Growing up the youngest of seven children in a poor Swannanoa family, Ernest Grant was determined to be the first one in his family to get a college education and a job in the health care field.

After high school, Grant attended Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College, where, in 1977, he graduated from the practical nursing program. He later went on to earn his BSN degree at NC Central University and his MSN degree at UNC-Greensboro.

Grant has worked 21 years at the N.C. Jaycee Burn Center in Chapel Hill, teaching emergency burn management to paramedics, EMTs and hospital personnel who transfer patients to the center. He also serves as an ambassador for the center, conducting fire and burn safety classes across the state, and sits on several national committees that explore fire and burn issues.

Dressed as Sparky the Fire Dog, the burn center's mascot, Grant teaches fire safety to hundreds of elementary school children. "He's so well known through the state and parts of the Southeast that he's known as 'Mr. Burn Center'," said Fred Price, nurse manager at the Jaycee Burn Center.

Among his many recognitions for his accomplishments, are the 2004 Outstanding Alumni Award by the American Association of Community Colleges and his selection as Nursing Spectrum magazine's 2002 Nurse of the Year.

"Ernest Grant lives, breathes, and thinks prevention every day," said Dennis Sherrod, associate director of the N.C. Center for Nursing.