Ideagen Radio
Ideagen Radio
Colonel Lakisha Wright: The Future of Health Podcast Ep. 4
Healthcare and service converge powerfully in the journey of Colonel Lakisha Wright, Command Nurse for the United States Army Cadet Command. Her story reveals how a profound moment in an emergency room—witnessing injured soldiers more concerned about their battle buddies than themselves—transformed her civilian nursing career into a 23-year military commitment.
Colonel Wright's responsibilities span across the nation as she oversees nursing cadets throughout the United States and territories, working to bring 210 qualified nurses into Army service annually. Her perspective on leadership resonates deeply: "Leadership is about growth and development. You don't just become a leader overnight." This philosophy drives her approach to mentoring future healthcare professionals, emphasizing that leadership requires recognizing your unique value, communicating effectively, and continually developing both personally and professionally.
For students considering healthcare careers, the military offers surprising pathways many haven't considered. From ROTC scholarships covering tuition or housing to programs enabling debt-free medical education, Colonel Wright outlines numerous opportunities for advancement. The Army's commitment to family support stands out through programs like the Exceptional Family Member Program, which ensures military families receive necessary specialized healthcare. Most inspiring is Colonel Wright's passion for helping young healthcare professionals discover their potential: "When I get to work with them and can help them find a pathway, I think that's the greatest thing ever." Her story demonstrates that combining healthcare with military service creates unique leadership opportunities that benefit both individual careers and our nation's healthcare system.
Want to explore how military service might enhance your healthcare career? Listen now to discover pathways you never knew existed, and consider how your skills could serve both patients and country.
Welcome to the HOSA Future of Health podcast live at the HOSA International Leadership Conference here in Nashville, tennessee. Today. I am honored to have with me Colonel Lakeisha Wright. Lakeisha Wright is leading the way with the US Army and I'm so grateful for your service, and so is the organization.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much.
Speaker 1:Thank you, colonel Wright. Would you kindly share I know this so much but a little bit of insight into your role as command nurse in the United States Army Cadet Command and, if you may, what your day-to-day looks like?
Speaker 2:Yes. So, being the command nurse, I'm responsible for all of the nursing cadets that we have in nursing school across the US Puerto Rico, guam, hawaii, alaska. So we have a mission each year to bring in 210 nurses to the Army and I have a team of brigade nurse counselors that are stationed across the US who go do the day-to-day grind of going out and visiting these nurses to make sure that things are going well between ROTC and nursing so we can get them through. I supervise them. I also make sure that my nurses, that I'm mentoring them so that they're getting what they need to grow in their careers.
Speaker 2:I also do the nurse summer training program. So our cadets, between their junior and senior year go to one of our military treatment hospitals and they get 120 to 160 clinical hours for that summer. So I put all of that together to make sure that they get what they need to have. That you know that clinical experience on top of traveling to national conferences and you know speaking and you know being out there to recruit so that we can get more Army nurses. So day-to-day is a lot of being on the phone, on the computer, in the office, of course, meetings, but then you know figuring out who we can partner with so that we can bring more nurses into the Army.
Speaker 1:Incredible. And so what inspired you to pursue both nursing and military service, and how have those paths worked or converged in your career?
Speaker 2:So it's interesting, I'm an Air Force brat. So my dad was 20 years Air Force, grew up in Colorado Springs, colorado, and always thought I was going to join the military, got married early, started having kids and then I was like, well, maybe no more military service, became a nurse. 9-11 happened and I worked at one of our downtown hospitals and there was actually a tank rollover at Fort Carson and those soldiers had to come in because we were a trauma center and being in the ER that night and watching the soldiers and they were worried about their battle buddy. They were like how is John or how is whoever, and I'm sitting there, like we need to take care of you, like I wait a minute, you know. And I saw the camaraderie and I saw what was happening and I was like I want to serve.
Speaker 2:So 9 11 happened. I joined the Army March of 2002 and really thought it was going to be a four-year career. I was like I just want to do my time, I want to serve, and 23 years later, I'm still here and nursing has always been my love. Well, I shouldn't say that. That's not totally true. I thought I was going to be a doctor but I switched to nursing, but I've just gotten so much more in my nursing career being in the military than I could have ever gotten in the civilian world.
Speaker 1:You know. Thank you for sharing that. That's just so inspiring. Just sitting here listening to your story is amazing, and what you describe with the camaraderie and what it is to serve our nation, it's truly a privilege and we are grateful. Thank you again for your service. Leadership and service are a big part of both nursing and, in fact, and the military. What do those values actually mean to you, colonel wright, and why are they so important for students to learn early?
