Mary Baker, R.N., has the lives of 25 London residents in her hands three days per week.

On those days Mary moves from one station to another at the London Dialysis Center ensuring that the high-tech machines are working properly to purify the patients' blood and remove toxins from their bodies because their compromised kidneys cannot.

Mary considers her job "a calling" that she likely would not have been able to answer without the assistance she received from the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) program, that helped deliver her from a life of low-paying assembly line work.

Mary had already begun working at a Jackson County factory before she graduated from high school in 1998.

"I knew I was going to college, though," she said. "Even before I started working there I knew I had to go farther, because you barely scrape by on minimum-wage money."

Mary kept her factory job, but enrolled at Eastern Kentucky University (EKU) where she started taking night courses in general subjects. She was working on basic courses at the time, but she knew where she was going.

"I always knew nursing was for me," Mary said. "I don't know why, but it's the only thing I ever considered becoming. I just knew I was going to do it."

After three years of juggling her job and basic courses at EKU, Mary opted to transfer to Somerset Community College to finish her associate's degree in registered nursing. She also decided it was time to leave the factory job she had held for four years in order to focus solely on her nursing classes and clinicals. By giving up her job, Mary gained more time and energy for her studies but lost income that would have paid for her long daily commute to school.

"I was living with my grandmother, and since she only gets a Social Security check, she couldn't afford to help me travel that far," she said. "I could have tried to keep on working, but I don't know if I could have handled it."

Luckily, a financial aid counselor at the community college told Mary that the WIA program might be the solution to her problem. Mary was referred to the Daniel Boone Development Council (DC) offices in Jackson County, where she learned that she was eligible for supportive services that would pay the transportation expenses related to her studies.

Daniel Boone DC delivers WIA program services under contract with Eastern Kentucky Concentrated Employment Program, Inc. (EKCEP), which administers WIA throughout eastern Kentucky.

Mary said the WIA assistance that paid her travel costs through her May 2003 graduation was just as important as the other financial aid sources that covered her tuition.

"I couldn't have gotten through school without it," she said. "I couldn't have driven an hour a day to school and back home and made it."

Susan Patton, Mary's WIA case manager, said she is proud of Mary and glad that WIA was able to provide the extra boost she needed in order to finish college.

"The WIA Program provides opportunities to folks like Mary who need just a little bit extra financially-and also a cheering section from this office," Susan said. "We're glad to help, and happy to see them succeed."

In July, Mary celebrated her one-year anniversary at the London Dialysis Center. Though her job is often demanding, Mary said she cannot imagine doing anything else. As the "charge nurse," she works to give life and hope to each of her patients in some way. Sometimes it is easy. Other times, it is not.

"We've got one patient going for a transplant in a couple of weeks, so I'm really happy about that," she said. "Other people just have to cope with their condition and realize that this might be as good as it gets. You help them try to stay healthy as possible, and you still work as hard as you can to get them that transplant they need.

"The most rewarding thing for me is trying to keep my patients as healthy as they can be no matter what," Mary added.

She gives the WIA plenty of credit for helping her attain her current career.

"Without the WIA, I wouldn't be where I am today," Mary said. "It's a wonderful program, and I'm forever in its debt."