For Kristine Oliger, the new director of East Central AHEC, nursing was not her first professional certification. “I earned an Illinois license to cut hair before I graduated from high school,” she said. “It was a program they offered to high school students. I loved it!” Even earlier, she says, “I wanted to be Cher.”

Kris was spurred to pick a nursing career when her husband became ill. “I knew knowledge is power,” she explains, “and loved to make a difference in the lives of others.”

After starting a family, she “felt strongly that I needed to have a career that I could support my family with. I obtained my ADN degree from Parkland College in Champaign. I loved nursing so much, I obtained my BSN from Olivet in Kankakee. I started the MSN program, with one year left and found that I was pregnant at 45. After a lot of prayers, I decided to devote that time to my sweet little guy!”

“Oncology nursing was my passion,” she says. She held the oncology certification, oncology nurse educator, and finally home health/hospice supervisor/manager.” What health care has taught her, she says, is that “life isn’t black and white. There are several gray areas that can be interpreted differently. I had to learn flexibility…”

Outside of work, she is still making her way as post-pandemic mom. “COVID impacted so much! I am trying to figure out how to teach my little guy math common core! It has been a struggle and now occupies a lot of time trying to help him.”

Kris and her family are now living in her home town, the village of Mahomet, Illinois, in Champaign County. “We did move to Mansfield, Illinois, five miles west of Mahomet, for five years,” she says. But “I was terribly homesick!”

Kris took over the helm of East Central AHEC from Eileen Woolums earlier this year.

“I have been blessed in this life,” she says. “I am grateful for all of my experiences, both good and bad. Your experiences in life are what helps to shape you into who you are. I always tell my kids ‘Make good choices’ and ‘make a difference in someone’s life!’ ”

This idea is at the core of advice she would give to students considering a health care career: “You can make a huge difference in the lives of others simply by caring, listening, and advocating. Keep learning! Make good choices, be open to change!”