Home means many things to many people. It can be a place or a feeling. For UAGC student Laloni Amos, there’s a little bit of both when she thinks about Winnfield Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Winnfield, Louisiana.
The facility means so much to Laloni, and not just because it’s in the town where she was born and raised. Winnfield Nursing, as she refers to it, was the place where her mother worked for years. It’s also the place where Laloni expected to establish her career in health care.
Tragedy, however, put her dream on hold, and she’s been working for more than two years to reach her goal.
The Beginnings of a Fulfilling Career
Laloni didn’t attend college straight out of high school. Rather, she went right to work, spending more than two decades in the health care industry. Though she was born in Winnfield, Laloni moved to Jonesboro, Louisiana, 18 years ago. The two towns are close enough – about 25 miles apart – that she was able to commute to her job as a supervisor at Winnfield Nursing while raising her three children – Javious, Jalaila, and Jalonah – in Jonesboro.
In 2018, she realized she had hit a ceiling – one she says she couldn’t break through without a college degree.
“I thank God that an administrator I worked under pushed me, encouraged me, to the point where I wanted to go back to school,” Laloni recalls. “She said, ‘You’ve got more in you,’ so I had to go that extra mile.”
The “extra mile” led Laloni to the University of Arizona Global Campus (UAGC) and the Bachelor of Arts in Health Care Administration* program. With the online format allowing her to continue making her commute to Winnfield while still taking care of her family, Laloni was, at last, making the leap to move her career forward.
“I had already worked in all the departments in the building, so what was left for me was to, basically, run the building,” she explains. “I had that in mind, because that was what was put in my spirit to do. Not just run a department, but actually run a building.”
As Laloni worked toward her goal of finishing her degree, she did it knowing that her success would extend her family’s legacy. Her mother, Jackie Foster, passed away in 2020 from a heart attack at the age of 56. Jackie was a certified nursing assistant at Winnfield Nursing, and Laloni wanted to follow in her footsteps with a career in health care.
“I actually grew up in that nursing home. It’s more than just a job. I have a lot of memories,” she says. “I want to go there and grow not only for my mother but for me as well.
“She loved her patients, and I loved that. I had the opportunity to go to college, and she didn’t because she had to take care of me.”
An Unspeakable Loss
Laloni’s dream of remaining at Winnfield Nursing ended abruptly on July 26, 2021, when her son Javious was killed in a car crash along with two other teenagers. Jonesboro is a small town of just over 4,100 people, and Laloni says the tragedy was felt throughout the community.
“Everybody knew my son. He was an athlete who played football and basketball,” she says. “So, when people see me, they say, ‘That’s J5’s momma.’ I was always going to games, and that’s how everyone knew me.”
Losing Javious forced Laloni to make drastic changes in her life. Though she remained in school, she put her career on hold for a short time. Eventually, she returned to the workforce but in a different role, as a bank manager in Jonesboro.
I have done a lot of praying through this process of healing, and I want my story to motivate people to continue their education no matter what their circumstances are.
Within the blink of an eye, Laloni says she was forced to readjust everything in her life. Her new job at the bank allowed her to remain in a leadership role, but it was an entirely separate industry. Fortunately, she wouldn’t lose all her ties to the health care sector, as she continued to focus her efforts on school.
“It’s a personal goal,” she says. “I’m doing it for myself, but my children and my family will reap the benefits. This is what I wanted.”
Honoring a Legacy
In her life, Laloni says she has faced many challenges. But today, she is healing from the many tragedies she has experienced.
“I have done a lot of praying through this process of healing, and I want my story to motivate people to continue their education no matter what their circumstances are.”
To that end, Laloni has worked to turn her tragedy into something positive. Following her son’s death, she started a scholarship program that rewards high-performing high school students with $500 each toward their college tuition.
“I usually give out the scholarships at the beginning of May, so they have them when they graduate high school,” she says. “I have awarded 14 scholarships over the past two years.”
Students applying for the scholarship must have at least a 2.5 grade point average, proof of admission into college, and they must write an essay that Laloni reads and approves. It’s her way of honoring Javious and offering students an opportunity to pursue their college dreams.
“My son was very well known, and he was a great kid, loved by so many people in many different parishes,” Laloni says. “My friends, they’ve seen me go through so much and I’m still pushing, still pushing for education, and still pushing to make sure my kids do good.
“I have a lot of respect in this town and everybody is rooting for me, so they are right behind me with everything I do that’s associated with Javious.”
Getting Back “Home”
With Laloni on track to complete her bachelor’s degree in early 2024, she has one goal in mind: to make it back home to Winnfield Nursing.
Caring for people is her passion, and she hopes to be an advocate and speak for those who she says can’t speak for themselves. To make this possible, she is taking steps to ensure she has the skills she needs.
“School has given me so much more knowledge,” she says. “My goals are to get licensed, get my degree, and become an administrator at Winnfield.”
With her eyes set on her ultimate goal, Laloni is on her way to get back home.
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Certain degree programs may not be available in all states.
*Successful completion of the Bachelor of Arts in Health Care Administration by itself does not lead to licensure or certification in any state, regardless of concentration or specialization.
Student success stories should not be interpreted as a promise or guarantee of career advancement or future earnings. The stories shared here represent the outcomes of individual students for illustrative purposes only.