Why Health and Wellness?

At the young age of 15 I lost my mother, my mentor, my protector, and my best friend to breast cancer. Now this was in 1992 so we all know how medicine has evolved since then. I was always a caring and loving person, however after losing my mom I know I had to do more.

My dream was to become a nurse and work in research where new and innovative medical advances are discovered. Well as we all know life is not a smooth course. We all encounter trials, tribulations, and bumps in the road. The bumps in my path to becoming a nurse are certainly the most precious experiences and the most love brought into my life.

In 1993 I gave birth to my first child, Kelsey, during my junior year in high school. After six weeks of home schooling I was back in the classroom with all my friends. This was certainly a different picture for me than many. I was determined to succeed and graduate high school, without skipping a beat, walking across that big stage with my friends. June of 1995, I graduated high school on time! I did this all while living on my own, taking care of my daughter, working, and paying my bills. Now time for another bump in this story. In August 1995 I found out I was pregnant with my second child. In December 1995 I gave birth to my son, Tre. Again, another precious experience and more love brought into my life. I was now a single mom of two children trying to make ends meet as it certainly was not in my cards to go to college at this time.

My passion to care for others and become a nurse never left my mind. I decided to get my foot in the healthcare door and took classes to become a Medical Assistant with an associate degree. In 1998 I started working in private practices and eventually landed a job at Penn State Hershey Medical Center in the IO Silver Clinic. We saw patients for cardiac, neurology, nephrology, and cardiothoracic surgery needs. Here is where I was introduced to medical research and knew nursing was my next step. After a few years in the clinic and the clinical research department I began my pre-requisite classes for nursing. In 2009 I started nursing school and graduated in 2011 with my nursing degree.

Rewind just a bit, as I worked and attended nursing school my children’s lives certainly did not stop. My daughter danced, cheered, and ran track and my son played multiple sports (soccer, baseball, football). While I did not coach any of my son’s sports, I was at every game possible. I did however coach cheerleading for may years, danced with my daughter, and taught dance for many years. As you can see, I was very active because my health was so important to me. In 2012 I became a licensed RN and my daughter graduated high school and off to college she went. In 2013-2014 I started on a downhill spiral as my baby boy was about to graduate high school and be off to college. Now an empty nester what was I to do? Well I gained a ton of weight, probably 40-50 lbs. If you know me, I was always slender and fit. Back to my nursing career, I started on a telemetry floor caring for cardiac and stroke patients for two short years. The night shift did not corporate with my body.

In 2014 I landed a Clinical Research Nurse Coordinator position with Pinnacle Health Cardiovascular Institute, now UPMC (University of Pittsburgh Medical Center). This was my dream job if you remember the beginning of this story and I thought this was where I would retire from. Well dreams just keeping getting bigger when you accomplish what you set out to do. Only having an associate degree in nursing, I had to go back to school to obtain my bachelor’s degree. I graduated with honors in 2015 (the year after my son graduated high school). At this time, I made a turn in my life. With both children out of the house (in college), I realized that my marriage was failing, and I was no longer taking care of myself. In 2016 I joined AtriCure, Inc, a medical device company that treats atrial fibrillation (cardiac dysrhythmia) and pain. This is the same year my daughter graduated college as a paralegal, and she had her first child. Yes, I became a Nona at 39 years young. On the edge of turning 40 I knew I had to do something to become healthy again. I began taking care of myself by eating much healthier and exercising daily. I used multiple fitness programs, went to the gym, took kick-boxing classes, and started dancing again in an adult jazz class. Making myself accountable and being direct to become healthy I lost that 40-50 lbs I gained.

In 2017, my daughter and I became certified to teach LaBlast Fitness (dance fitness program based off the dances from Dancing with the Stars and created by Louis Van Amstel). Well another bump in the road as I relocated to Cincinnati in 2018 for a job in the Clinical Affairs department leading all safety aspects of the company’s clinical research studies. Oh, I hear you all now, she finally has reached her dream. An awesome job, making great money in research, her childhood dream. Well you are all right to a point. This is certainly my dream job and patients across the world depend on my monitoring of safety to keep them safe in our research trials. This is also the same year my son graduated college and I started my master’s program for Nursing Administration. As I continue to research healthy natural holistic ways to maintain my health and wellness, I am finding that I want nothing more than to share it with all of you! Let’s fast forward to 2020, still working at AtriCure, Inc. as the Sr. Safety Specialist, I have also become involved with VoxxLife (non-invasive, drug free neurotechnology) and doTERRA essential oils. These two combined with my LaBlast fitness certification and nursing knowledge has now led me to my vision of a Health and Wellness Center. I completed my master’s program in March 2020 with honors and I am now developing my business plan to open my own health and wellness center. Stay tuned as I will dive a bit deeper into what led me to LaBlast, VoxxLife, and doTERRA. I will also keep you up to date on the progress of opening my Health and Wellness Center, may be virtual for a bit as we all deal with unprecedented times right now. Sending much love, happiness, and good healthy vibes to you all!

Love,

XOXO

Heatherthern.com