One nurse's 40-year journey

Your twice-weekly roundup of nursing news, work trends, and opportunities

Welcome to Nurse Ascent, a twice-weekly newsletter created by nurses for nurses. This week, one nurse tells her story of a recent move to a new town to get a dream job in what turned out to be a dream location. We also discuss a deadly flu outbreak at a Texas air force base, success of the HPV vaccines, and how AI helped diagnose 18 children with rare diseases.

But first, would you sign up for this fantasy land?

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Nurse Spotlight: Ligaya Di Cosmo RN, BSN

What I do for work

I work as a floor nurse at a rural hospital that has a specialized long-term care and memory care skilled nursing unit. We have one unit at the hospital and then the primary facility is 20 mins away. I recently moved to Redding, CA from Las Vegas, NV where I formerly worked as an Assistant Director of Nursing. The pay in comparison to the hours and acknowledgement I received wasn’t worth it for me at this time in my life, and that inspired me to look for new options. I was happy to find this facility that offered a $25k sign on bonus, a yearly all-staff $10k bonus plus benefits that include education reimbursement and free lodging near the facility on work days.

How I got here

I’m a career nurse started who started at the age of 18 as a CNA after high school. I got to work at the best non-profit that had a multi-compound community including independent housing, assisted-living memory care and skilled nursing. I worked as a CNA for 2 years before getting my RNA and then LPN at a local community college. I took a long break after I got married to be a stay-at-home mom before I went back to nursing and got my RN and BSN online. As an RN I worked in the hospital before moving to hospice care before returning to the SNF. During COVID, I began working with FEMA doing vaccinations for the public and did an assignment in Guam. Afterwards, I travel nursed in Las Vegas and worked in supervision where I eventually became an Assistant Director of Nursing. As I come close to retirement, I feel like my diverse background has allowed me adapt as I add more to my skillset that has helped me not burnout as I pivot with my career.

Headlines in Healthcare

160 troops sick with flu at Texas air force base

An influenza outbreak at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas sickened 160 recruits within a basic military training wing. This event occurred following a policy change that made the flu vaccine optional for military personnel, resulting in only about 40% of trainees voluntarily taking the shot, the Morning Sun reports. A trainee in his sixth week of basic training, Keon McDaniel, died after being transported to the medical center. Since the outbreak, the policy has been reversed, making the flu vaccination mandatory for all recruits at Lackland to prevent further transmission.

HPV vaccine gives 'close to zero' risk of cervical cancer death

Researchers found that children vaccinated at 12 to 13 against HPV now have close to zero risk of dying from cervical cancer before age 30. The study, reported by the BBC, notes that deaths have dramatically declined school-age girls have started being offered the vaccine in 2006 (in the US) & 2008 (in England). They found that between 2000 and 2024, for the first time ever, there were no recorded cervical cancer deaths of women in England age 20 to 24.

AI helped diagnose children with rare diseases

Doctors at Boston Children's Hospital tell NBC News they used an OpenAI model to diagnose 18 children with rare diseases after receiving no answers from medical teams for years. The team ran the genomes of 376 diagnosed patients through the system and found answers for 5% of cases. The human research team then reviewed all of the system's outputs to make any final diagnosis.

More on Ligaya

A day in my life

Our shift starts at 4:45am and although I thought I could never wake up that early, I’m liking this schedule. With this start time, you have time to do report early by 5:15, do my weekly summaries, and still have another hour to help watch the floor in the memory care unit while aids get up patients for the day. I usually have medications passed by 6:45, before I help with meals, activities and wound care. Around 12pm I’m back to charting and at 4:45pm I’m off and like to explore a local river or walk somewhere in nature. I struggled with this schedule the first 2 weeks, but now I love the free time during daylight after and also like that our clock in and clock out time is staggered to not fall during the rush and stress of wake up and meal interruption.

What I do for fun

I just got an e-bike and I do daily walks. I go to gym with sauna and jacuzzi for overall soreness. I’m a girly girl and do monthly pedicure with foot massage. The whole area where I live is full of outdoor recreation like hiking, biking, and trails. There are a lot of outdoor groups that are very active and I’ve joined those to help introduce me to the community. I find that this helps me to get to know the area better. I love trying new food and coffee shops. It’s been a blessing to move here and I really appreciate how nursing is the most diverse career someone can have with lots of room for movement, like what brought me here!

Share your story & be entered to win

As part of our effort to spotlight nurses, we’d love to feature you in an upcoming issue of Nurse Ascent! Share your story by filling out our quick interview form, and you’ll be entered into a raffle to win a $50 gift card.

An image of author Katie Scoggins is pictured.

Meet the author:
Katie Scoggins
(RN, BSN & Health Writer)

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