Help NYC EMT become a Nurse
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Please help me achieve my dream of becoming a nurse and make a meaningful contribution to the betterment of public health, policy, and patient care. I have been accepted by Johns Hopkins University into its preeminent Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) program and I am seeking help to partially fund my tuition and living expenses during the 21-month program in Baltimore, MD. I am hoping to raise $55,000 which will cover almost 1/2 of tuition costs or a bit under 1/3 of total costs. I will obtain the remaining balance via student loans, a JHU scholarship grant, my savings, and part-time jobs while in school.
My Story:
For a couple of months now, I've been working 80+ hour weeks as an EMT in NYC, more recently responding mostly to calls from COVID patients. Patients who call for an ambulance are usually in very grim condition, so the past weeks have been chaotic, stressful, and often tragic. I've treated scores of patients on their last breath, amidst an overworked healthcare system, trying to respond. I’ve seen the overflowing emergency rooms, the refrigerated storage “morgue” trucks parked outside the hospitals, and I have witnessed countless cases of neglect in understaffed hospital COVID units.
I'm passionate about patient care and I applied to nursing school months ago, before the coronavirus became known. But my recent experiences have reinforced my dream not only to become a nurse, but to be the kind of nurse that uses my patient care experiences to make broader contributions to public health and policy, especially in underserved communities. I wish it didn't take a pandemic to show me firsthand how strongly access to healthcare and resources is influenced by institutional bureaucracy and local/federal policy, but I now feel galvanized to create meaningful change in that regard.
Johns Hopkins is my top choice school because of its reputation for excellence and focus on community and public health. No other school so seamlessly aligns with my values and goals. While any school can give me an RN license, I believe that being a Johns Hopkins-educated nurse would give me the tools and contacts necessary to most effectively contribute not only to patient care, but also the policy formulation and implementation in the field of healthcare which is critically important to so many communities throughout the country. Furthermore, earning a Master's degree in nursing, as opposed to a BSN, would enable me to take on the kind of position shortly after graduation where I can have the most impact.
My Financial Need:
I'm determined to succeed in my nursing and public health policy career, while also being financially responsible about it. I am doing everything I can to raise money to help pay tuition, including working every waking hour between now and the start of the school year and I will work as much as I can while in school. I am also applying to every scholarship opportunity I know of and hear about. Unfortunately, I have learned that while there are many programs available to help undergraduates get nursing degrees, help at the graduate school level is much less available.
This is why I need to ask for money: While extremely rewarding, working EMS in NYC is, unfortunately, a low wage job. I've been working for $17 an hour, with NYC living expenses, while paying tuition for my nursing school prerequisite classes (anatomy, microbiology, etc) out of my savings account. But nursing is my calling, so I pick up overtime shifts, work hard, and have picked up various odd jobs along the way, including as a tele-health triage call worker and as a doula. When I am not in school, I work seven days a week and often pull night shifts on the ambulance as well.
Now that we have a pandemic in our midst, I spend even more time on the ambulance, given that a lot of the staff is out sick at any given time and our call volume has skyrocketed. In addition to the physical and mental toll, it has become a financial issue as well. In addition to paying for PPE out of pocket, I avoid taking public transportation when going home after a shift because our uniforms might infect others, so I’ve been taking Ubers home, which is draining my savings. Also, I am preparing for the possibility that, like many of my coworkers, I will probably get sick soon too and have to take time off work which will mean a temporary loss of wages as well.
Johns Hopkins has agreed to contribute a generous amount (1/3 of the tuition portion of my expenses or approximately ¼ of total expenses) but I don't have any parental or other familial support or means to fund the rest. Living on a first responder salary (even with my additional side jobs in healthcare) has allowed me to save approximately $10,000, all of which I will use toward my education. I’m scared that working as a nurse in an underserved community after graduation will mean that I will never be able to repay the over $100,000+ debt I’d have to take on if I were unable to raise any money beyond the scholarship and my savings. The financial commitment is incredibly daunting, and I have no idea how I will be able to make this work. If I can reduce my loan requirements by half, I will be able to enter Johns Hopkins with the confidence to meet the challenges that await!
