Thanks in part to the generosity of her older sister, Barbara Lohrenz is celebrating 35 years of nursing at UT Southwestern.

It was a long road to putting “RN” after her name – a road that stretched all the way from Nigeria, where she grew up in the city of Jos. Her parents were missionaries and generous of spirit, often spontaneously inviting a dozen or so neighbors to join them for supper.

“Nigeria has a huge population of people with English as the main language and many dialects. I learned a few words of several languages instead of just one,” she recalls. She attended boarding school and remembers well that the school nurse was expected to cover just about every type of need while caring for the health of the students.

After graduating from high school, Ms. Lohrenz traveled to Memphis, Tennessee, to attend nursing school. Leaving behind her Nigerian culture, friends, and family to live alone in a new city in a new country proved too much for the 17-year-old to handle. Even though they had just brought home their new baby, her sister and brother-in-law invited Ms. Lohrenz into their home in Odessa, Texas, so she could attend nursing school while still living with family. Dallas was her next step after Odessa, and living here stuck.

Ms. Lohrenz started her career working in a UT Southwestern Emergency Room in 1984, and since 2002, has specialized in working in the dialysis clinic. She is known for showing compassion and empathy for her patients.

“Kidney failure patients often have diabetes and heart disease, too,” she says. “Between their travel and treatment time, it’s often tough for them to manage. I strive to be a happy face and show compassion for them when life is so very hard.”After more than three decades in the field, Ms. Lohrenz encourages others to pursue nursing.

“Nurses are well respected. There are such a vast amount of careers within nursing. Think about where you want to end up and how to get there. It’s worth the work,” she says.

Even, Ms. Lohrenz adds, if it means taking a roundabout road from Nigeria.