Cynthia Hickman, BSN, RN, BC-CVN, CM, has always liked to help people - and at 15 years of age her first job was as a lifeguard where she also got her first taste of rescuing someone.

The pool manager was changing a chlorine tank, but it seemed to Hickman he was taking too long to accomplish a task he had performed regularly. She checked on him and found he had inhaled chlorine fumes.

Hickman used her first aid responder knowledge to rescue him. It dawned on her at that time helping people was her destiny.

It was her desire to help people that led her to a career in nursing and to St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital in Houston. The Center of Integrated Care where she is a cardiovascular case manager, specializing in patients diagnosed with heart failure, has been her home for more than 12 years.

Her compassion for people also leads her to volunteer in various community venues. One effort was helping Katrina evacuees who came to Houston to escape the aftermath of the storms - an experience she said will forever be etched in her memory.

How did volunteering to help Katrina evacuees affect you as a nurse?

Well, I'll never be the same again. I realized no man is exempt from disaster. I realized life is precious and temporary. I also realized you could be up today and down tomorrow and you must help your fellow man.

When something like this happens, you're at a loss as to how to help. I didn't know what to do. Then, St. Luke's posted information on their Web site about training classes offered through local churches for helping people in a crisis situation.

I attended the training session with my daughter, and we volunteered our time and services treating the evacuees. I know people get tired of hearing about Katrina, but it's important as we move on with our lives that we never forget the life-changing experience and know a positive outcome can result from doing for others.

What led you to set up the Pay It Forward Nursing Scholarship at St. Luke's?

When I received the $50,000 Johnson & Johnson Community Health Care Leadership grant, I knew I wanted to do something for the nursing profession. And I asked myself, "How can I make this money work?"

Although there were tons of nurses everywhere working with the Katrina evacuees, there still weren't enough of us. I see every day the need to advance our profession - nurses retiring and a growing population of people with myriad healthcare issues. We need nurses to help our community. So, one way I thought I could honor the nursing community was through a scholarship.

St. Luke's CEO emeritus, Michael Jhin, suggested for inspiration I watch the movie, Pay It Forward, based on the book of the same name written by Catherine Ryan Hyde. While watching the movie I thought, "that's what I was meant to do." So I approached David Fine, CEO at St. Luke's, to see what I needed to do to set up a scholarship to further the education of nurses, but with a twist - the people who receive the benefit are required to make a difference in some way. They must "pay it forward."

Because the scholarship is placed in an endowment fund, the scholarship will live way past my years, but what is even more exciting is I will meet each scholarship recipient to personally award them the Cynthia J. Hickman "Pay It Forward" Nursing Scholarship.

I called the Pay It Forward Foundation and spoke with Vance Hyde, the mother of Catherine Ryan Hyde, to let them know what I planned to do at St. Luke's. She embraced the idea and included me on the foundation's Web site. They will provide a signed copy of the book to the scholarship recipient as well. I'm glad because I really want to make a difference.

What are some of your nursing goals and what do you plan to accomplish in the future?

I have not met all my goals; my initial goal was to get out of nursing school. I'm not finished yet. I want to eventually work as a dean in a nursing school. I see myself changing nursing schools back to what I learned, back to caring for our patients and helping those in need.

Yes, nursing has taken on a new face, but in reality, the basic for nursing is the same: "the laying on of hands." My mentor, Bernadine Lacey, EdD, RN, FAAN, reminds me of this. So that's what I want to teach and share with others. To accomplish this goal, I'm going back to nursing school to get a master's degree from Walden University.

I chose Walden because the university embraces social change and has a commitment to student success. In my opinion, they have the leadership, vision and fortitude to change society and community one student at a time. I'm looking at a PhD program through Walden University as my next goal.

What is your nursing philosophy?

My philosophy is give back, give back, give back, and that has always been my definition of nursing. The rewards of helping others are lifelong and everlasting. n

Trudy Schreiner is regional editor at ADVANCE.