I know many are struggling financially right now, but for those who are able to contribute even a little bit, I would really appreciate it. I wouldn't ask if I didn't think I would be able to use my education to make a meaningful contribution to patient care and public health in the years to come.
With utmost gratitude,
Goldy Landau
My Story:
For a couple of months now, I've been working 80+ hour weeks as an EMT in NYC, more recently responding mostly to calls from COVID patients. Patients who call for an ambulance are usually in very grim condition, so the past weeks have been chaotic, stressful, and often tragic. I've treated scores of patients on their last breath, amidst an overworked healthcare system, trying to respond. I’ve seen the overflowing emergency rooms, the refrigerated storage “morgue” trucks parked outside the hospitals, and I have witnessed countless cases of neglect in understaffed hospital COVID units.
I'm passionate about patient care and I applied to nursing school months ago, before the coronavirus became known. But my recent experiences have reinforced my dream not only to become a nurse, but to be the kind of nurse that uses my patient care experiences to make broader contributions to public health and policy, especially in underserved communities. I wish it didn't take a pandemic to show me firsthand how strongly access to healthcare and resources is influenced by institutional bureaucracy and local/federal policy, but I now feel galvanized to create meaningful change in that regard.
Johns Hopkins is my top choice school because of its reputation for excellence and focus on community and public health. No other school so seamlessly aligns with my values and goals. While any school can give me an RN license, I believe that being a Johns Hopkins-educated nurse would give me the tools and contacts necessary to most effectively contribute not only to patient care, but also the policy formulation and implementation in the field of healthcare which is critically important to so many communities throughout the country. Furthermore, earning a Master's degree in nursing, as opposed to a BSN, would enable me to take on the kind of position shortly after graduation where I can have the most impact.
My Financial Need:
I'm determined to succeed in my nursing and public health policy career, while also being financially responsible about it. I am doing everything I can to raise money to help pay tuition, including working every waking hour between now and the start of the school year and I will work as much as I can while in school. I am also applying to every scholarship opportunity I know of and hear about. Unfortunately, I have learned that while there are many programs available to help undergraduates get nursing degrees, help at the graduate school level is much less available.
This is why I need to ask for money: While extremely rewarding, working EMS in NYC is, unfortunately, a low wage job. I've been working for $17 an hour, with NYC living expenses, while paying tuition for my nursing school prerequisite classes (anatomy, microbiology, etc) out of my savings account. But nursing is my calling, so I pick up overtime shifts, work hard, and have picked up various odd jobs along the way, including as a tele-health triage call worker and as a doula. When I am not in school, I work seven days a week and often pull night shifts on the ambulance as well.
Now that we have a pandemic in our midst, I spend even more time on the ambulance, given that a lot of the staff is out sick at any given time and our call volume has skyrocketed. In addition to the physical and mental toll, it has become a financial issue as well. In addition to paying for PPE out of pocket, I avoid taking public transportation when going home after a shift because our uniforms might infect others, so I’ve been taking Ubers home, which is draining my savings. Also, I am preparing for the possibility that, like many of my coworkers, I will probably get sick soon too and have to take time off work which will mean a temporary loss of wages as well.
Johns Hopkins has agreed to contribute a generous amount (1/3 of the tuition portion of my expenses or approximately ¼ of total expenses) but I don't have any parental or other familial support or means to fund the rest. Living on a first responder salary (even with my additional side jobs in healthcare) has allowed me to save approximately $10,000, all of which I will use toward my education. I’m scared that working as a nurse in an underserved community after graduation will mean that I will never be able to repay the over $100,000+ debt I’d have to take on if I were unable to raise any money beyond the scholarship and my savings. The financial commitment is incredibly daunting, and I have no idea how I will be able to make this work. If I can reduce my loan requirements by half, I will be able to enter Johns Hopkins with the confidence to meet the challenges that await!
I know many are struggling financially right now, but for those who are able to contribute even a little bit, I would really appreciate it. I wouldn't ask if I didn't think I would be able to use my education to make a meaningful contribution to patient care and public health in the years to come.
With utmost gratitude,
Goldy Landau
Organizer
Goldy Landau
Organizer
Brooklyn, NY