Speaker 2:Leadership is about growth and development. You don't just become a leader overnight. You grow and you develop into it, but you're also bringing up the next generation. You're bringing up who's going to be taking care of you know my parents, me, my children and everything else like that. So we have to be out front, you know, in order to do that, to help people see what their potential is.
Speaker 2:If I didn't have people that had believed in me, I wouldn't be where I am today. You know, because sometimes you know life happens and you just don't think you can make it. But when you have that support, then you know you can, and I think that's what being a leader is. Service is just about giving back, because there is always something better than us and something bigger than us, and I think you know, when you think about serving, you want to make the world better. You want to make it a better place for your children, for your grandchildren, and we have so many privileges in the United States that if you travel to other countries, some of them don't have, and so we only have that because of the fact that we serve and we lead, and we have to continue that so that we can continue to even get into the future.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's so true. It's so true. And I'd like to shift to one of our favorite topics, I know, which is soft skills. Yes, because those soft skills are all around you when you are anywhere near a host of future health professionals, and you know exactly what I'm talking about. It's communication, it's discipline, it's what you just referred to as teamwork All extremely essential, of course, in the military and in healthcare, and in business and in government, and on and on. How can students start building those critical soft skills right now?
Speaker 2:So a lot about developing the soft skills, I believe and it goes into a little bit of like after the practitioner is you got to recognize who you are and what skills we even bring to the table and then be willing to showcase that, show people you know what you bring to the table and how valued you can be for a team, not being scared to speak up because your idea may be a great idea or it might stimulate another idea that's going to help lead a team or lead a new development, new technology or any of those other types of things. So, starting with your yourself and recognizing that, building your own communication skills, knowing how to communicate to people, learning how to write I mean all of those things are important and foundations that we all grow up on. You know, and that's what contributes to a team when you're doing all of those types of things.
Speaker 1:You know that's so incredible to hear from you and it's so true. That's what's really semantic about you. Know what we're talking about here, and what advice would you give to a host of students who might be interested in combining what you did healthcare with military service?
Speaker 2:Don't be scared, it is a little bit scary. I honestly I did not join the military until I was 27 years old, so I was a little bit already in my box, and you know. And then you have to change things up. But be willing to try new things. Be willing to be adventurous. Don't let people hold you back. You know, recognize like that, there are mentors out there, there are people that do want to see you succeed. And don't don't let no be the answer. When I first was about to join the military, I was told that I had a bee sting allergy. That's actually a disqualifier for the military. And so I said well, let's just test me. Maybe I grew out of it, you know and all that. So I went through allergy testing and I was cleared. But if I had to take a no the first time, then I wouldn't be in the military today. So sometimes you have to venture out, even when people tell you no, or find a way around no.
Speaker 1:And so overcoming challenges. I mean, that's one example right, and never taking no for an answer. Right and just never, ever stopping right, just continuing on. How does the Army then prepare future nurses and healthcare professionals for what are obviously potentially very, very high pressure environments?
Speaker 2:The Army teaches you to strive for more. We give you the education not only for you know, nursing, physician, whatever you're wanting to be in the military but also on the leadership. You go through leadership courses. You do a basic officer leadership course, then you do the captain's career course, then you do an intermediate level course and it's giving you all of those skills to continue to grow. We're going to teach you to go speak.
Speaker 2:A lot of the things that we do put you in front of people so that you have to learn how to speak. You have to learn how to interact with higher individuals colonels, generals and everything else. We're going to teach you how to write. We're going to do all of those types of things and we're going to give you more education. We're not going to let you just stop at a bachelor's degree In order to continue to go up in rank. You have to continue to get education and we pay for it. So we're going to make sure you get graduate level education to do all of those things that you want to achieve. And we even have some people that say, hey, I love being nursing, but I really realized that I wanted to be a physician. We have avenues for you to switch a crossover into other areas if that's something that you want to do too. So it's continually about growth and development, not just stopping where you are.
Speaker 1:So the Army has and instills a growth mindset.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:I love that. That's incredible. And so what kind of opportunities then exist in the military, and specifically in medicine, that students, host of students, might not know about, especially when it comes to advanced ed, education and leadership?
Speaker 2:So, starting just out of high school, going to ROTC. If you do ROTC and you qualify for a scholarship, then you're going to get a scholarship that's going to either pay for tuition or it's going to pay for housing, whichever is more expensive. You can choose. You get a monthly stipend and you get a book allowance while you're doing ROTC and then you're getting mentorship and guidance and leadership. That already begins right in college. You get on active duty. Then we're going to send you to some other schools. Maybe you want to go jump out of planes? Well, you can go. Do that, not me.
