When it comes to her love for the nursing profession, recent Palm Beach Atlantic University graduate Joy Adames, 22, comes by it naturally.

“When I was younger, I wanted to be a nurse because that’s what my mom was,” she said. Adames received her bachelor’s degree in nursing on May 9 and hopes to work at a hospital in South Florida.

Adames is this year’s recipient of the University’s Aniece Lassiter Excellence in Nursing Award for Clinical Excellence. In all, five excellence in nursing awards are presented to graduating seniors in PBA’s School of Nursing.

As a child, Adames remembers tagging along with her mother, Jackie, when she worked as a home health nurse. For five years, she said, her mother provided home health care for a woman named Peggy Klein. When Mrs. Klein eventually passed away, her son, grateful for the care his mother had received, offered to support Adames’ college education and that of her younger sister, Janis.

(l-r) Joy Adames with her mother, Jackie

“It was through his generosity that Janis and I were able to attend PBA and focus on our studies and extracurricular activities instead of worrying about finances,” Adames said. “Every day I’ve been at PBA, over the last four years, I’ve been reminded of how amazing the Lord’s provision is.”

Joy isn’t the only member of the Adames family to receive recognition this year. Her sister received PBA’s 2009 Servant Leadership Award. The award totals $1,000 with a $750 scholarship and $250 contributed to a charity of her choice, the 4Kids of South Florida.

A senior psychology major, Janis Adames, who turns 21 this month, recently finished her second year as a resident assistant. She also volunteers for a middle school small group at Spanish River Church of Boca Raton, and she recently went to Mexico on a mission trip with the University to help school-aged children. She eventually hopes to work in occupational therapy.

“We’ve gone on mission trips with my parents since we were like 3,” said Janis Adames, who is minoring in biology and who will graduate in the fall. “We were definitely exposed to servanthood.”

For her dedication both to nursing and servanthood, the girls’ mother, Jackie, received this year’s Faith Community Nurse of the Year Award from the Interfaith Health and Wellness Association, a program of Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Palm Beach.

A registered nurse and board certified lactation specialist, Jackie Adames works at Spanish River Church, where she leads a class for new mothers called Nurturing Your Newborn.

She has worked in nursing since 1977, and in 2000, she earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Florida Atlantic University. In 2004, she worked with the Florida Department of Health’s Healthy Start Program as a Senior Community Nurse, and in 2009 the Palm Beach County Children’s Services Council sponsored her training at Boston Children’s Hospital, where she became certified as a Touchpoints Consultant.