Profiles in Nursing - LiLi Yong, R.N.

A few years ago and half a world away in the southeast Asia city-state of Singapore, LiLi Yong was living a comfortable life as a stockbroker.

She worked in one of the financial district’s tallest buildings overlooking the Singapore River. Yet, she felt something was missing.

Before she became a stockbroker, Yong dreamed of becoming a nurse but took the advice of her family and close friends to steer clear of the nursing field. Nurses in Singapore were overworked and underpaid.

September 11, 2001 changed her mind.

Singapore, bordered by Muslim countries, became a known terrorist target and lost its luster for Yong and many of her peers. She decided to leave the career she felt was “five years of being sidetracked” anyway, and look into nursing school.

“In Singapore, I was all right financially, but I wanted to do something that makes a difference. I told God, if he opens the door, I’m ready to serve,” Yong says.

Yong’s sister Lisa invited her to come to the U.S. to live with her and her husband and attend nursing school. They had settled in Springfield several years before. Lisa’s husband works as a microbiologist for St. John’s.

“I chose St. John’s because it’s a Christian school. I’m a born-again Christian and felt my first base (in the United States) should be Christian,” she says.

Yong bravely took on the challenges of switching careers, immersing herself in a new culture and starting over at nearly age 40. She also faced financial challenges.

“I knew when I came here, I didn’t have enough money,” she says. She figured she would get as much nursing education as she could afford.

She started the associate in nursing program at St. John’s College of Nursing at Southwest Baptist University in the spring of 2004 and was quickly awarded a full-ride scholarship through St. John’s Foundation for Community Health.

Each year, one student is awarded a full-ride scholarship from the
J.F. Johnson Nursing Scholarship Fund. Yong was chosen based on recommendations from faculty, academic achievement, a personal interview and an essay she prepared.

After graduating in December 2005, Yong took a job in St. John’s Hospital’s Medical Intensive Care Unit. The requirements of her scholarship stipulated she work at St. John’s for two years following graduation.

“You must love people,” Yong says. “You must want to care for people, otherwise, the stress is tough. Every day, I ask God to give me lots of love for my patients.”