MEMPHIS, Tenn. — It’s no secret that working in the medical field can be stressful and getting there can be costly.
Darian Simmons graduated in December from Baptist Health Sciences University. She got into the nursing program on a scholarship, but it didn’t cover everything so school was far from easy.
Simmons didn’t think she would make it because she couldn’t afford some of the items needed to complete the program. She became emotional talking about it with WREG’s Symone Woolridge.
“This is my very first… I’m about to cry. This is my very first lab coat that I scrounged up with pennies… me and my mom, to buy,” she said.
Simmons is a trauma nurse working at Regional One Health.
“I take care of patients who have been stabbed, shot, hit in motor vehicular accidents. You name it, I’ve taken care of that patient,” she said.
She wants to help students going through nursing school.
“When I got close to graduating I said what if I could create something that can not only helps someone out but would also leave something, like a piece of me at the school that has given so much to me already,” she said.
With the approval of Baptist University, she recently created Blessing Bags, a way for a student to receive a bag worth $425 that is full of the necessities to complete various programs at the school.
“There are applications that will be going out later this year for people to apply and when they do apply, they answer the questions based off of basic criteria, it doesn’t have to be nursing, it’s sonography, it’s every major we offer at the school.
Once a student is chosen, the bag will include items that fit their needs. It’s something Simmons wishes she would have had as a student.
“I’m happy that God blessed me with this idea to not only give back to my alma mater but also just bless everyone who is still at that school because they were just like me once upon a time,” she said.
