Asheville, nestled in the western part of the Tar Heel state among the Blue Ridge Mountains, is a long way from home for Fatou Gaye. In fact, the distance between Gaye’s hometown and new home is approximately 4,246 miles.

Gaye grew up in the West African country of Senegal, in the capital city Dakar. She was mainly raised by her grandmother, Fama, while her parents lived in the U.S., working to secure her permanent residency so she could join them. After graduating from high school, Gaye could finally cross the Atlantic Ocean and be reunited in the U.S. with her family.

Once in America, Gaye didn’t intend to become a healthcare worker. But a twist of fate helped open her eyes to a career in the industry, and a new life for herself in Western North Carolina.

“Nursing was never on my list,” Gaye said of her dream careers as a child. “When I was young, I was like, oh, I want to be a flight attendant.”

After arriving in Asheville in 2018, Gaye enrolled in free English classes to spruce up her language skills. While there, a friend in the course recommended she take a free certified nursing assistant license course, which would create an opportunity for her to work at Mission Hospital – where she still works today.

Gaye was only planning on working there for a year, saving up money before moving to Flight Attendant school. But then, the COVID-19 lockdown happened. And it’s where she found her why.

Watching how the nurses cared for their patients and families on a COVID-19-only floor reminded Gaye of the compassionate care her aunt Lala Diop received in Morocco, where she had to go for cancer treatment. Gaye remembered how Diop raved about the care she received from the nurses abroad, which inspired Gaye to be a caregiver to those in pain while living in the U.S.

“The flight attendant school I wanted to go to wasn’t taking any more students, because people weren’t flying anyway,” Gaye said. “Then, during COVID, it was really tough, and I don’t know why or how, but I fell in love with nursing during COVID-19. Because I feel. just looking at everything that was going on in the hospital, making people feel better, and, like, the teamwork (the nurses) were showing during COVID, I was like, ‘oh, I can see myself, long-term, working in the hospital.”

After discussions with other hospital employees, she eventually realized she wanted to pursue nursing as a career. After starting to take her pre-requisites for a nursing degree at a local community college, Galen opened its campus in Asheville. Not long after, one of Gaye’s colleagues at Mission Health encouraged her to apply to Galen too.

By October 2023, Gaye was enrolled in classes. Little did she know, she’d become one of the most important students on campus during her two-year degree program.

To meet Fatou Gaye on campus is to meet someone who radiates kindness, compassion, and service.

As a member of the Galen Student Nurses Association, Gaye regularly volunteers for events. According to Galen Asheville Campus Engagement Specialist Yocelyn Rivera, she even comes to events on days where she isn’t scheduled to be on campus. Additionally, she is a friendly face on campus for not only her cohort of ADN students, but those in other cohorts as well. She’s always around to console a classmate or offer some study advice ahead of a test.

“She really is a pillar of the campus,” Rivera said. “Cohorts don’t normally mix much, but she’s an exception. She connects with everyone given the chance, no matter their class or program. Having someone like her, especially at a small campus, makes such a difference because she helps create a sense of community and belonging. When students see how approachable and genuine she is, it encourages others to get involved and support one another, too. Her presence truly makes the campus feel more connected and positive.

“Her genuine nature shines through in every interaction, and her positive energy makes everyone want to be around her. She’s a smart student with an amazing fashion sense and a kind heart. I have no doubt she’ll make an incredible nurse one day, and I’d be lucky to have her as mine.”

For Gaye, her kindness and positive attitude comes from how she was raised in Senegal.

“Back home, we give respect to elders,” she explained. “Whenever you say hi, or give them a hug, or stuff like that.
And then when I came (to the USA), I didn’t see that as much. But that transformed me to think, ‘oh, like, I have to be more respectful, not only to elder people, but people of all ages, all ethnicities’.

“I feel like, if people are nice to me, I’m nicer to them. Even if you’re not nice to me, I’m going to be nice to you. That’s just how I go. At the end of the day, people have bad days and stuff like that, and just saying hi and just giving them a smile might make somebody better. I know sometimes I feel bad, but somebody just coming up and saying hi, giving me a hug, or smiling makes me feel better. It’s, like, nice to just reciprocate the thing and make people feel happy.

While Gaye provides her classmates with a smile and a warm embrace, she admitted that one aspect of Galen that stands out to her after more than two years at Galen is the support she receives from Galen faculty and staff. Whether it’s a pep-talk before a test, or a consoling hug afterwards to relieve stress, Galen faculty and staff go the extra inch for their students’ mental well-being.

“I have all kinds of essential oils for them,” front desk receptionist Christine DeVico said. “Mid-term and finals week, I push the furniture in a little and our blue carpet square turns into the walking track to release nerves and energy. I have a lot that must pace before tests. We always have breakfast bars out for those weeks and lots of chocolate.

“They come to me with the good news and the sad news. We cry and hug together. I pump them up and work on what happened. What went wrong. It’s just one test. What are we going to do to fix it. They must tell me a plan and then I stay on them every time I see them to make sure the plan is on track.”

From a faculty perspective, every faculty member was once a student. Sometimes, as Galen Asheville faculty member Gilbert Mata said, just being present for students is one of the best ways to support them on their academic journey.

“We try to be a source of contact and support for our students,” Mata said. “Not everyone needs all our attention but there are times when a student struggles and that is when we try to be the best help that we can be. When a student needs an extra session for focused help outside class time or perhaps an additional assessment exam to address any needs, faculty can provide that. We can also help guide students in the right direction if they need a help that could be provided by another Galen resource.”

Gaye experienced the power of support from the Asheville campus in an even more acute way in 2024, after Hurricane Helene devasted Western North Carolina and knocked out power for hundreds of thousands of people. Gaye was one of them, and she remembered how she struggled without heat in her house in late September. Due to a medical condition, Gaye is prone to getting cold easily, and she wasn’t sure how she was going to stay warm while stuck in her home.

Gaye recalled that after speaking with Director of Operations Micah Levine and DeVico about her living situation, within a few hours, blankets and a portable heater were dropped off at her front door.

“Just thinking about it, it makes me cry,” Gaye said. “I was like, oh my god, that’s so nice of them. Going out of their way to get me a heater, it was really beautiful.”

As Gaye prepares for graduation in the coming months and the start of her career as an RN, she has a chance to make a huge difference in her community.

One aspect of compassionate care that Galen students learn is being aware of cultural sensitivities with patients. For Gaye, it’s something she fully appreciates and understands as a Muslim who wears the hijab, a head covering, in public. And it provides both her patients to learn more about her customs and traditions, as well for her to better care for patients who may not feel comfortable with a male, or a nurse from another religion.

“For me, like, I’ve been in Asheville for a while, I don’t see a lot of Muslims,” Gaye said. “I remember we went to, I think it was Raleigh or somewhere, in a hospital, and there were, so many Muslim nurses. It was like, oh, automatically, in your mind, they will understand me.

“Like, if I say, ‘I don’t want this,’ or ‘I’m not eating this,’ or if I can have a female nurse, or a female doctor, or this and that, they will understand. So I feel like, as me being on the other side, if I’m a staff nurse and a patient sees me, like, I want them to feel like, ‘she will understand me for some decision I will be making.’ She won’t be judging me, or stuff like that. And I feel like it’s more comfortable for them.”