Anne Ashley Desir, a native of Miami, Florida, chose to attend Prairie View A&M University (PVAMU) to receive her RN-BSN. She transferred to “The Hill” in the spring of 2019 after earning associate degrees in nursing from Miami Dade and Santa Fe Colleges.
“I’m a first-generation college student, which means everything to me,” she said. “Despite the obstacles my parents and siblings encountered. I have so much gratitude for the journey.”
Desir has been working with her current company, HCA Healthcare, for three years, though, she has only been at the Houston Medical Center facility for a year and a half. As a new graduate nurse, she admittedly had a rough start in the emergency room.
“I experienced the phrase ‘nurses eat their young,’” she said. “As a confident and outspoken person, I was challenged, because, on the second day of orientation, I was left in a room by myself to care for a patient. Fast-forward to now, and I have occasionally charged, been in codes, and taken care of critical patients. I love walking into work and working up a patient based on their symptoms and correlating it with a diagnosis.”
Desir usually works mid-shifts, from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., and each day is different.
“I clock in, put my things down, and jump right in,” she said. “We are a smaller emergency room, compared to Ben Taub or LBJ, but we do see critical patients. Some days I am up on my feet majority of the shift, while other days I can get a breather,” she said.
Desir considers herself to be an empath or a person who can apprehend another individual’s mental or emotional state.
“Helping people makes my soul smile, and I am compassionate and nurturing to all my patients and loved ones,” she said.
Growing up, she also knew she would end up doing something within the medical field.
“Labor and delivery had always fascinated me as a child, and by middle school, I knew the medical field was my first choice,” she said. “I watched the women in my family take care of our loved ones who were sick, and I felt like my purpose was to help people as well.”
Desir’s long-term career goal is to become a certified nurse midwife and women’s health nurse practitioner.
“I am tired of reading headlines about another minority dying in childbirth, especially when it could have been prevented,” she said.
Desir expressed regret at not being able to join organizations at PVAMU, as her time was very limited due to also working full-time while she completed her schooling. She chose to attend PVAMU because she wanted to finish her undergraduate degree at a historically Black university.
“When I came across PVAMU, I went to visit in October 2018,” she said. “I attended a football game, and the school spirit was unmatched. I knew I wanted to be a part of the culture. I take pride in fulfilling dreams that my ancestors before me fought so hard to achieve,” she said.
Desir is also a holistic doula and is in the process of relaunching her business, InhalaExhalaa, which aims to offer nurturing and guidance toward the physical, mental, and emotional aspects of antepartum, intrapartum, and postpartum care.
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By Emilia Benton