HARLINGEN — Andy Barajas is one of the best at what he does.
This year, the 42-year-old Harlingen native was voted Best Nurse in the Valley Morning Star’s Readers’ Choice Awards.
He is a 1997 graduate of the University of Texas at Brownsville nursing program and has been in the nursing field since then.
Today, he is a registered nurse in the Radiology and Imaging Department of Harlingen Medical Center.
Recently, he talked about how he got to where he is today.
Q: How much work did you have to put in to become a registered nurse?
A: It was tough. The nursing program isn’t an easy thing to get into.
You have to have all your prerequisites done, you have to have a high GPA, you have to have recommendations from your employers or physicians, or whatever you can to get in.
I filled out a packet and turned it in to the program director. And then once they select you for that part, then you had to do an interview with a panel of five.
There was the dean of the nursing program, instructors and counselors.
I just had to be truthful, be honest and tell them what I wanted to do — I always wanted to help people, to make people feel comfortable, feel better.
They went through hundreds of applicants and they chose, I believe, 33.
And they chose me. I was one of the few that got into my class.
Q: Once you got into the program, how hard was it after that?
A: It was pretty tough.
We had a lot of tests. It was like every week, every time you went into class, you had to take a test and pass that test and get cleared to go to the next subject.
And in between all that, you had go to the hospital and do clinicals and be checked off on clinicals.
It was just like jumping off a moving train.
But I had a good group of classmates and we all helped each other. My wife, she pushed me through it, she encouraged me to keep going.
I had some tough days, some tough courses, but she told me just to study hard and I did.
When I graduated, I graduated for the both of us. Because we were just getting started, we were newlyweds. I got married while I was in the nursing program. We had to do a lot of sacrificing; we lived check by check sometimes.
But once I graduated, it was great because now I could work as an RN and I was just eager to get started.
Q: What advice would you give to students considering a career in the medical field?
A: I would say, this is a very rewarding field.
Now there are more opportunities. The satisfaction of seeing the people that you take care of, that’s enough to keep you going. And don’t give up, just keep on studying and do your best.
There are so many different positions in medicine, and nursing alone. This is the way to go. The medical field is a good career.
Q: Why did you want to get into the medical field?
A: When I was in high school, we were supposed to go through elective courses. I liked the idea of working in medicine and helping others and I always kept that in the back of my mind, because I knew I was going to go to college, but I didn’t know for what.
Then when I was getting my prerequisites taken care of, like going through all the basic courses, I just decided to get into the nursing program.
Q: What did you want to be when you were growing up?
A: Growing up, I watched a lot sci-fi. My parents bought me a telescope when I was 7 or 8 and I looked at the moon, at the stars, at the planets. And I always wanted to be an astronaut. I wanted to one day fly in rocket ships, go up into space. I just loved it.
And I’m still fascinated by looking at the night sky.
