Daily Inspiration: Meet Ashana Bell

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ashana Bell.

Hi Ashana, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?

How it started:
For as long as I can remember, I’ve always wanted to be a nurse. There may have been one time that I can remember, as a pageant girl around six years old, I said I wanted to be a Pediatrician. Once I got a little older, I learned the difference. I’ve always had a heart for taking care of people. I’m naturally a nurturer in that way.

As I entered my adolescent years, I started attending frequent doctor’s appointments and hospital stays with my Grandma. I quickly noticed that the people that truly took care of her and connected with her were not the doctors. They were the nurses. It was at the point of that realization that I decided that I wanted to be a nurse.

How I got here:
I come from very humble beginnings. I knew at a very young age that I had no other choice but to make something of myself. A lot of this mentality came from the desire to be better than what I sometimes saw and experienced but also because of the expectations placed on me by my family. Particularly my Grandma. I always wanted to make her proud.

Once I made up my mind that I was going to be a nurse. That was my focus.

I had the opportunity to move from my hometown of Holly Springs, MS to “The City”. Memphis, TN, that’s where I attended high school.

As a child things happen around you that you cannot control, yet they impact you.

One lesson that I took away from that time in my life was “I can control where this life takes me. That’s all I can control.” So I made a plan to make a way to take care of myself and make sure that I could build a good life. That meant hard work. Literally “All gas, no brakes!”

My parents didn’t have the money to send me to college and they made it very clear that I was on my own with paying for it.

I did however have a few trusty family members and friends that helped financially to get me started which I am so grateful for. So after graduation, I jumped on the student loan train and moved to Chattanooga, TN and became a UTC Moc! I lived my BEST LIFE in Chattanooga but stayed focused and made the grades. But got waitlisted for the Nursing program my sophomore year. I decided that I didn’t want to wait, so I applied for nursing school back home at The University of Memphis. I got in. So I transferred to UofM. I always knew that I wanted to moved away from home, so I was there for one reason and one reason only. That was for school. I worked really hard in nursing school. I could not have done it without my study group. We would spend hours in the library, even on the weekends I took my books everywhere with me. It was hard but we finished!

Series of events: Fall 2012
Buy my first Car
Graduate from Nursing School
Get engaged

Then my dad died unexpectedly. My Board Exam was four days after the funeral. I considered rescheduling but he wouldn’t have wanted me to. I could do it. And I did. I crammed for three days with a friend and I passed.

Before I started nursing school (2009) my dad connected me with Liz Williams the Nurse Manager (at the time) of CCA/Shock Trauma at the Elvis Presley Memorial Trauma Center.

(THE Level 1 Trauma Center in Memphis, TN)

She gave me a summer job as a Student Orderly. This is where I fell in love with nursing. I worked with some amazing people that poured into me, taught me, and believed that I could be a great nurse. I learned so much and we saved so many lives.

Once I passed my boards and I was officially an RN. I started working in the Trauma ICU. I grew up as a nurse there.

This is where I really learned that nursing is a team sport! The “A” team had it together!

So as the years passed, my husband and I moved to Chattanooga and I was able to take care of sick babies and support new mommies. Hands down the best job I’ve ever had. Then after four years moved to Atlanta where I’ve taken care of the sickest adults in GA.

In 2018 I became a two time U of M alumni and received my Masters of Science in Nursing Education.

Now after nine years in the profession, I get to nurture and lead the next generation or nurses by coaching them to their fullest potential. Because what we do is so precious and important.

That’s how I got here.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The road has not been smooth and was mostly complicated by loss. I lost my grandma and my dad within three years of each other while I was on this journey. I struggled a lot with grief. Grief can sometimes be debilitating and physically painful. I leaned ALOT on my faith in God to see me through.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?

I am a Critical Care nurse at heart. I have worked with premature neonates through the geriatric population. Some say “from the womb to the tomb”.

I got into nursing bc of the many things I would be able to do. Sometimes lack of experience can hinder our opportunities to explore new things. That has not been my story. I started out in Trauma ICU then went to Neonatal ICU, then Medical ICU, Nurse Education, and now Clinical Leadership.

I am most proud of my most recent project. I had the opportunity to build and launch a new ICU for a large hospital system in Metro Atlanta. This ICU launched about a year ago and we provide care and services to patients with severe medical brain injuries such as strokes, brain bleeds, seizures, brain tumors, etc. I faced a lot of adversity and a lot of doubt from my peers about my ability to do the job well. However, I knew that I could overcome anything and was more than capable; even with my lack of experience in this type of leadership/management. We launched and we have thrived! And I can proudly stand and say, “I DID THAT!” And I will go down in history as the nurse who built that unit from the ground up. No one can ever take that away from me.

The thing that sets me apart is that I am not afraid of trying something new. Any change in my career thus far has been to try something new. One motto that I live by and I train my nurses to remember is “You are not incapable of learning something new. You just have to want to.”

So in the words of Drake, “When’s the last time you did something for the first time?”

What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?

Oh, healthcare has taken a drastic turn over the last 18months due to COVID-19. That was the largest shift that none of us ever predicted. My hope is that any healthcare workers that have worked in the pandemic have their student loans forgiven!

But aside from that, I think there will be a huge focus on mental health and wellness for healthcare workers.

Nurses will continue to be lifelong learners and shift as healthcare shifts and as the needs of our patients shift.

No matter how healthcare shifts, our goal as healthcare providers, will always be to provide quality and safe care to our patients.

Contact Info:

• Email: AshanaBell14@gmail.com
• Instagram: @thefreckled_nurse