frontline heroes - this time they're health care workers.
Mercy College of Ohio has seen enrollment go up because of their focus on the health care industry; a 7.6 percent jump compared to last year.
"Healthcare professionals have been in the news," said Jamie Tooman, Assistant Professor at Mercy College. "We're being labeled as heroes and things. That's the impact the media is making and our enrollment is going up."
That's why Flores can't wait to start her first nursing job.
The risk of COVID-19 isn’t dissuading her.
It's the same risk and sacrifice men and women have taken before her, and who will in the future.
"Having that feeling in your back pocket that you can do anything. That motivates me," said Flores.
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