Lorena Parra spent years in the trenches as a certified nursing assistant, tending to patients’ most urgent and basic needs, one after the other, with no time for anything more.
That was the part she longed for—to linger and learn and connect with the people in her care.
“Many times, I went home crying,” Parra said.
She wanted more. For her patients. For herself. For her family.
Parra first considered becoming a nurse in high school. Life intervened. She married and had children, four in all, three daughters and a son. She spent years focusing on her family, years telling herself one day.
One day she’d go back to school. One day she’d become a nurse. One day she’d have a job where she could give patients the time and attention she so badly wanted to give them.
Her kids grew. They entered middle school and high school, and Parra went to work every day and did her best, but it often didn’t feel like enough.
Then one day in 2017 her friend and coworker asked her to sit down.
You keep saying you want to be a nurse, she told Parra. This is the fourth year you said you want to go to school.
Parra sat down and her friend made a handful of calls. By the time she left work, Parra had an appointment at East Coast Polytechnic Institute. Two days later, she was enrolled in nursing school. Two years later, she was a licensed practical nurse.
In 2025, when Parra wanted to add more credentialing to her license, she turned to Germanna—a place with which her family was well acquainted.
The next step
Parra’s son, Anthony, found his path at Germanna after she encouraged him to meet with a workforce advisor. After graduating from high school in 2022, he didn’t know what he wanted to do next. He would go on to complete four levels of Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration training and land a job in the industry.
Parra’s eldest daughter also attended Germanna before going on to earn a degree in paralegal studies from Northern Virginia Community College. She graduated with no student debt.
Now, more than five years into her nursing career, Parra wanted more experience drawing blood in her patients. She enrolled in Germanna’s phlebotomist credential program.
When she first went back to school in 2017, Parra continued working full-time. For two years, she managed school and work and family and a home.
“It was hard. I’m not going to lie,” Parra said. “But every day that went by was one step closer to my dream.”
There was something else driving her.
“I am one of the first ones in my family that went to school,” she said. “I wanted to do this for my parents, for my family, and for me. I wanted to show my kids that it is possible. I wanted them to see that if Mom did it, they can do it, too.”
The long days of work and school and sacrifice paid off. She loves her work. And she loves giving her patients the time and care that once felt so limited in those first, grueling years as a CNA.
“I get to do a lot of hands-on, bedside care. I enjoy that.”
Parra spends much of her time caring for patients in their homes. Though just one small part of her work, the phlebotomy credential gave her the training she needed to draw blood outside of clinical settings.
It also gave her confidence.
For years, Parra had told herself one day. Now she’s no longer waiting.
‘Don’t hold back’
This semester, Parra is back at Germanna, where she is working toward a certified billing and coding specialist certificate—adding another skill to her growing list of credentials and opening the door to new opportunities in health care.
After years of working in hospice, Parra knows the physical and emotional demands of the job. It is deeply rewarding and meaningful work. A certified billing and coding specialist certificate will give her the flexibility to continue to care for patients while making more time for her family.
At Germanna, she said, she has found instructors who are patient, who make even the most technical subjects easy to understand.
“They teach you so well. They make it fun. It doesn’t even feel like a class,” Parra said.
She knows how hard it can be to take the first step. For her, it took a friend to make the first call.
“I know it’s tough. It’s rough. But every day that goes by is just a step closer to your dream. And if you tell yourself that, before you know it, you are done,” Parra said. “Go for your dreams. Don’t hold back. I have four kids. A home. A job. If I was able to do it, any mom can do it.”