Life is not the destination, but the journey. For Salvacion Powell, better known as Bunny to her fellow nursing classmates, truer words have never been spoken.
Bunny has spent the last year pursuing a dream that is soon to come to fruition. She is a student in the College of Nursing accelerated BSN program and will graduate this upcoming summer. But Bunny is not the typical nursing student, similar to many in this challenging program, where graduates who have bachelor’s degrees in other fields can earn their bachelor’s degree in nursing in 15 months.
Bunny is a wife and a mother of three sons who has spent most of her career in the retail industry. She is now embarking on a new career inspired by her passion for helping others. But the path that she took to get there was filled with turns and bumps in the road.
Born and raised in the Philippines, Bunny attended college at De La Salle University where she earned a bachelor’s degree in literature in 1982. Bunny, a budding musician, decided to try her hand at a music career.
However, after her grandmother passed away, Bunny wanted to learn more about how the health care system in the Philippines worked. This interest led her to volunteer as a candy striper in the surgery department at the Makati Medical Center.
“Working as a volunteer opened my eyes to a new career in nursing,” said Bunny.
Along with volunteering, Bunny learned firsthand about health care while taking care of her mother after she was diagnosed with emphysema. It is customary in the Filipino culture to use your medical training and knowledge to help friends and family in need; so when her mother became ill, a doctor who was a close family friend provided home care for her.
“During my mother’s home care, I learned how to put in her IV, her feeding tube and her oxygen tank,” said Bunny.
Bunny first came to the United States in 2003, originally making her home in North Carolina and later relocating to Miami. She was well prepared for her nursing education; while most nurses receive their training in school in a clinical setting, Bunny received much of her initial training at her mom’s bedside. This experience inspired her to pursue formal nursing education.
After completing the necessary prerequisites at Miami Dade College, Bunny was accepted into the nursing program at UF. In order to focus on her studies, Bunny had to leave her family in Miami and moved to Gainesville. She quickly became a mother away from home to many of her fellow nursing students. It is not uncommon for a study group at Bunny's house to include a home cooked meal.
After graduation, Bunny hopes to pursue a career in public health and psychiatric/mental health nursing. She will continue her education at UF in the psychiatric mental health master’s nursing program.
“I believe nursing is my calling,” Bunny said.
But she has not abandoned her other passions. Bunny still plays the keyboard and sings with her church musical group.
Like Robert Frost, Bunny took the road less traveled by. And that has made all the difference.