Nurse Honors Donor’s Legacy of Patient Care

After graduating from James Madison University with a bachelor’s degree in communication studies, Lauren Blitz Geiling ’23 pursued a career in health care. Geiling worked as a client satisfaction specialist for a home health care agency for four years, but it wasn’t her dream job. At the time, it was the closest she could get to working in the health care field. 

From an early age Geiling knew  she wanted to be a nurse, but she  was intimidated by the courses she would need to take to make it happen. “When I was at JMU, I went out of my way to avoid science classes,” she says. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, she had time to stop and think. “I realized that I can go my whole life not doing what I really want to do. I had an opportunity to pursue my dream,” she says. 

While others were learning how to bake bread during the pandemic, Geiling registered at MC for just one class: biology. “My day consisted of working full time, taking an hour break for dinner, and then logging  on for class from 6 to 10 p.m.,” she said. Within a year she completed the course requirements to apply for the nursing program—biology, microbiology, anatomy and physiology 1 and 2.

After graduating in May 2023, Geiling began working as a critical care nurse at Suburban Hospital under the direction of a preceptor, a nurse who mentors, monitors, teaches, and provides feedback for student nurses in the workplace. “I feel so well equipped for real-life scenarios,” Geiling says. “I apply what I learned at MC every day. The knowledge I have is directly applicable to the job I am doing now.”

Geiling received the Janice Roberts Saunders Scholarship, named for a nurse who died tragically. The scholarship support helps defray the cost of registering for classes and made it possible for Geiling to enroll in the nursing program.

“If I could talk to Janice Roberts Saunders’ son, Colin, I would tell him that I am keeping his mother’s legacy alive through my work. The greatest gift to me is this scholarship, and that’s the least I can do to give back to her and her family,” she says.