Melissa Robedeau has worked as a Medical Assistant (MA) at a local clinic in Daytona for about 3-4 years now, but after completing her Associate of Science degree in Nursing at Keiser University Daytona campus, she will be prepared to take on the high stakes career that is an Emergency Department (ED) nurse.

Robedeau said she took a leap into the healthcare field after accepting a position as a front-desk receptionist for a clinic, and later an MA position. But her passion for the career stemmed from an accident that happened close to home.

Robedeau’s father was in a serious motorcycle accident at eighteen years old that broke both of his legs and resulted in nearly twenty different surgeries throughout his lifetime. Tragically, at the beginning of the pandemic, he was in another car accident that ended up leaving him paralyzed from the waist down.

“It’s definitely been a long journey,” Robedeau said, recalling the state of her father after his accident. She said that he was in a coma for about a month or two and did not recognize her when he first woke up. The COVID-19 pandemic only further complicated the accident by restricting the number of hospital visitors to one person per day. Robedeau said that even though her father was unconscious, she would Facetime and speak to him every day.

Robedeau’s nursing program with Keiser University was set to begin in May of that year, with her father’s accident happening just the month before. She questioned her decision to enroll, given the seriousness of her father’s accident, but ultimately decided that the healthcare field was where she wanted to be.

“He’s the number one reason why I kept going and why I chose to go on,” she said of her father. “He’s my biggest inspiration.”

Her father’s accident gave Robedeau more insight into the medical world of procedures and care than her MA job did, and by the time she attended classes with Keiser University, she said she was already familiar with many nursing techniques.

She chose Keiser University for the program’s accelerated learning track and smaller class sizes, which gave her an opportunity to befriend both her classmates and instructors. During her clinicals, Robedeau completed nearly 300 hours in the ED, which inspired her decision to pursue the floor long-term.

Robedeau’s anticipated graduation date with her ASN degree is December 16^th, and in the future, she hopes to secure a position in an ED at a major Florida hospital.

Keiser University is a private, independent, non-profit university serving nearly 20,000 students at 21 Florida campuses, online, and two international sites. Co-founded in 1977 by Chancellor Arthur Keiser, Ph.D., and Evelyn Keiser, Keiser University currently offers more than 100 degrees from associates to the doctoral level. Keiser University is a member of the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities and was ranked No. 11 in the U.S. in Social Mobility by U.S. News and World Reports in 2021.