Class of 1996 Profile: Laura Healy

As part of the celebration of the 15th anniversary of the YTI Class of 1996, YTI alumni are interviewing each other, discovering and recording what is happening in the lives of our YTI family today. If you are a member of the class of 1996, and would like to participate in this project, contact Sara Toering at sjtoering@gmail.com

Laura is interviewed here by Rebecca Rich:

Laura graduated from Samford University with a nursing degree in 2001 and moved to Charlottesville, Virginia. There, she worked as a nurse for one year, then enrolled at the University of Virginia in a nurse practitioner and public health master’s program. After completing the program, Laura stayed in Charlottesville and worked at UVA with kidney and liver transplant recipients for six years. She recently moved to Richmond, Virginia to do the kind of work that she’s always wanted to do at a community health center that serves Richmond’s homeless population. In fact, it was YTI’s focus on faith in action that prompted Laura’s realization that she wanted to go into a service profession.

YTI was also the first place Laura felt comfortable asking questions about faith and learning about other faith traditions. Now, Laura considers herself to be an evangelical Christian and currently attends a diverse, inner-city church in the transitional neighborhood where she lives in Richmond. She finds that being in community with people who have serious life struggles deepens her faith and helps her maintain perspective about her own life.

Laura is currently exploring questions that are rooted in both her vocation and her faith. In her work at the clinic, she is often overwhelmed by all of the confounding factors that go into a person’s health and has lately been thinking about how to address the breakdown of the family unit as a public health issue. Laura is also committed to being a good steward of her resources and thinks often about what that commitment means for how she lives her life.


Laura can be reached at: laurahealy@yahoo.com