Photo By Master Sgt. Ceaira Tinsley | U.S. Air Force 1st Lt. Bianca Wade, deployed registered nurse from Langley Air Force...... read more read more
They say, “Home is where the heart is,” and for one U.S. Air Force registered nurse, her heart will always be in Greensboro, North Carolina.
The last time 1st Lt. Bianca Wade, a registered nurse from Langley Air Force Base, Virginia, called Greensboro home was as a nursing student at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro and her days were filled with classes, clinical rotations, and countless study groups.
Now, two years later she’s returned to lend her skills and help vaccinate the community that was such an integral part in giving her credentials that will follow her for years to come: RN.
“I was chosen to deploy here due to fate,” said Wade. “I originally was tasked for Brooklyn CVC, but it was cancelled. I really wanted to be a part of the mission, so I volunteered. I didn’t know Greensboro was a site at the time but I’m assuming that my heart wanted me to come back home and by fate it happened.”
Although a South Carolina native, Wade says the opportunity to attend school in Greensboro had been on the books for a while.
“My heart was in Greensboro back in 2008 when I was accepted after high school but didn’t attend due to using instate scholarships,” said Wade.
Having been raised by her mother and grandparents, Wade decided attending an instate school made more financial sense. In 2012, Wade was set to graduate with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Mass Communications but says when she began looking for work in mass communications it became clear that her heart wasn’t in it.
“Growing up I knew I wanted to help people but I didn’t know what I was going to school for I just went to college,” said Wade. “It was my senior year when I realized that this is not it.”
Lost and unsure where to turn, Wade decided to lean towards a secret passion of hers and join the family business: medicine.
“My grandmother was a Registered Nurse and my uncle is a Cardiologist, so the medical field has always been prevalent in my family,” said Wade. “I love taking care of people, especially the elderly, due to being raised by my grandparents. As they became ill, we all as a family helped in their care and watching the medical staff care for them I began to develop a passion for nursing.”
Wade now had the direction she needed but no way to fund her road to success. She decided to enlist in the U.S. Air Force as a medical technician.
After being enlisted for four years, Wade set her sights on the Nursing Enlisted Commissioning Program, which is a two-year program that allows an Airman to maintain their active-duty status while attending a civilian nursing school.
“The year I wanted to apply to NECP, I was waitlisted by the school that was close to my base at the time,” said Wade. “I’m not sure what happened but something told me to look up UNC-G. The process and the people were so accommodating that when I was accepted into their nursing program in 2016, I knew I could not deny this offer. UNC-G’s Nursing and Veteran Access Program was amazing and they really took care of their veteran’s nursing students.”
Wade says, she’s happy to be home and give back some of the hope for a brighter future that was given to her by the city of Greensboro.
“I fell in love with this place while going to school and didn’t want to leave,” said Wade who secretly wished she’d have a reason to return one day. “It feels like my life made a full circle from being here as a nursing student to, now, as a full nurse giving back to the city that helped me in my journey to becoming one.”
Her role this time around is a little different as she’s managing a team of medics who have contributed to conducting more than 80,000 vaccines.
“To be a part of giving thousands of vaccines to the place I called home for two years definitely pulls on my heartstrings,” said Wade. “I am grateful and happy to finally see a light at the end of this.”
U.S. Northern Command, through U.S. Army North, remains committed to providing continued, flexible Department of Defense support to the Federal Emergency Management Agency as part of the whole-of-government response to COVID-19.
| Date Taken: | 04.13.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 04.19.2021 16:01 |
| Story ID: | 393775 |
| Location: | GREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA, US |
| Web Views: | 172 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
This work, A Nurse’s Story: All roads led to NC CVC, by MSgt Ceaira Tinsley, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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