Young Woman Goes From Janitor to Nurse Practitioner

The story of a young woman who went from a janitor to a nurse practitioner has swept social media and served as a testament that anything can be accomplished with dedication.

Jaines Andrades began working on the custodial staff a decade ago at Baystate Medical in Springfield, Massachusetts. Andrades took the janitor position just to get a firsthand look at the field of nursing, which was her true passion.

“It’s tough to be the person that cleans. If I had to go back and do it again, I would. It’s so worth it,” Andrades told CNN affiliate WBZ-TV. “Even if it was cleaning, as long as I was near patient care, I’d be able to observe things. I thought it was a good idea,”

Her first assignment was cleaning the trauma unit before she was transferred to operating rooms. This gave her the opportunity to work closely with nurses.

“I was able to interact with the nurses, and I would see patients coming and going from the operating room. It was my first time seeing what it really is to be a nurse, and it piqued my interest. I was excited to learn more.”

She put her plan in motion in 2010 by enrolling in a nursing program and in 2014, Andrades graduated from Elms College with a bachelor’s degree in nursing. Despite having her degree, it was nearly two years before she was hired as a registered nurse at Baystate, forcing her to keep her custodian job.

“I kept the environmental services job despite being a nurse because I wanted to keep my foot in the door to work for Baystate,” she explained.

Finally, in 2015 she landed a registered nurse position at the Mason Square Neighborhood Health Clinic. This was not good enough for the young woman, who was determined to take her nursing career as far as she could. She returned to school to become a licensed nurse practitioner. During her program, she accepted a position back at Baystate where her journey began, this time, as a nurse in the acute care unit. Just two weeks ago, Andrades took a new position as a nurse practitioner.

Once she began her new position, she posted an inspiring photo of all three of her work badges at the facility from over the years. The post quickly received thousands of comments and shares across multiple platforms. While Andrades is humbled to be able to inspire others, she credits the many other healthcare workers, including the custodial staff, with making hospitals flow effortlessly.

“Nurses and providers, we get the credit more often but people in environmental and phlebotomy and dietary all of them have such a huge role. I couldn’t do my job without them.”