10-05-2025
Former Connecticut Children's Hospital patient hopes to be a nurse there
WEST HARTFORD, Conn. (WTNH) — A group of nurses at Connecticut Children's Hospital inspired one of their patients.
Kaitlyn Hildebrand was hospitalized at 14-years-old, but has gone on to nursing school. On Friday, during National Nurses Week, she graduated from the University of Saint Joseph as part of a special ceremony and is moving on to help other people in the profession.
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When Hildebrand was 14-years-old, she was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease. She spent the majority years of her high school in college years going for treatments at hospitals.
She was inspired by the nurses that took care of her, so much so that she is now becoming a nurse and hopes to inspire others.
'All of the nurses at CCC pushed me more into it, I thought about nursing prior to being hospitalized,' Hildebrand said. 'But the care that I was given there, and how much ease they put me at, really pushed me in this direction and I knew freshman year that I wanted to do this.'
Hildebrand said she hopes to go back to Connecticut Children's Hospital and work in the exact same ward in which she was treated. She wants to work side-by-side with some of those nurses who gave her all that great care.
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