By: Seethal Sara Thomas, FNP-BC

Grace Young, a 74-year-old nurse and former teacher who has volunteered with the Red Cross for more than 30 years, knows what it means to help people in need. As a new Red Cross volunteer and a fellow nurse, I was excited to sit with Grace one afternoon after her shift where she works as a per diem school nurse. We met virtually, with her wearing her powder blue and white nurses’ uniform, and she told me all about her newest accomplishment: she is finally licensed as a Registered Nurse on March 7^th, 2024.

“[I believe and live the mission] to protect life and health and to ensure respect for human beings,” she says about why she dedicates her time to helping others.

Over the years, Grace has volunteered in disaster trucks, shelters for Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Sandy, she has helped neighbors after they experience home fires, distributed emergency supplies after disasters, and she even stepped up to help after the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York City. Typically, she is pressed into service to apply her nursing skills to provide first aid and help educate people, something she is also good at after being a teacher for 26 years before becoming a nurse.

Grace’s story in nursing began in 1982, when she passed the Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) exam. While working as an LPN, Grace decided to return to school to obtain her associate degree in nursing at Pace University. Before her final semester, a sudden tragedy changed the course of her academic plans.

Grace’s husband, who was a police officer for the City of Rye in Westchester County, passed away in an accident and she was left to take care of four young children — including an infant. During this uncertain and painful time, she was put in a position where she needed to balance her academic pursuits with her personal and family needs. As someone whose mother is her own role model, Grace knew how important it was to be there for her family.

Grace still remembers the teacher who counseled her, assuring her that she could pause the associate degree program and return when she was able to. Grace took this advice and focused on her family and then returned to school to complete the associate degree program. Although the two-year associate degree program took her closer to four years, Grace did not give up on her goal — she achieved her associate degree in nursing.

One step remained for Grace to fulfill her goal of being a Registered Nurse (RN). To receive the nursing license for the degree, she needed to pass the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX). As a nurse, I think it is important to add some context to this exam, lest the significance of this final hurdle go unacknowledged. Over the past several decades, the NCLEX has undergone several substantive changes over the years including the number of questions, scoring, and content. Keeping up with these changes as Grace worked to pass the exam was absolutely a challenge.

Despite this continued adversity, Grace continued to work as an LPN and sought out different tutors for the NCLEX. A few of them weren’t a good fit, but she says that she prayed throughout this entire time and asked God to send someone to help her — and her prayers were seemingly answered. Through word of mouth, she found a patient, encouraging and capable tutor through a program run by a doctor with experience helping nurses take the NCLEX exam.

This time, on her fiftieth attempt to pass the exam, Grace found success. She is officially licensed as an RN.

“You can always help somebody feel better, especially if they’re not feeling well,” said Grace, now a mother of four and grandmother of seven — several of whom also volunteer with the Red Cross. “A lot of the times when people are not feeling well, they want somebody to be kind to them and try to help them.”

Put on a red vest and help neighbors in need before, during and after disasters. To be like Grace and volunteer with the American Red Cross, visit www.redcross.org/volunteer.