A Degree Decades in the Making

At an age when many of her contemporaries are settling into retirement, Veronica Charles is just getting started on the next chapter of her nursing career. For the 71-year-old Charles, who recently received the United Health Foundation’s Diverse Clinician Advancement Scholarship in support of her work, earning a doctor of nursing practice degree isn’t a bucket list item to cross off—it’s part of her ultimate goal to help as many  people as possible.

Charles completed the requirements for her bachelor of science in nursing at Widener University in 1993, but didn’t officially graduate until 2017, as her diploma was withheld due to unpaid fees. In the meantime, she worked a number of less lucrative jobs—in settings including nursing homes and home care—to make ends meet.

“As a single parent, I had to put food on the table and a roof over our heads,” Charles said. “Some weeks, I would put in 100 hours. I slept in my car between jobs. Coming home, I would be so tired, I would have to pull over on the side of the road and sleep to keep myself safe.”

Still, Charles made time to focus on those less fortunate. She and her two children would often drive through medically underserved communities, providing screenings of blood pressure, blood glucose, and vital signs to individuals in need.

When Charles’s children moved out on their own, she expanded her mission to different regions and even overseas. She has spent the last 20 years volunteering in health clinics across the United States and internationally, from the Caribbean to Nigeria, Liberia, India, the Philippines, and Sierra Leone, where she was born and raised.

“Many of the issues I’m addressing, like lice and ringworm, are easily curable with over-the-counter medication—treatments we take for granted in the United States,” Charles said. “When you see how people welcome you and are thankful for simple things—when you see the changes and how much better their body feels, it is very rewarding.”

Charles initially enrolled in Rutgers–Camden’s doctor of nursing practice program in 2017, but was forced to put her plans on hold when she was diagnosed with advanced breast cancer that same year. Her initial prognosis was grim, but after several months of hospitalization and fighting through multiple complications, she was declared cancer-free. Charles said this experience was the final push she needed to cross the finish line.

Charles’s degree—as well as the funding from United Health—will give her the autonomy and credentials to provide more robust care in her future travels. When she graduates in 2025 as a nurse practitioner, she looks forward to returning to Africa and educating communities on lifestyle changes and disease prevention.

“I may not have the money to take care of everybody, but teaching simple things would be a blessing,” Charles said.

Charles is proud of her journey and grateful to be recognized by the United Health Foundation. She feels her story is a testament to the power of hard work and determination.

“For somebody to think about me and to say I am worthy of something I had never received in my life, it is a very welcome gift,” Charles said.