Rachel Emmons sat beside her classmates at her graduation ceremony; proud of her accomplishments and hoping that her education had prepared her for an exceptionally challenging career. She experienced deep feelings of accomplishment at earning her degree, relief that it was all over and excitement that she would be starting her new job only weeks later. She walked across the stage with the certainty that her goals had all been checked off her lists one at a time until she had no further challenges left to strive for. She was at the exact moment she had worked towards and planned out for years. 

      Rachel Emmons chose her major after taking 5 years after high school to work and explore career paths that would inspire her. She settled on medical laboratory science as her career and academic path. She chose her major based on interests in science and medicine, being behind the scenes but still helping people and that there would be great job opportunities for her immediately after graduation. Rachel said, “I questioned my major choice a lot. I should have trusted my decision because it was definitely the right one.” One of her only regrets after graduating was setting unfair expectations for herself going into her classes rather than having a growth mindset of constantly improving.  

      In college, her professors prepared her to take the Board exam, and taught her all the basic lab skills she would need to complete her clinical rounds. The most important thing she was taught was confidence in her results and future position. “In the lab, we are the experts,” she said, “no one knows more about what we do than us.” Even doctors do not have the knowledge or ability to do what medical lab scientists are capable of. 

      Applying to her dream job at Orlando Health was surprisingly simple. The hospital had hosted her degree program for clinicals and she already knew staff members there. Before graduating, she attended a hiring event for the hospital. “When I got there, I applied for the jobs I was considering and had two interviews all on the same day. They made it easy for me.” Less than two weeks later, she accepted a job in the hospital’s blood bank laboratory.  

      Her education prepared her for getting a position but when she started working, she discovered that she would need to constantly learn more on the job to keep up with the stress and heavy workload. “I worked as a manager at Chick-Fil-A during college and it helped prepare me to take on fast-paced emergency situations.” Rachel jokingly referred to demands of hangry customers as being almost as dramatic as processing real trauma patient blood orders. 

      Her daily job is entirely unpredictable. “We never know what we are going to work to find that day,” She related. Orlando Health is where any extreme trauma cases are brought to in the Orlando area and part of her team’s job is to package the correct blood for these situations. MTP, or massive transfusion protocol, is what they often use to get large amounts of blood packaged into coolers to go out for individual patients in danger of bleeding out. “We could have multiple emergencies happening at once and each person could need up to 20 coolers full of blood right away.” 

      During her shifts, one of her difficulties is finding time to take breaks and eat. “Each day is a struggle for the team to get breaks when it's busy. People’s lives are on the line and we can’t just press pause to grab a snack.” She further described how everyone works together to coordinate breaks, but it doesn’t always happen that they all get theirs. 

      The team in the blood bank lab is incredibly inspiring in their efforts to quickly fill orders and do their work with flawless precision that it takes to do their job with the safety of patients in mind. “The best part of my job is how much of a difference it makes for every single patient. They will never see me or know my name, but I helped them and that is an incredible feeling.” Believing that this job was deeply necessary to helping save lives was a driving factor in Rachel’s decision to work in the blood bank lab rather than a less stressful environment. 

      The lab staff is what she describes as “introverted and nerdy,” fitting perfectly with her personality and interests. “I feel like a detective,” she told me, “When I am solving puzzles to find out what could cause abnormalities in the samples that we test.” Rachel has loved solving all kinds of puzzles since her childhood and she now can do this at her workplace to help save lives. 

      When Rachel gets off work, she drives the 20-minute route to her apartment and finds ways to relax after tough days. She is setting new goals for her professional and personal life going forward to replace the ones she has already achieved. In her spare time, she sings with the Central Florida Community Arts choir. “I am proud of myself for being in the choir because everything in my life that I chose to do is for the purpose of making me happy, that is one of my new goals.” In Three-to-five years Rachel sees herself still working in a blood bank laboratory, singing, and continuing to practice finding ways to stay inspired and help other people.