It was not an easy choice for Ms Lydia Bng as it was a long route to graduation.
For Ms Lydia Bng, it was a career switch that has paid off in more ways than one.
She had been working for more than 14 years in completely unrelated industries when she felt deeply moved by the valiant efforts of the nurses and doctors during the outbreak of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (Sars).
She decided that nursing was her true calling.
Said Ms Bng: "Sars was an unknown disease at that time and many nurses and doctors were at risk of losing their lives, but they stayed on the job. "I was really inspired by them."
But it was no easy decision and she had to take a long route to graduation.
Leaving her job as a financial adviser, Ms Lydia Bng went back to the books at the age of 33,enrolling at the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) for a nursing certificate.
Explained Ms Bng: "I failed my sciences at O levels, so I couldn't enrol in a polytechnic to get a diploma in nursing."
Worked at hospital
After graduating from ITE, she worked at Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) for eight months as an assistant nurse before enrolling at NP.
Her education at NP is sponsored by TTSH.
At NP, she had scored a near-perfect grade point average (GPA) of 3.96 out of 4.
Ms Bng, who is now back at TTSH as a nurse, said: "There is no secret to doing well. Since this is what I chose to do, I had to do my best, even if it meant that I had to make sacrifices."
According to Dr Phang Chiew Hun, the director of the school of health sciences at NP, Ms Bng had no problem blending in with the younger students.
Said Dr Phang: "As a student, she was a tremendous help to the other students as she was a peer tutor.
"She also volunteered for many school-based activities." Ms Bng graduated from Vocational and Industrial Training Board (VITB) at the age of 19.
She worked for 13 years in the accounting industry, then worked for another 11/2years as a financial adviser.
Before her nursing career, she was earning up to $5,000 a month as a financial adviser - about double what she earns now.
But she had always felt restless when it came to desk-bound jobs.
After the Sars period, she was determined to take up nursing, but mulled over various options before enrolling in ITE.
Becoming a full-time student again 14 years after graduation meant that she had a lot to catching up to do to keep upwith her young and boisterous classmates.
Said Ms Bng: "I was quite worried at first because I was never good with mysciences.
"There was also a lot of complicated terminology that I had to memorise."
But Ms Bng worked hard.
2am-start
During her two years in ITE, she would sleep at 8pm and wake up at 2am to study before heading off for morning classes.
Her determination paid off and she was the top student in ITE, even winning awards such as the ITE Lee Kuan Yew Model Student/Trainee Award.
Initially, Ms Bng was content with just a certificate in nursing, but her good results in her first year in ITE encouraged her to further her education at NP.
In NP, Ms Bng also volunteered her first-aid expertise any chance she got.
Ms Vicky Ratnam, 59, a lecturer at the school of health sciences at NP who went with Ms Bng on a youth expedition programme to a village in Vietnam, providing health education and medical supplies, was all praise for her.
Said Ms Ratnam, who has 30 years of nursing experience: "Nurses need to have a helpful nature. Lydia has a very personable nature and everyone is easily drawn to her."
For Ms Bng, the greatest challenge of the job is dealing with life-or-death situations.
Said Ms Bng: "I still get emotional when I see a patient succumb to his illness, especially when I had a part in caring for the patient for some time.
"But maybe it's because of my maturity, I can better empathise with the family members of my patients."
And nursing is a passion she wants to pursue for a long time.
Said Ms Bng: "I really feel that nursing is my calling. As long as I am physically able, I will continue to work as a nurse."
This article was first published in The New Paper.