Speaker 2:Maybe you want to go, you know, rappel out of helicopters, but we're going to give you even more skills there, but then we're going to continue to grow. So let's say, somebody does want to be a doctor. After ROTC you can do what's called an educational delay and we have the health professional scholarship program, which is now you're going to go to med school straight out of your bachelor's degree, get your medical degree and then come on active duty. Or you can go to the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences and get your degree and then you can completely be debt-free with a medical degree. If you're on the nursing side of the house, then we have what's called long-term health education.
Speaker 2:The Army pays you for three years just to go to school and get your degree and then you're going to come out and be a nurse practitioner, be a clinical nurse specialist, be a nurse, anesthetist, whatever dreams you have there. And then there's even other avenues for individuals, if they don't want to, to go to school right out of, you know, high school, become enlisted. We have an army enlisted commissioning program which you can go become a nurse through that revenue. Just lots of programs that are out there. You know, be lawyers, you know, even if you don't want to be medical public health we. Any avenue you want to go, we have all of those types of things. Any avenue you want to go, we have all of those types of things.
Speaker 1:And so, cronerite, you work closely with cadets. Yes, specifically, what qualities do you look for that can help them be successful as young leaders?
Speaker 2:So we call it the SAL score. It's Scholar Athlete Leader. So of course we're in the military. We do have to pass our physical fitness test, so you have to have some physical fitness to you, but we can train you for that, even for some individuals who focus more on. You know being scholarly, and then we want to start seeing some leadership skills. Are you volunteering out in your community? Are you doing something in the school where you're the president, vice president, even treasurer, you know, or different things on the dance team? You know we want to see that you know you're invested, you want to be out there and that you have a strong background in getting your education and that you want to progress and go on to succeed.
Speaker 1:Incredible and so balance and specifically family balance.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:How does the military support families to balance work, life, life work all of the things that we see as challenges in today's modern world.
Speaker 2:So the Army. The one thing that for me, has been amazing in the Army is we have what's called the Exceptional Family Member Program. My oldest daughter was born with congenital heart disease. She's had multiple open heart surgeries and you know, just an extensive health history. The Army has made sure that I'm stationed at places where she could get all of the health care that she needs. So she's had surgery at John Hopkins, seattle Children's Hospital, cleveland Clinic.
Speaker 2:So they're going to make sure that in those aspects you know, medically, your family's taken care of. You have the housing allowance that you can make sure that you're providing housing for your family. They move you, you know they pay for you to move. We have schools on our installations, we have child care centers on our installations. We have all of those things so that you know that your family is taking care of when you need to serve. And even on the aspect of, you can pass your GI Bill onto your family so that they can go to college.
Speaker 2:You know I did that with my youngest child. She has a bachelor in biology and she's in vet school now. So and we have scholarships even for that for your family. So we make sure that you're taken care of. There are times, I'm going to be honest, and we have scholarships even for that for your family, so we we make sure that you're taken care of. There are times, I'm going to be honest, like where you have to ask your family to sacrifice a little bit, and then there's times that you sacrifice for your family so that you have that balance. But it was very rare for me to miss volleyball or dance or any of those other types of things, because I communicated the needs and my leadership supported it.
Speaker 1:That's incredible to hear, that's just profound, and so I'd like to end this interview. We could go on for days with all of your inspiring perspectives and insights, but what inspires you and excites you the most about the future health professionals and let's even focus on hosts of future health professionals what are you most excited about when you're interacting with them?
Speaker 2:How excited they are. For some, this is what they have and they can see a future because they come from backgrounds where they maybe didn't see a future. So it's exciting to see that light in their eyes, that they're excited about the things that they can achieve. For others, that they already know. Like I was just talking to a young lady and she's like, well, I want to do public health and I want to do this. And I was like, well, you can do it all. Like you can combine public health and law and do environmental law. And she's like, wow, I never even thought about that.
Speaker 2:She's like that's the greatest you know need. That's what we need for you know the future and everything else. Like that is for that excitement for them to see that they have a future and that they can grow and develop into whatever they want to become. Because it starts with a dream, it starts with a pathway and then they just have to find the pathway. So when I get to work with them and can help them find a pathway, I think that's the greatest thing ever pathway, I think that's t, Colonel Lakeisha.
Speaker 1:Right U inspiration. Thank you so service to our nation and.