Georgia grandmother defies the odds to become a registered nurse at 69

Loretta Mack has fulfilled her lifelong dream of becoming a registered nurse at 69 years old. Mack told WALB that she wasn’t going to let age stand in her way. ’’It was like everyone was waiting for Loretta to finish school. I did it.”

”I said to myself, ‘It would be a great example.’ I love people so I’ve always wanted to nurse or take care of people,” Mack remarked.

She explained that, while the path to her recent triumph was not easy, she is thankful she did not have to do it alone. Her sister and her grandchildren, Ramondo and Julian, supported her. Some doctors even helped her, taking time out of their schedules to work on assignments and mock exams with her.

Mack had been a certified nurse’s assistant for six years and it was only with the encouragement of a resource nurse that she was able to transition from that role to a registered nurse. Heather Jackson, a travel nurse, extended her contract to continue working as Mack’s preceptor nurse because of Mack’s charming character and good heart.

Jackson said of her, “If there’s something that needs to be done, she’s going to do it. [Loretta’s] going to make sure that you’re clean, that you’re fed, that you’re taken care of, and she will sit and talk to you too. [Loretta] doesn’t just come in and blow through your room.”

Mack encouraged others, saying, “Age is just a number. I don’t know who thought of that but it’s just a number. I feel that at any age you can do whatever you set your mind to do. If you really want to do it, you can do it.”

Meanwhile, Mack expressed her desire to break more glass ceilings in the future.