MESA, Ariz. (May 6, 2025) – The sun had just risen on a recent Tuesday as 25-year-old Teranjeet “TJ” Purewal arrived for her shift as a nurse on the stroke unit at Banner Baywood Medical Center in Mesa. As soon as she got to the seventh floor, she learned it was about to be a busy day.
During their morning meeting, the charge nurse informed her team that they would need to open an unused area of the floor to make room for seven patients coming from the emergency department. Purewal took a report from the night shift nurses to get up to speed on the patients she’d be treating that day, then immediately started to prepare the north section of the floor, which she would be helping to staff.
As Purewal moved a patient to his new room in the north section and helped him get comfortable, she reminisced on why she got into nursing in the first place: helping others in need.
“Whenever I have a difficult or stressful day, I always think about her,” Purewal said. “I try to treat every patient like they’re my own grandparent or relative — it’s a privilege to be able to help them feel comfortable and be themselves as much as possible while they’re in the hospital.”
Purewal, who lives in Chandler, has been working on the stroke unit as a nurse for almost two years, but is no stranger to the unit as she started there as a patient care assistant six years ago. It was then that she decided she wanted to go into nursing and be able to help patients more directly.
During conversations with her leaders, she discovered that Banner offers tuition assistance for team members who want to pursue careers in nursing. When Purewal heard this and the fact that Banner also hosts around 80% of student nurses in Arizona for clinical rotations, she jumped at the opportunity and later graduated with a nursing degree from Central Arizona College in 2023.
As she moved medical equipment to the other section of the floor, Purewal remembered another reason why she got into nursing. When she was a patient care assistant, she formed a special bond with a patient who was about to be discharged to hospice care. Purewal talked to her about how she wanted to go to nursing school and remembered helping to bathe her and make her laugh in an uncomfortable and vulnerable situation. After the woman later passed away, Purewal was informed by leadership that they received a letter from the patient’s sister — she had graciously left funds to Purewal to help with her school costs.
While that recent Tuesday ended up being a stressful shift for Purewal, she said she’s learned to not carry things home and encouraged other young people like her to work hard and take advantage of benefits offered to them to pursue a path in nursing.
“Knowing that Banner offers tuition assistance gave me more confidence that I could, in fact, do it,” Purewal said. “If there’s someone in your corner rooting for you, don’t hesitate to jump at that opportunity.”
Banner Baywood Medical Center is an acute care hospital in Mesa, Ariz. The hospital is a primary stroke center and also offers orthopedics, emergency care, surgery, cancer care and acute rehabilitation. The 50,000 square-foot emergency department offers advanced emergency care and medical imaging technology. For more information, visit bannerhealth.com/baywood.
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