Dana and Kristen Webb, B.S.N. ’21, were still teens when their seemingly healthy mother collapsed at home. As the ambulance rushed to the scene, their father, a businessman who once worked as a volunteer EMT, continued performing CPR on her until help arrived.
Their mother ultimately made a full recovery and, as a result of this transformative event, the Webb sisters grew passionate about the promise of health care.
But how these sisters, two years apart, ended up graduating from the same nursing school in the same class is another story.
Dana knew immediately that nursing was how she would channel her gratitude for her mother’s survival. She became fully engaged in life at the University of Miami from the start. Admitted as an academically prestigious Foote Fellow in 2017, she joined Zeta Tau sorority, played club soccer, and signed on as a PEERS ambassador for the school, showing prospective families around the exciting Simulation Hospital Advancing Research and Education (S.H.A.R.E.®).
Kristen, meanwhile, earned her exercise science degree, initially thinking occupational therapy would be the route she’d take to paying forward her mother’s miraculous recovery. But after a few years of hearing about Dana’s experiences at SONHS, another fateful family occurrence led to a major life decision.
In November 2019, their grandmother passed away. Not long after, the Webbs decided some family time visiting Dana at UM might be a good distraction from their grief.
“Our grandmother was a nurse,” says Kristen, “and she was so proud of Dana, so supportive.”
During the visit, Dana signed the family up for a tour of S.H.A.R.E. and it was on that tour that Kristen’s future became crystal clear.
“I went from being sad to being excited by all the potential I saw at UM,” she recalls. “I felt nursing would give me the opportunity to reach patients on a much deeper level and in a holistic way.”
Within a month, Kristen applied to the Accelerated B.S.N. program. By May she was taking her first classes, in the middle of the pandemic. “I give Kristen a lot of credit,” says Dana. “I could not imagine doing everything in one year, especially a COVID year.”
For 12 months, the sisters lived together, studied together, and supported each other. The pairing must have worked, as both excelled, finishing their respective B.S.N. programs in unison this May.
“It’s been a dynamic relationship where we’ve been able to help each other,” says Dana. “I take from Kristen’s confidence and the knowledge she has from being older and at the same time I can give her knowledge I have of the nursing field.”
For Kristen’s part, she has newfound respect for her little sister’s achievements: “I’ve seen Dana grow through this program. Each year she would come home and have more knowledge and confidence. She’s proof that if you put in the effort, it works. We have the potential to be really good nurses with the UM education.”
Oldest sister Lauren is also following the family’s health care legacy, through medical school.
“We really have been inspired by everything related to health care,” says Dana.
“And we just want to give back,” adds Kristen. “We have a lot of gratitude for what’s happened in our life.”
