64 | www.Ups tatePhys i c i ansSC . com | www.Hea l thL i nksUps tate. com T H E P U L S E O N UPSTATE NURSES HealthLinks Upstate has partnered with KUDZU MEDICAL STAFFING to highlight some of the Upstate’s top nurses. JESSE GRADY, APRN, MS, FNP-C The path to working as a nurse in mental health at iTrust Wellness Group may not have always seemed so obvious to Jesse Grady, but it certainly has been a journey she has enjoyed every step of the way. She said she first thought she might become a doctor. “I always knew I wanted to work in health care, either as a nurse or a physician. I decided that nursing was the path for me after volunteering at my local hospital in middle school and realizing that as a nurse I would have the opportunity to spend more time at the bedside with my patients, allowing me to educate and advocate for them.” She received her bachelor’s degree in psychology from Clemson University and completed the accelerated nursing program at Clemson and received her bachelor’s in nursing. After working a few years, she began the family nurse practitioner program and received a master’s in nursing. “Throughout my time in college and even as a nurse, I have always been drawn to learning more about development across the life span, behavior and mental health. I have witnessed the impact that professionals within mental health have made on people very close to me and wanted to be able to use my degrees and passions to impact others positively in the same way.” Her advice to aspiring nurses: “Nursing school is challenging, but graduating and being able to work as a nurse is very rewarding. I would say it's the best job anyone could ever have, and there is so much opportunity within nursing.” CASSANDRA HAYES, APRN, MSN, FNP-C Cassandra Hayes may have been destined for nursing based on her first name, which means “helper of mankind.” Now with iTrust Wellness Group in Greenville, which provides psychiatric medication management and therapy services for adolescents and adults, Hayes has certainly been able to live up to her namesake. “I wanted to be a nurse because I wanted to help people,” she confirmed. She worked for 10 years in hospice as an RN. “So many of my patients had mental health issues, in addition to end-of-life issues,” she explained. “This helped me to transition into my role as a nurse practitioner in the psychiatric specialty. I love working in psychiatry because the patients have so many different diagnoses and there is never a dull moment.” Her education background includes gaining her RN from Greenville Technical College and a master’s in nursing from Simmons University in Boston. Her advice for anyone wanting to become a nurse: “Care for the patient as if they were your own family. Also, work as hard as you can to advocate for your patients.” She added, “Life is short. Find a job you love, and you will never work a day in your life.”
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