Aaron Mayes is a student in the LPN program. At 黑料网911 is the only program in the state with a part-time track for those students like Mayes, who are working full-time. It takes two years to complete the part-time program. The college also offers a one-year full-time track.
Where are you from?
I鈥檓 originally from Baker, Florida. But being active-duty military, I’ve lived all over. So, I got the experience of spending ten years overseas. I’ve got to visit too many continents and too many countries.
You鈥檝e told us previously how highly you regard this program, why?
I can’t sing enough praises to it because it’s a program that actually has worked for me. It’s a program that with my scheduling and how my lifestyle works, they’ve been able to be blended into that effortlessly, whereas other colleges wouldn’t even work on my schedule. They wouldn’t even think about dealing with an active-duty member and trying to work me into their process of it. Whereas the LPN program here and working with (program director) Russ (Motschenbacher) directly, they have been very, very mindful of that and they understand this is what my schedule looks like. They go ahead and flip that and are able to put me in to where that fits in, to what qualifications I need to have in order to fulfill the program.
What branch of the service are you in? How many years in? What do you do?
I’m in the Air Force. I’ve been in for almost 18 years now, my job is I’m a facility manager out here. My main job that I’ve done for 16 years in the military is aircraft mechanic.
But now you’re studying to be a nurse, do have experience in healthcare?
I don’t. Yeah. Nope. None. My experience in healthcare is almost zero. I’ve taken some EMT classes to get my EMT certification when I was stationed back at another base. Got SAT, but I just wasn’t able to work. I had too much time spending with military doing that mission that I couldn’t do anything on that end of it. But actually, working in healthcare, I have no prior experience. This is really just my eye-opening knowledge basis of, 鈥楬ey, this is what it’s actually like,鈥� which has been amazing for me.
Aaron served in the Air Force as a mechanic and later in quality assurance, working on C-130s and various other aircraft. He lived in multiple locations, including Germany, which he loved for its culture. His passion for mountain landscapes led him to Montana, where he enjoys the outdoors.>>
So, then the obvious question what made you transition from a mechanic & missile facility manager to nursing?
So, I fell in love with just the passion of taking care of people. I’ve learned over the years as I’ve gotten older that I have an absolute just desire and passion in no matter what it may be just ensuring people are squared away and taken care of. I’ve learned with the nursing side of the house that you can do every bit of that. You can talk with individuals, you’re able to sit there and you’re able to have a conversation and make sure that they are doing okay with what they’re going through. You have that direct impact with that patient. So, you’re with a patient whenever they get horrible news on a new disease or a new diagnosis and you’re able to help them and treat them during that process when they need a shoulder to cry on, you know, you’re that person that can be right there for them.
Was there a singular moment where you said, nursing is what I want to do?
The moment that I found out I wanted to go into nursing was mainly when I got into an accident several years ago. I had to get life flighted. I got to see the docs for all of about 10 minutes maybe. It was all the nurses. They’re the ones taking me to get my scans. They were the ones that were sitting there talking to me about what was going on. They were the ones getting me ready to leave the hospital and the doc, he just 鈥淵ou’re good to go鈥� as soon as he saw me in the emergency room. And then the nurses, the one that came in, it was like, 鈥榊eah, they diagnosed you with this. This are the injuries that you have and what’s going on and we’re going get you out of here now.鈥� So seeing that, I wanted to be that person that was interacting, I don’t want to be on the back side and just taking care of people that way. I want to be actually on the front lines of taking care of them and nursing is where it’s at.
<< Once Aaron knew he wanted to be a nurse, he started looking at other nursing program. >>
None of them were accommodating for my military timeline and stuff because they didn’t like the fact that I had other obligations. They wanted my obligation to only be that program and that program alone throughout that span. I’m not saying it’s a bad thing, it’s just that it didn’t work for me.
You were pursuing nursing well before you came to Great Falls?
I was, yes. Pursuing the nursing degree was something I’d been trying for multiple years before I actually came up here to Great Falls. And everywhere I go, somewhere new, as soon as I find out about a new program I’m applying or asking, I’m trying to see what advantages it has and if I can actually get accepted to that program. So, when I moved up here, the beginning of 2023, that’s when I found out about the program here. And it took me a little bit of working with my military schedule and actually sitting down and having some conversations with Russ and trying to make sure you know what program would actually fit best with me鈥fter we got that process worked out, I applied for the program, and they ended up accepting me in and allowing it and doing very well and working with my schedule.
So you found nursing as your passion or calling now and found a place that will work with you. What’s that experience been like?
It鈥檚 been amazing. So I tell all my airmen, I tell everybody I meet, go find one of your joys or a hobby, something that you love doing, and go pursue that. And when you wake up in the morning, you can be as happy as you can be. It don’t matter if it’s a rough day or not鈥 love waking up when I get to put my scrubs on and I get to go see patients there in our clinicals.
And how is it that you’re able to do both, the Air Force is a full-time job?
You find a system being able to do both of them at once. You have to find a system.
Did any of your previous college credits help you here?
They yes, sir, they did. So a lot of my college is at American Military University, where I’m working on my bachelor’s in sports and health science with a concentration in exercise science. A lot of those are the same kind of medical classes you have to take in order to get the prerequisites for the LPN program. So, I didn’t have to take any classes here in order to use that to get accepted in the program.
What are your short term goal long term goals?
So short term goal, right as soon as I finish the program, take my NCLEX and get my LPN, and then continue to work as an LPN in the local area for a few years until I PCS (permanent change of station) in February of 2027, I’ll be having to move to a new base which will be my final base. I’ll go there for maybe a year or so, and retire out of the Air Force. And then I’ll go into a BSN program to go get my actual four-year nursing license and get my RN. Long term goal, ten year goal, is get a little bit of experience under my belt, go back to nurse practitioner school, get my nurse practitioner license, and then I’ll open my own practice, whether that be somewhere here in the northern states or if I’ll go back (south), to wherever I’m actually able to find the best possible place for me that I really enjoy and allows me to do…treat the best patients.
What do you like most about At 黑料网911?
The people, the instructors, professors that are here, the directors of programs here, everybody has been amazing. When you sit down and talk to them about anything they’re here to help out students. I love the fact that they dedicate their time, and they are advocates for making sure that their students are doing extremely well no matter what it may be.