Born to Be a Nurse. Turns Out, She’s So Much More.

Some people discover their calling late in life. Kylie Rhamdas found hers at about five years old and with a plastic toy stethoscope in hand.

At 22, Rhamdas has just completed her first year as a Licensed Practical Nurse in the emergency department at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital, a milestone that coincides with the close of Nurses Week 2026, a week dedicated to honouring the healthcare workers who show up for you when you need them most.

“We did it,” she said as she reflected on the long journey she’s had. “That’s what I would tell my five-year-old self.”

Rhamdas grew up knowing she wanted to work in a hospital. Her frequent visits as a sickle cell patient only deepened that pull. Watching nurses manage her pain and show up during her sickle cell crises planted something in her that never left.

“All my life, when I was younger, I was always in the hospital,” she added. “I used to watch the nurses and think, I want to be a doctor or a nurse.”

 

The road to get there was far from easy. After secondary school, she did not head straight into college. Instead, she built her skills in photography while quietly holding onto her childhood dream. She worked three jobs as a full-time nursing student and used photography to cover transportation, food and school expenses.

“I used to tell my business partner, like, hey, I’m going back to school. I’m going back to school. I’m going back to school. And I saw that they had a scholarship for nursing. So I applied,” she said.

The commute alone was its own challenge. Nursing school was in Belmopan. She lived in Belize City. That meant waking up at 4:30 every morning to make a 6 o’clock bus and arrive on time for her 8 o’clock classes.

“Some days used to be really hard. I don’t know if I want to go to school today, but you have to push yourself. If that’s something you like and that’s something you really want, you have to push yourself and motivate yourself to continue,” she added.

Now one year into her career, she is already planning her next move: a Bachelor of Science in Nursing, followed by a specialisation in psychiatric care.

But what most people do not see when they walk into the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital emergency department is the fuller picture behind healthcare workers. And in her case, behind her scrubs and the 30-minutes-early punctuality, one does not see the sickle cell patient managing her own pain on a long shift, the photographer who put herself through school, or when she quietly begged God as a new nurse to not let a critically ill patient die.

“I went 16 hours and she was still alive… I could remember her thanking me and saying, ‘Nurse, thank you for all that you do.’ Stuff like that – I would think about that now and again. Like, when I feel like I’m a bad nurse or I’m not doing as much as I want to do, I would think back to that moment,” Rhamdas said.

That is the part of nursing that rarely makes it into the public conversation: the weight that follows healthcare workers home, the self-doubt after a hard shift, and the crying in the first week because no classroom fully prepares you for the pace of an emergency department.

“My first week at emergency, I cried. I was like, I don’t think I’m a good nurse,” she said. “I don’t think I’m getting this. I feel like I’m too slow for this unit… I used to cry about it, but I got over it. I continued to push myself.”

Nurses, she says, are expected to be infallible. They are not.

“People always expect us to not make mistakes,” she said. “We’re prone to mistakes. We might not be able to answer all the questions that you have. But we try our best.”

What carried her through was her mindset, her core memories she returns to, and a team that has her back. That combination, she says, is part of what earned her the Adrenaline Ace Award at KHMH this year, an honour recognising outstanding performance in her field.

“I don’t think that I would have got that award if it weren’t for most of my co-workers there who strengthened me,” she said. “Whether it was teaching me a new skill, correcting me when I was wrong, or just teaching me something new every day.”

Outside the hospital, she is still a photographer, scheduling shoots around her shifts and spending days off doing the things that keep her grounded, such as travelling, listening to music, and sitting by the seaside. “Anything to deal with the stress… Just find something that suits you and calms you,” she added.

Her advice to anyone sitting on the fence about nursing is “Go for it”, she said.

“The journey might not always be as easy as you think it is. But push through. And always think about the ending goal… when you become a nurse, you might not feel appreciated at first. But you’re going to meet patients who remind you of why you’re a nurse.”

“Schooling has no age,” she added. “I believe you can go back to school whenever you feel like.”

That is what Nurses Week is really about: the reminder that the person on the other side of your hospital bed and caring for you is navigating a life too. Full, complicated, and very human.

“We’re always there to help,” Rhamdas said. “We might not always be perfect. But we’re always there.”