Sibling Pairs Chart Common Course
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Chiebonam Oraedu (left) and
older sister Uchenna are pictured here in the Health Sciences
Learning Center's clinical skills lab. The younger Oraedu
followed her sister's lead into a career in health care. |
Leaping from a burning building with no fire escape, sustaining
leg injury, and later, undergoing eight surgeries motivated Uchenna
Oraedu to enroll at the UW-Madison School of Nursing. For her sister,
Chiebonam, and classmates Jennifer and Brian Herzog—a second
set of siblings who have joined the Oraedus as members of the school’s
2006 incoming class—the decision stemmed from events far less
perilous.
For the Oraedu siblings, who hail from Milwaukee, it was older sister
Uchenna who was first drawn to the health profession. Currently
certified as a doula, someone who provides
care for expectant mothers, she is finishing a master’s program
in curriculum instruction/ science education, concurrent with her
fall semester classes at the School of Nursing.
“It was my mother,” Uchenna says, “who started
me on the right track of caring for others.” And it was her
godfather, an obstetrician in Atlanta, who piqued her interest in
women’s health related to labor and delivery. Both, she notes,
have served as role models in her
pursuit to become a certified nurse midwife or nurse practitioner
and a public health
educator at community high schools.
Her desire to “improve the quality of health care for all
individuals” through nursing, she states, also stems from
personal trauma. In 2002, Uchenna graduated from UW-Madison with
a BS in bacteriology. In 2003, she was the victim of an apartment
complex fire.
Uchenna says that she had no choice to escape from the fire but
to jump from a second-story window. Sustaining a compound tibia/fibula
fracture on the lower right leg, she was rushed by ambulance to
the University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics, where she underwent
eight surgeries and spent a total of twenty-six days in the hospital.
“Nurses educated the patients about their medical conditions
and provided the support needed for rehabilitation,” Uchenna
states. “They gave me words of encouragement when I thought
all hope was gone. They were able to provide my family with the
emotional support needed to cope with my ordeal. I thought to myself,
‘What a great profession.’”
Chiebonam, who is five years younger than Uchenna, also credits
her mother for the path she has chosen. “My mother was my
first doctor, nurse, and pharmacist,” says the younger
Oraedu. “She provided care for me the countless times I was
sick, showing me what it really means to be a caregiver.”
Converging factors in Chiebonam’s life—exposure to Uchenna’s
role as a doula, personal encounters
with nurses as a patient, and volunteer work at St. Mary’s
Emergency Room—all have piqued her interest in nursing and
specifically in intensive care, mergency, and trauma unit health
care.
Chiebonam earned her undergraduate degree in biology in May 2006
from the UW-Madison; this fall, she entered nursing school, along
with her sister, as one of 153 students in the incoming class.
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| Siblings Brian and Jennifer Herzog,
pictured here in the HSLC's clinical skills lab, were introduced
early on to the system of health care delivery by their parents.. |
Siblings Jennifer and Brian Herzog became aware at a young age,
as well, of the vital role of nursing in health care delivery. Their
mother was a phlebotomist in a hospital ICU in Manitowoc, Wisconsin;
their dad was a registered nurse before becoming a firefighter and
Manitowoc's fire chief. Their grandfather was also a fire chief
and ran an ambulance service.
“My dad continues to talk so highly of the nursing field,”
says Jennifer, whose nursing interests lie in emergency medicine
and obstetrics. “I originally started in nursing at the University
of Wisconsin-Oshkosh and then switched to kinesiology. I figured
out, after being away from it, that my true passion is nursing.”
She then transferred to the UW-Madison upon recommendation by her
brother, who touted the city and the campus.
Undergoing maxillofacial surgery at fifteen, observing hospice care
for her grandfather, and establishing relationships with nurses
and nurse practitioners at a nonprofit clinic for the uninsured
of Winnebago County, where she worked part-time—all influenced
Jennifer’s aim to become a nurse.
Brian, who is four years older than Jennifer, graduated from the
University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh in 2002 and then moved to Madison.
“I grew up in a family of firefighters and nurses, so I think
that helping people is just in my blood” he says. Brian’s
experience in trauma and emergency room (ER) environments has spurred
a desire to become a flight nurse.
Brian has been a member of the National Ski Patrol for nine years.
Three years ago, he gained certification as an emergency medical
technician (EMT) through the Madison Area Technical College (MATC)
and then worked for Curtis Ambulance Service during his
first year in Madison.
“This has given me some amazing experiences to build on,”
says Brian, “as I move forward in school and my career.”
What also helped him chart his course, he says, is what his mom
and his college baseball coach have taught him—“to get
everything out of what I was given.”
The Herzog siblings have chosen to begin nursing school by sharing
the same residence, along with another nursing student and two of
their friends. Brian is in favor of the arrangement, quelling any
notions of sibling rivalry. “We have the advantage of knowing
we will always have someone to study with and get feedback from,”
Brian explains. “It will be easy to ask questions of each
other if we are stuck on something.”
Jennifer sees things a little differently. “We’re both
pretty competitive,” she says. “Hopefully, this arrangement
will be a source of motivation over the next two years.”
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