Thanks in part to a special program offered to Bay Care employees, a woman who emigrated from Albania more than 20 years ago has a new career, a new life, and new hopes for the future.

  • Entela Ademi originally a teacher when she arrived from Albania
  • Ademi took a job at Morton Plant Hospital while improving her English
  • Bay Care "Earn as You Learn" program helped her earn Nursing degree

Registered nurse Entela Ademi has not had the easiest road to where she is now. Along that road she moved to a new country, learned a new language, and changed careers. 

Ademi insists all those obstacles have been worth, and if you ask her to pinpoint the most rewarding part of her new job, she says there are many.

"When I see a patient getting better, and they say 'thank you,'" Ademi said.

Ademi always has a smile on her face as she greets patients at Morton Plant Hospital. Helping the sick is her passion, but wasn’t Entela’s original calling.

"I was a teacher for middle school, and in 1997, I won the lottery to move to America," Ademi said.

The former teacher moved to the United States from Albania more than 20 years ago. She took a job at the hospital in environmental services while working on her English.

"I learned how to clean the areas, the patients rooms, offices, halls, bathrooms," Ademi said.

While working at the hospital, Ademi discovered Bay Cares’s “Earn as You Learn” program, which allowed her to work while taking classes for free. Hospital officials say the program is meant to address the need for nurses, which continues to grow.

"There's a nursing shortage looming in the near future, so these 'Earn as You Learn' programs help us attract team members to our organization, but also help further develop the careers of our team members," Jackie Munro, VP of Nursing Systems and Resources, said.

Ademi now has her Bachelor’s Degree, helps train other nurses, and hopes to one day earn her Master's Degree.

"It is a very rewarding profession," Ademi said. "It is hard, but rewarding at the same time."

If you’d like to learn more about Bay Care’s “Earn as You Learn” program, visit https://baycare.org/careers/education.