"I had a great career; it was wonderful. But I struggled with finding a bigger purpose in my job.”
Jen Baughman is explaining why she walked away from a 20-year sales career to become a nurse.
“I didn’t want to just work…I wanted to make a difference,” she says.
Baughman had two experiences that gave her the final push to start a nursing career. First, her stepmother died about 11 years ago, six months after being diagnosed with a heart condition. Then, Baughman became her father's primary healthcare advocate, helping him navigate the VA system as he managed type-2 diabetes. Both experiences opened her eyes to what she wanted—and needed—to do with her life.
“It was such a traumatic experience for my family because everything was out of our hands,” she says, reflecting on her stepmother's death.
When her stepmother died, Baughman had to immediately get on the phone (she was in Colorado, but her stepmother and father were in Michigan) and coordinate her stepmother’s heart being harvested so it could be sent to the Mayo Clinic for research.
“If you feel like nursing is your calling and you belong here, go with that. Go with your gut and have faith in yourself because that’s what makes you a nurse.”
“People couldn’t believe I did that the day she passed away, but it gave me purpose. It gave me something to do,” she says. “And it makes me think, what can I do so others don’t have to deal with this…what can I do to turn it into something positive?”
After her stepmother died, Baughman’s dad relocated from Michigan to Colorado. Baughman started to manage her father’s healthcare she started to learn more about the VA healthcare system. It made her realize she wanted to become a caregiver, leading her to take a job as a home health aide.
“Through all of these things, everything started to click. I thought that at my age, I had to do it [become a nurse]. It’s now or never. And once I started to do my prerequisites, I knew nursing was where I belonged,” she says.
Caring for Patients
As a mom of a 14-year-old daughter, Baughman knew she needed a fast – and affordable – nursing program that had a strong curriculum. It led her to the University of Colorado Anschutz College of Nursing’s Accelerated program, which helped her complete her BS in Nursing in one year.
“I needed a program that was practical, but also a program where I could get a job right after graduation,” she says.
Throughout her clinicals, Baughman has “felt most at home” in the labor and delivery floor at UCHealth.
“Taking care of someone else who’s a mom, I can educate them while also being encouraging,” she says.
Baughman says those experiences of taking care of her dad and her stepmother's passing away give her a new perspective when talking to patients and their families.
“I try to communicate with patients and ask them questions,” she says. “I’ve been on their side of things where no one communicates what’s going on. My experiences helped me realize that nurses are there to provide not only treatment support but also education. And I love that. I find so much strength and happiness in helping take care of people in any capacity.”
