A Massachusetts woman is showing the world the true meaning of perseverance after she worked her way up from being a custodian at a local hospital to now treating its patients as a nurse practitioner.
Ten years ago, Jaines Andrades started her career at Baystate Medical Center working in environmental services, where she cleaned up operating rooms as a janitor, Meredith Corporation station WGGB reported.
Today, instead of cleaning the operating rooms, she is one of the leaders inside them as a certified nurse practitioner in trauma surgery, according to the outlet.
"At one point, I dreamed of the position I have today," Andrades told WGGB of her incredible journey, which started when she was just 19 years old.
In 2014 — four years after Andrades began her career at Baystate as a custodian — the Springfield resident earned her nursing degree, WGGB reported.
She continued working in environmental services until an opportunity to work as a registered nurse arose.
"I stayed, actually, in environmental, despite being a nurse because I didn’t immediately get a nursing job at Baystate, so I wanted to keep my foot in the door," she explained to the outlet.
Eventually, Andrades decided to go back to school to become a nurse practitioner (NP) and once she completed her degree, was offered a job at Baystate yet again.
"Once I start something, I have to see it through, so if I’m going to be a custodian and then be a nurse, it only makes sense to be a nurse practitioner there," she told WGGB of working at Baystate all these years.
On Sept. 28, Andrades reflected on the accomplishment by posting a photo of her three work badges on Facebook. Though they all have her name and photo on them, each one has her different job title and shows Andrades' career progression over the years.
"10 years of work but it was worth it! I’m a provider at the same place I use to clean," she captioned the post, which has been shared over 10,000 times and liked over 12,000 times.
Reflecting on her career, Andrades told WGGB that having such diverse experiences at the Springfield medical center has kept her humble while interacting with others.
"I remember those times where I saw interactions as a custodian to remind myself that everyone’s human," she explained. "Your academic success or your professional success, obviously, it deserves praise and you should be proud of that, but it doesn’t make you a better person."
"As a human being," she added to the outlet, "I’m still that girl who used to clean."
For more on Andrades' journey, tune into PEOPLE (the TV Show!) on Monday night.
PEOPLE (the TV Show!) is a half-hour daily TV show inspired by the brand's unique combination of the most popular celebrity and inspirational human-interest stories, including entertainment news, exclusive interviews, feature stories, beauty and style, true crime and more. The show airs Monday-Friday in all 12 Meredith markets, including Atlanta, Phoenix, St. Louis, Portland, Nashville, Kansas City, Hartford-New Haven, Greenville-Spartanburg, Las Vegas, Mobile-Pensacola, Flint-Saginaw and Springfield-Holyoke. The show is hosted by Kay Adams and Lawrence K. Jackson with correspondents Jeremy Parsons and Sandra Vergara. You can also stream the show daily at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT on People.com, PeopleTV app (OTT) and PEOPLE’s Facebook, Twitter and YouTube accounts.
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