Jackie Ethridge is no stranger to challenges in life, but at every crossroads, Ethridge has overcome adversity to pursue his goals. It was his perseverance that led this single father of three to return to college and enter the practical-nursing program at the University of Arkansas Community College at Batesville.
Ethridge plans to graduate from the program this summer and will be eligible to obtain his licensed-practical-nurse certification. After that, he intends to continue his training by enrolling in the registered-nursing
program at UACCB. His ultimate goal is to enter the field of research nursing and eventually earn a doctorate in nursing.
“I want to use the opportunities that have been given to me to be able to give back to others,” Ethridge said. “I would love to become a research nurse or scientist, discover a cure for a disease, travel to an area where that disease is prevalent and provide the cure for free. I want to be able to give back to people. That’s what I’m about.”
Ethridge, born in Dermott, was mainly raised by his grandparents after his parents divorced when he was 9 years old. He graduated from Sulphur Rock High School in 1993, and that summer, he entered the Navy. He was a signalman, essentially a communications specialist. His six-year stint in the military would take him around the world. Ethridge has been to Honolulu, Japan, India, China, Singapore, Jamaica, Australia, the Persian Gulf and the infamous Bermuda Triangle, which he jokingly tells people
he “survived.”
“A lot of people ask me what’s my favorite place that I’ve been to. I’ve been to four different ports in Australia. That definitely ranks at the top, but I think my favorite place was seeing downtown Tokyo. We were in port at Yokosuka, Japan, which was an hour and 10 minutes from downtown Tokyo. It was so futuristic. It was like stepping into another world,” he said. “The water around the Marshall Islands was the prettiest I saw. It’s so pure; it will draw you in. It seems like you can see for miles down into the water.”
Ethridge also received the rare distinction of a Golden Shellback while in the Navy. This designation is given to those who have crossed the equator at the International Date Line. He said like many young naval recruits, he wanted to either be a pilot or a Navy SEAL, but there was a three-year waiting list to become a SEAL. However, he had the opportunity to be stationed at the Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek in Virginia Beach, Virginia, where SEALS train and attend school, and before he left the Navy, he got the chance to participate in some of the same training and educational courses that SEALS complete.
After his military service, Ethridge remained in Virginia Beach, where he worked as an emergency medical technician with the Virginia Beach Rescue Squad. He began to miss home, so he came back to Arkansas, unsure of what direction he wanted to steer his career.
“I was kind of lost at that point,” he said. “I had pretty much lived on a ship ever since graduating high school.”
He decided to enroll at UACCB but did not complete his courses at that point and wound up moving to south Arkansas, where he worked as a carpenter. He attended the University of Arkansas at Monticello with the hope of pursuing a pre-medical degree.
“I wanted to be the next Patch Adams,” he said.
While enrolled at UAM, he was given the opportunity to work on a research study for NASA to help determine ways to purify wastewater in space so it could be reused by astronauts. He was juggling 17 hours of school, working as a carpenter and working on the research study when his first son was born.
Ethridge was keeping up with the juggling act when a vehicle wreck during Thanksgiving break caused him to miss enrollment for the next semester, so his second attempt at a college degree was cut short.
At this point, as a father of three sons, Ethridge moved back to the Batesville area and picked up work as a carpenter again. He was working with a construction crew building a casino in Mississippi when he was told by a co-worker that the Federal Emergency Management Agency was hiring. He applied and received an offer to do community-relations work, but was told it would be several months before his first assignment would come.
He was called and told to respond within 24 to 48 hours when floodwaters covered Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in 2008. He worked with disaster-relief efforts for two months before returning home, but it wouldn’t be long before Hurricane Ike would strike, and he was deployed again for 3 1/2 years.
Ethridge found himself unemployed after his stint with FEMA was over and worked several odd jobs before hearing about an opening available with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Jasper, Texas. The position was less than glamorous and paid only minimum wage, but Ethridge jumped at the opportunity.
“The job was cleaning out an oil pit that hadn’t been cleaned in probably 20 years. It was just me and one other guy cleaning this thing,” he said.
He impressed his supervisor and received a small pay raise. Six weeks later, life would deal him another sour hand when he was told that funding for his job was being cut. There was a light at the end of the tunnel, though, with a future opening as a maintenance technician, a four-year-term position.
“It was very competitive, but I applied and got it,” he said. Ethridge gained invaluable experience in the position, doing a variety of work, including carpentry, electrical and plumbing work, and equipment training. When a more permanent position opened with the Mountain Home branch of the Corps, Ethridge put in for a transfer, and it was granted.
“I finally felt I had secured stable employment,” he said. But conflicts on the job would lead him to resign about 2 1/2 years later. With his extensive construction work, Ethridge decided to be a self-employed carpenter. Work was good for a while, but it wasn’t long before the jobs began to dwindle, and Ethridge moved back in with his mother.
“The last three years of my life have been incredibly humbling but also so rewarding in ways,” Ethridge said. “Things have changed a lot, but it’s made me a more well-rounded person and made me appreciate what I do have so much more.”
In fall 2014, Ethridge once again returned to UACCB, and it proved that the third time was the charm, as he is now just a few months away from graduating from the first phase of his educational goals. He is a work-study student in the library on campus and also works part time as a patient-care technician for White River Medical Center. He said he does as much outreach as possible to let others know about his experience on campus and to help other students make the most of the resources available to them.
“I want to come back to UACCB one day and be able to give something back to the school, maybe even teach here,” he said. “This is an amazing place. It’s like a family here. You have such a support system. Everyone here remembers me, even the staff, and that makes you feel so special.”
Ethridge’s sons are now ages 12, 11 and 10. Isaac, the oldest, is a self-starter and a great student, his dad said. Isaac wants to be a doctor or maybe a nurse when he grows up. Chris, the middle child, is athletic and has dreams of being a firefighter one day. The youngest, Hunter, is “the affectionate one” and wants to be an actor and live in Paris, Ethridge said.
While Ethridge has a charitable heart and wants to be able to give to all those in need, it is his sons who drive his desire to enter research nursing.
The boys’ mother died at a young age of Huntington’s chorea, a neurological disease that affects motor and cognitive functions. Ethridge’s sons have a 50 percent chance of developing the disease, but Ethridge won’t be able to have them tested to see if they carry the abnormal expansion of the gene that causes the disease until they are teenagers.
“That’s why I want to have the greatest possible understanding I can, and maybe I will be able to find something others have missed. There’s a cure out there. It’s just that no one has found it yet. I hope I don’t have to treat my sons one day, but if I do, I want to have all the knowledge I can to be able to do it,” Ethridge said.