Ragan Stevens was in her 30s and the operations manager of a local hotel when delivering her daughter in Thompson Hospital’s Birthing Center reignited something in her.

Seeing nurses in action and experiencing their care got Ragan thinking about an interest she’d had since childhood, and she decided to follow in her aunt’s footsteps and become a nurse.

“I needed to do something that was more fulfilling to me,” she said, “and what I’ve always said to my daughter was that I wanted to do something that would make her proud of me.”

Ragan worked as a nurse’s aide and as a unit secretary on Thompson’s 3 East floor while attending Finger Lakes Community College for her nursing degree. Having real-life experience complemented her studies, and she even got to work alongside some of her FLCC instructors at the hospital.

When she graduated in 2011, she became an RN on the 3 West floor.

“Thompson was the only place I applied,” she said. “I didn’t want to work anywhere else.”

After all, Ragan is known to joke that Thompson is her hospital. She was born here, her daughter was born here, and she got her BSN here in 2016 through Thompson’s partnership with Roberts Wesleyan College, which offers on-site classes.

She also recently marked 15 years with Thompson, so even though claiming ownership is in jest, “it really is my hospital,” she said.

In 2015, Ragan became a nurse leader. She works the day shift and notes that even when there are bad days, “they are still spent with your family, so they’re doable.”

Ragan said nursing is not for everybody, and especially not for people who aren’t willing to work hard.

However, she said, “if somebody feels like they’re called to taking care of people and ‘doing community’ within a small community, I would absolutely encourage it for them.”