Written by Tanya Terry
Dr. Cleamon Moorer, president and CEO of American Advantage Home Care and executive director of Eye Care for Detroit, Inc. will attend Mott Community College, in Flint, and Henry Ford College, in Dearborn, for the associate of applied science nursing degree.
Moorer already has a Ph.D. in business, two master’s degrees, a bachelor’s degree and a certificate from Cornell University. So, most of Moorer’s family and friends, as well as people he works with, wanted to know why he is pursuing even more education.
“When I explained that it was nursing, that it’s for applied nursing: a skill set that will be complemented by all of my previous education, it made more sense to a lot of folks,” Moorer explained. “Granted that I’m president and CEO of a home health agency that my wife and I own it began to make a lot more sense to folks.”
Moorer stated seeing registered nurses work through the pandemic, going into homes to take care of patients through communities his business serves across southeast Michigan and mid-Michigan inspired him.
“I was inspired by their courage, their tenacity, their resilience and their ability to overcome several obstacles going into homes, that make families more comfortable and helps keep patients out of the hospital,” Moorer added. “So I think that resilience, the attention to detail and the care and compassion is what drove me to want to join them on the front line, as a top executive.”
Moorer stated because of his education, he has been able to travel all over the world, teaching and serving as a consultant. He’s been a dean, running and leading business schools. He has also sat on many different boards in order to give advice to executives.
“However, the rendering of healthcare-to be able to facilitate healthcare: taking vitals, changing catheters, drawing blood, starting an IV-you can’t do those things for patients-I can’t directly put my hands on a patient to help them physically in the greatest capacity-without a nursing license.”
Moorer said it’s great to be able to facilitate healthcare-the finance, the marketing and the administration. But he thinks the clinical aspect is the most important.
Moorer told the Courier about a couple times in his life when he felt stagnated.
“I think as an engineer, early on in my career, being in a Fortune 100 corporation, I felt as a middle manager that the ability to impact others was somewhat marginalized.”
Moorer also stated he felt stagnant a second time in higher education.
“I was a business school dean, and I aspired to be a college or university president…The timeline of moving things forward is oftentimes slowed in a bureaucratic system like a higher education institution.”
For 20 years, Moorer has taught business courses, including Strategy, Information Systems, Operations, Organizational Behavior and International Business.
He will be taking between 12-15 credit hours for the next approximately 20 months, with hopes to be done in May of 2024. He will take fall and winter classes, taking summer off. He understands this will be challenging along with his work and family life.
“Being on the other side of the lectern, I’m looking forward to gaining clinical understanding about the human body, being able to diagnose and develop for patients a plan in concert with their medical provider: their doctor or their nurse practitioner. I’m really looking forward to being able to provide some hands-on direct care to folks out of the hospital, and keep them on the mend. I also hope to help them vanish some of the chronic illnesses and challenges they have.”
Moorer is 46 years old. The average age of RNs in the U.S. is 52.
“Nurses are working longer. It does take a certain maturity to be a good nurse. There are some career changers obviously. There are some folks who opted to raise their children first and then return to school. I think all of those factors elevate the average age of nurses. As long as the nurses are able to stay healthy, with good posture, good strength and good stress management-they’re able to work much longer. You have nurses that are working until they’re 70.”
Moorer encourages others to continue to learn, whether formally in school or informally through picking up literature.
