When Emerald Osborne graduated as valedictorian from Leslie County High School in 2011, she knew her future lay in healthcare – the only question was whether her patients would have two legs or four.
“I thought about nursing, but my love for animals took me that route instead,” she said.
So, after graduating with honors from Morehead State University in 2015, she began working full-time as a vet technician.
It wasn’t until her grandfather was admitted into Mary Breckinridge ARH Hospital in 2019 that Osborne began to reconsider that decision.
“I saw the way he interacted with the nurses who took such great care of him and helped him get better,” she said. “That’s when I knew I wanted to go to nursing school.”
Osborne said she realizes that decision was probably always in the cards. Nursing – and Mary Breckinridge – were in her blood, after all.
“My mom is a nurse, and I remember her reading me nursing textbooks as I fell asleep,” she recalled with a laugh, explaining her mother worked as an LPN at Mary Breckinridge before graduating with her RN degree in 2002.
Some of Osborne’s earliest memories were made inside the hospital.
“I would sit in empty patient rooms eating turkey sandwiches and ice cream and watching Goosebumps on TV while she finished her shift,” she said.
Osborne’s first shift at Mary Breckinridge was as a nurse extern in 2021.
That was also around the time when her grandfather, who was in the final stages of COPD, began his final hospital stays.
And though most people acquire nicknames in childhood, it was during that time when Osborne’s grandfather declared her his “Bodyguard.”
“I didn’t understand until I finally asked him why he kept saying that,” she said. “He told me, ‘Because you won’t let nothing happen to me.
“‘You’re my bodyguard.’”
Her grandfather was in Hospice care in Hazard in December 2021 when Osborne asked him if he would pin her at her May 2022 nursing school graduation.
“I think he knew he was going to pass away,” she recalled. “It was the first time I had ever seen him cry and he asked me to make him a promise. He said, ‘I want you to be your patients’ bodyguard. Be the bodyguard for them like you are for me.’”
Osborne’s grandfather passed away in January 2022, so it was her mother who was left with the task of pinning her a few months later.
“When she pinned me, they announced that it was in honor of my Papaw, and they said his name: George Asher,” she said. “I bawled like a baby.”
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Osborne began working as a full-time nightshift med surge nurse in June 2022.
Though already keeping one promise to her grandfather, she soon began working on another when she graduated with her BSN in December 2023 and enrolled in Morehead State University’s family practitioner program in January 2024.
“He wanted me to go on for my nurse practitioner,” she explained. “I said OK. I made that promise and it’s a promise I’m going to keep.”
And even though it’s a move that stems from her grandfather’s request, Osborne said she believes it’s the right decision.
“I can help figure out what’s going on with my patients but give that that same nursing care as well,” she said.
Osborne, who resides in Hyden, Ky., with her husband Alex and their cats Ozzie and Otis, was recently named the recipient of ARH’s monthly EDcellence Award, a system-wide recognition of employees who exemplify excellence in education and personal development.
“I was shocked and very honored,” she said. “It’s special to know that what I’m doing is being recognized and that the difference I’m trying to make with patient care is being seen.
“I’m very thankful.”
She isn’t sure where she’ll land after she graduates with her next degree, but she is hopeful it’s right back at Mary Breckinridge – the place where it all began.
“That would be amazing,” she said. “Nursing was always part of my life, but it’s kind of ironic how I ended up here and how life always seems to circle back.
“It’s beautiful and it’s sweet.”
