Lynn Lalley Wagers has a job that requires her to “eat, breath and think work.” The hours are unpredictable, the stress is high and so is the turnover among co-workers.
Life and death is like that — but it is why she embraces this job that demands so much of her. “I love how unpredictable it is, how much good we do,” says Lalley Wagers, an organ procurement transplant coordinator for Lifebanc in Northeast Ohio for the past two years.
The path to one of the most challenging roles in health care, and the preparation for it, began during Lalley Wagers’ years at The University of Akron. Always interested in health care, the Buffalo, N.Y., native chose respiratory therapy as her major.
Why health care?
“It comes from my desire to, as my mother would call it, ‘Save the world,’” says Lalley Wagers with a smile. “I wanted a career that made me feel happy.”
VIDEO: What Lynn says about her Akron Experience
Her first introduction to Lifebanc came while working on her Honors College research project, when she learned how respiratory therapists can act as organ transplant coordinators and work with lung transplant patients.
Two years after graduation, the opportunity came to join Lifebanc.
Grateful for mentors
Lalley Wagers credits the mentors she’s had along the way, including clinical instructors, Ray and Georgia Reed, with helping her prepare emotionally for the field of health care. “It’s life and death, it’s stress, it’s an understanding of the importance of critical thinking in high stress situations — what needs to be done first,” she says.
Still, the career transition was difficult.
The challenge of what I do is that I work on the donor side of transplant,” explains Lalley Wagers. “I don’t get to see the positive results of what comes form organ donation. I see the sadness. I see the darkness the families are experiencing having to make such tough decisions at such a horrible time — losing someone – losing a huge part of their life.
“I like to think of those moments as forever moments,” she continues. “A decision to donate is a generous gift and it’s forever going to change how that family views this horrible time, this death. From someone’s death came somebody else’s life. It took me a while to truly be happy, to truly see the good in that.”
It helps that Lalley Wagers learned early in her career how to strike a work-life balance, just as she did during her years at UA. The young woman who excelled at her studies while being involved in activities on and off campus is today chair of the Honors College Alumni Board.
“I continue to have an Akron experience,” says Lalley Wagers with a smile. “I’m a proud alum. I’m so grateful for my best friends. I met my husband here, formed a family and became part of a community. I just want to continue to give back to the University that gave me so much and I am so very proud of.”
Snapshot: Lynn Lalley Wagers
- Earned a B.S. in Respiratory Therapy, summa cum laude at The University of Akron in 2011.
- Currently: Organ procurement transplant coordinator for Lifebanc in Northeast Ohio.
- Lynn returned to campus to speak to new students as part of UA's Honors Leadership Summits.
About this series
Incoming Honors College students got their first year here off to an inspiring start when four young alumni returned to speak to them as part of the Honors Leadership Summits. The annual program is hosted by the Institute for Leadership Advancement within the College of Business Administration. The institute is made possible through the generous support of The J.M. Smucker Company to promote the development of leaders with the unique combination of knowledge, skills and principles needed to make an impact on their organizations early in their careers. The summits have been generously supported by New Innovations.
Other speakers in the series:
- Isil Nugay, senior module process engineer at Apple in Cupertino, Calif.
- Alex Modon, founder and CEO of Omni, Inc., San Francisco, Calif.
- Jon-Michael Durkin, head of Customer Success team at Infer, Mountain View, Calif.
Capping off the series as keynote speaker was Mark T. Smucker, president of consumer and natural foods at the J.M. Smucker Company.
In wide-ranging interviews before their presentations, each graduate talked about the value of his or her UA education. From mentors to motivations, from goal setting to overcoming fear and campus involvement, each shaped an Akron Experience that made them ready for everything that has followed.