Frank D. Gomez, BSN, RN

In a past life, I was a frontend website developer working for a marketing firm in DFW, TX. After heavy soul-searching I decided a career change was necessary and set my sights on a nursing degree. An RN was something I always dreamt of becoming but doubted whether I could actually achieve it because of a neurological speech impediment I have, commonly known as a “stutter” or “stammer”. It can take me a little extra time to talk sometimes I’m doing my best with how slow my brain is talking to my vocal cords so that I can actually say what is on my mind.

Anyways, I made my dream of becoming an RN a reality in 2019. Helping people is a passion of mine and nursing was an excellent choice for me because I have the opportunity to observe the direct impact I have on another person and they’re wellbeing.

This ability to care for and look at every single person as just another version of myself in a parallel universe is such an incredible superpower. It’s what empowers me to wake up and change the world…one person at a time.

Nursing school was probably the most difficult challenge I’ve ever taken on. In less than a year I was able to earn my Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Texas Tech University’s accelerated 2nd-degree program. During this time, I became more familiar with the many facets of mental health and the growing need for passionate providers in this particular segment of the healthcare industry.

My ultimate goal with my nursing degree was to increase access to mental health care services to low socioeconomic communities and to help raise awareness of mental health disorders to reduce harmful stigmas. While still passionate about this topic, I’ve switched gears to focus on becoming a well-rounded medical surgical nurse first.

Since attaining my RN license, I worked at a large hospital caring for patients in an Acute Rehabilitation/Medical Surgical Unit.  My typical night consisted of head-to-toe assessments, passing out meds, dressing changes, pain management, and other various med-surg tasks.

Nursing during the Covid-19 pandemic has its challenges and among the biggest I experienced as a staff RN was a lack of staffing, unsafe patient assignments, and increased burnout. Very low pay was the proverbial straw that broke the proverbial camel’s back and led me to explore travel nursing.

So far, travel nursing has taken me to Alabama, California, and Louisiana and I’ve learned so many valuable lessons along the way.