Newly hired LVN starts day one of 2022 positively impacting lives amid COVID
Jan 10, 2022Baptist School of Health Professions’ LVN graduates hired through Baptist Health System pipeline
Watch the news story highlighting Andrew Smith, LVN, and how he is making a positive impact amid the COVID pandemic in 2022.
(San Antonio) -- (San Antonio, TX) – While most people were celebrating the New Year Jan. 1 with family and friends, newly graduated and newly hired licensed vocational nurse 25-year-old Andrew Smith is busy caring for patients he’s just met in the Telemetry Unit at Baptist Medical Center downtown. It’s work he says is rewarding and the best way he can start off the New Year.
“It can be scary for someone to be sick and in the hospital and especially during the holidays,” Smith said. “I enjoy making them feel like they’re part of our family while they’re in our care,” he said.
Smith said he is grateful to Baptist Medical Center for hiring him just two months ago in October 2021 and the same month he graduated from nursing school. “I was eager to begin my career as an LVN so I could start helping patients get well and get back to their families in time for the New Year and the Baptist Health System gave me that opportunity,” he said.
Baptist Health System has been holding regularly scheduled hiring events throughout the year and will continue to hold them throughout 2022 to recruit nurses and other healthcare staff for its five hospitals in San Antonio and its hospital in New Braunfels.
With the Omicron COVID virus currently surging in San Antonio, Smith is part of the hospital teams who are caring for COVID-19 patients around the clock. He said his education and degree from the Baptist School of Health Professions and the connection with Baptist Health System was the perfect combination that allowed him to continue in the pipeline of nurses hired through the system.
“The Baptist School of Health Professions has amazing faculty members who want every student to succeed in their profession,” Smith said. “They train us well and connect us with resources and career opportunities and that’s more important than ever as we continue to see our community impacted by the COVID pandemic,” he said.
Smith is hopeful for the future as he said the Baptist School of Health Professions is graduating excellent healthcare professionals who are ready to take on an ever-changing healthcare landscape with new challenges the COVID pandemic presents. He encourages anyone who is looking for a rewarding career to look into the educational programs at the Baptist School of Health Professions and to watch for hiring events that the Baptist Health System will offer throughout the New Year. Generous sign-on bonuses are available to those who qualify and are hired.