{"id":107574,"date":"2019-05-14T11:02:02","date_gmt":"2019-05-14T17:02:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/?p=107574"},"modified":"2019-06-27T16:47:53","modified_gmt":"2019-06-27T22:47:53","slug":"commencement-feature-former-army-medic-ready-to-help-save-others","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/?p=107574","title":{"rendered":"Commencement Feature: Former Army medic ready to help save others"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Ryan<\/a>
Ryan Dobbs, left, is presented as one of two Student Achievement Award winners during the April 23 Campus Awards Ceremony.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ryan Dobbs wants to be the helping hand for others that he credits with saving his life.<\/p>\n

As a teenager without a stable home, he graduated from Concord Community High School in Elkhart, Indiana.\u00a0Teachers would write him checks so that he could buy lunch and he would ask to stay at school to study.<\/p>\n

Ryan earned decent grades and enrolled at the University of Indiana. But he dropped out, and as his life was spiraling, he lost his best friend to addiction.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn’t want to exist anymore,\u201d Dobbs said on why he signed up for the Army four months later. \u201cI initially signed up in 11 Bravo (infantry) because I thought it would be more honorable.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the ASVAB, the Army\u2019s multi-aptitude test, he scored in the 94th percentile. A friend found out and said he had the ability to do something more. So, he became a combat medic at Fort Drum in New York.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was going through a revolutionary time in my life,\u201d Dobbs said. \u201cThe family of my friend who passed away brought me under their arms, and as I was getting ready to go, I started to care about my existence on this planet.\u201d<\/p>\n

After he finished his commitment, he knew he wanted a career in medicine and health care. Ryan fell in love with Colorado during a snowboarding trip. He applied to UCCS because he knew the reputation of the nursing program and was accepted in 2014.<\/p>\n

Ryan has already used his skills to help people in Colorado Springs. He saw a wreck on Austin Bluffs Parkway, and without hesitation, ran to a bystander who was hit by a car and suffered serious injuries. He and another person kept the bystander alive until EMTs arrived.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never got his identity,\u201d Dobbs said, \u201cbut I kept calling the hospital and described the story. The person ended up making it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The high-pressure environment of health care, combined with his desire to help people, is why Ryan wants to work as a first assistant on a cardiothoracic team. He would work with the surgeon to prepare and wrap up the surgery, and work independently in the event of an emergency during surgery.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s rare for a nurse to be a first assist, but it has been done before,\u201d Dobbs said. \u201cIf anybody can do it, then I can.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the diagnosis of an autoimmune disease a couple of years ago has him planning for options if he\u2019s gravely disabled. He would want to open his own practice to serve veterans and underserved populations.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love helping people. I understand veterans really well. It\u2019s a gap that needs to be filled.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dobbs is working to earn summa cum laude with a nursing degree. He\u2019ll give the keynote address during the afternoon ceremony at\u00a0the 2019 Spring Commencement May 17 at the Broadmoor World Arena.<\/p>\n

Part of his speech will be to share what he\u2019s learned in his 28 years, even though sometimes he feels like he\u2019s learned the life lessons of a 50-year old.<\/p>\n

\u201cLife is hard, life is tough, and it really pushes us to the edge and limit,\u201d Dobbs said. \u201cBut it\u2019s those times when you come out on the other end, those are what define you. And they define what you\u2019ll be for the rest of your life.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not a weakness to ask for help. We have a problem with mental health in this country. If I wouldn\u2019t have asked for help, I don\u2019t know if I would be here. I just want people to know that if they\u2019re struggling, it gets better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most of his family will be in Colorado Springs for the commencement and the nursing pinning ceremony May 16.<\/p>\n

\u201cI look back and I can\u2019t believe how far I\u2019ve come. At one point, people in my hometown were taking bets on how long I would live. I\u2019m a really lucky, blessed person.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ryan Dobbs wants to be the helping hand for others that he credits with saving his life. (More)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":107575,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1,49],"tags":[53,42,105,79,63,60],"class_list":["post-107574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all","category-campus-announcements","tag-academic-affairs","tag-commencement","tag-helen-and-arthur-e-johnson-beth-el-college-of-nursing-and-health-sciences","tag-office-of-veteran-and-military-student-affairs","tag-student-life","tag-student-success"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/DSCF5104.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1mBpJ-rZ4","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107574","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=107574"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107574\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":109992,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107574\/revisions\/109992"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/107575"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=107574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=107574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=107574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}