Laura Motes – Starting her Nursing Career

Laura Motes spent 20 years serving and protecting her community as a police officer with the Athens-Clarke County Police Department. She worked her way up to Sergeant in charge of personnel and communications operations for the West Precinct by the time her career with the police force was over. Motes moved on but wanted to help her community in a different way. After she left the force in 2014, she started working for Managed Medical Transport and the Athens Regional Medical Center and began her career in the healthcare sector. She wants to become a nurse and plans on attending Georgia Regents University to earn her Master’s degree in Nursing.

Laura Motes took a different career path than most to become a nurse. She graduated from Georgia Southern University with a degree in Business Management and Information Systems before she started her training for the police academy. Normally nurses major in a healthcare or health sciences field before they earn their nursing licenses. Once a nursing candidate has a license, usually by passing an exam and completing a certain number of classroom instruction hours or work experience, they can start working in a medical facility. Laura Motes wants to earn a Master’s degree in Nursing because she has her Bachelor’s degree already and she wants to have as many avenues open to her when she graduates.

Laura Motes wants to continue to serve her community by providing the best medical care and expertise she can to each of her patients when she becomes a nurse.

 

Laura Motes – Fervent Supporter of the ASPCA

Laura Motes grew up with animals all around her in her parents’ home in rural Georgia. She knows how to properly care for and treat them and she wants everyone to have the same knowledge and caring nature that she does. Unfortunately, the United States is still a long way from being completely educated of the proper way to take care of domesticated animals. Pets still go neglected and get abandoned all the time. Motes, a former police officer and current nursing student, wanted to join the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA).

The ASPCA has two main causes that it as an organization works hard to fight for: the end of animal homelessness and the end of animal cruelty. Laura Motes works closely with her local animal shelters near her home in Watkinsville, Georgia, but across the country animal shelters are routinely stretched thin because their budgets just don’t do enough to place animals in good homes. With 2.7 million animals being euthanized in the United States every year, the ASPCA works to provide alternatives to euthanasia for shelters throughout the country. The ASPCA also works to help abused animals find new homes and to educated people about the causes and effects of animal cruelty in our society, as well as the signs to watch for. Laura Motes is a vocal advocate of all of these issues.

Laura Motes plans on beginning her Master’s degree in Nursing in the fall of 2016 at Georgia Regents University.

 

Laura Motes – Former Police Officer Training to be a Nurse

Laura Motes spent twenty years working as a law enforcement officer with the Athens-Clarke County Police Department before she left the force in 2014 to become a nurse. Motes has always been most interested in doing the most good for her community in everything she does. Working as a police officer allowed her to protect and serve her community directly for 20 years with the Athens-Clarke County Police Department, but now she wants to contribute to the wellbeing of her community in a different way.

Laura Motes left the force in 2014 as a Sergeant in charge of many administrative and personnel duties with the Athens-Clarke County Police Department’s West Precinct. She earned this position after years of dutiful service supporting her fellow patrol officers and contributing to the protection of citizens and the prevention of crime in many areas in her precinct. Motes has a military background as well. She was an Honor Graduate of the United States Army Police Corps Officer Basic Course. She completed her military police training in 1993 at Fort McClellan, Alabama and was honorably discharged from the Army in 2000.

After the police force, Laura Motes worked for a medical transport company called Managed Medical Transport and the Athens Regional Medical Center for six months. This short stint gave Motes all the experience she would need to know that she wanted to work as a nurse for the next phase of her career. After her stint with Managed Medical Transport was over, she started taking nursing classes. She completed all of her nursing program prerequisites and plans on attending Georgia Regents University in the fall of 2016. Motes wants to continue to make a difference in her community and health is a very important part of her life. She has always worked hard to take care of her body with proper diet and exercise and she believes that hard work is the best way to maintain your health.

Laura Motes already earned a Bachelor’s degree before she joined the Athens-Clarke County Police Department in 1993. She graduated from Georgia Southern University with degrees in Business Administration and Management Information Systems in 1992. With these degrees in hand, Motes decided that the best course of action for her career as a nurse would be to enroll in the Master’s program at Georgia Regents University. She plans on using her education and experience there to bolster her career in the medical field and help as many people as she can with her expertise. She plans on going to work for a local hospital so that she can assist in the treatment and care of as many people in her community as possible. She is looking forward to this next stage in her career.

Laura Motes – Military and Paramilitary Experience

Laura Motes graduated from Georgia Southern University in 1992 with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and in Management Information Systems. She graduated with honors as well from the United States Army Military Police Corp Officer Basic Course at Fort McClellan, Alabama in 1993. Her training with the military helped her graduate from the Northeast Georgia Police Academy in Athens, Georgia, recording over 2,000 hours of training. Motes then joined the Athens-Clarke County Police Department later in 1993 and started out as an officer in the Uniform Patrol Division.

Laura Motes

Laura Motes performed many police services in this position, from responding to calls for service, law enforcement, criminal activity investigation, traffic collision investigation, and public safety. She provided judicious and fair police presence in neighborhoods throughout her precinct to discourage criminal activity and to apprehend offenders. After a few years on the job, Motes was made responsible for training and evaluating new officers to the force. She was promoted to Senior Police Officer in 1998.

Laura Motes moved into the Alcohol Compliance Unit and the Taxi and Wrecker Permit Unit as a Senior Police Officer in 2001. She helped ensure that all businesses in her jurisdiction were in compliance with state and local liquor laws and made sure that all vehicles-for-hire (such as taxis and wreckers) in the area were in compliance and had their fully registered permits at all times. Part of her duties in this position also included conducting background checks and criminal history investigations for all applicants for vehicle-for-hire and alcohol permits. She investigated and documented all vehicle-for-hire complaints and reports of infringement of alcohol permit laws. Motes even spearheaded an effort revise taxi and wrecker ordinances in her jurisdiction as well.

Laura Motes earned a promotion to Sergeant in 2003 and the following year, was assigned to West Precinct to help manage it. She actively supervised and monitored shift activities and directed the shift’s patrol activities to reduce criminal activity in the precinct. Already an experienced officer, Motes provided mentorship, assistances, and guidance to all shift personnel on a regular basis to help achieve all departmental and shift goals. On a daily basis, Motes reviewed incident reports for accuracy, timeliness, and thoroughness, reviewed and ensured the comparative and relativity of activity reports, and compiled information for administrative reports.

Laura Motes handled many day-to-day mentorship and operations tasks for the Athens-Clarke County Police Department during her 21-year career there. She left the force in 2014 to pursue other areas of employment. She settled on nursing because it will give her a chance to work directly with patients to create solutions to their medical problems. She’ll be able to help her community even more as a nurse, something she cares deeply about.