As a registered nurse working in the critical care and emergency room specialties for the past 12 years, I am now heading back to school to become a Family Nurse Practitioner to continue my work in under served, underrepresented populations as a primary care provider. I have spent most of my career working in low income, high health inequity areas with populations that were in desperate need for effective, culturally appropriate, excellent care. As someone that grew up in an under served community, I know what it feels like to have a provider that is out of touch with the difficulties achieving health can be when you are struggling, setting unrealistic goals that help them check something off of their list, but that are not as important to me and my family. As nurses, we are trained from the beginning to see the needs of our patients that go past the pathology or illness that they present with, shining a light on the areas of our patient’s lives that are in need for them to achieve the health that we all deserve. Scholarships like this provide a great resource for achieving these goals, providing funds and encouragement to continue the good work of helping everyday people achieve goals that may not seem flashy or extravagant, but leave a lasting and meaningful impact that changes lives. With a focus on culturally appropriate preventative care, my goal as a primary care provider is to spend time with my patients to understand what their perceived health needs are, creating mutual goals that are realistic and that focus on improving their quality of life, not simply forcing them to fit into a picture of health that is either unrealistic or does not align with their own health goals. Helping a grandparent achieve the goal of playing with their grandchildren or being able to go on that walk with their spouse without losing their breath are the types of goals that people can appreciate and relate to, picturing themselves living that life instead of simply asking them to reduce their blood pressure for the sake of the number. By promoting these types of life goals as they pertain to health, the hope would be to inspire an inner motivation so that the coaching and cheerleading that I do as their provider becomes unnecessary, as they are now their own champions fighting for their own health and wellness. As an advanced practice provider, I also want to give back to the profession that has given me so much. Working with new nurses has always been a passion of mine, working to precept and train several nurses over my career, I intend to keep that practice training new nurse practitioners as they come into the field. Through higher education, or by providing a clinical site for training, I know that I will always have something to do with the education of new healthcare professionals, passing on the amazing knowledge that was bestowed onto me by the wonderful nurses that helped me achieve my own goals of providing the best care for my patients, regardless of the setting. It is an honorable thing to pass on one’s knowledge, and I look forward to keeping that tradition of passing on nursing knowledge as I continue my career and practice.

As a registered nurse working in the critical care and emergency room specialties for the past 12 years, I am now heading back to school to become a Family Nurse Practitioner to continue my work in under served, underrepresented populations as a primary care provider. I have spent most of my career working in low income, high health inequity areas with populations that were in desperate need for effective, culturally appropriate, excellent care. As nurses, we are trained from the beginning to see the needs of our patients that go past the pathology or illness that they present with, shining a light on the areas of our patient’s lives that are in need for them to achieve the health that we all deserve. With a focus on culturally appropriate preventative care, my goal as a primary care provider is to spend time with my patients to understand what their perceived health needs are, creating mutual goals that are realistic and that focus on improving their quality of life, not simply forcing them to fit into a picture of health that is either unrealistic or does not align with their own health goals. Helping a grandparent achieve the goal of playing with their grandchildren or being able to go on that walk with their spouse without losing their breath are the types of goals that people can appreciate and relate to, picturing themselves living that life instead of simply asking them to reduce their blood pressure for the sake of the number. By promoting these types of life goals as they pertain to health, the hope would be to inspire an inner motivation so that the coaching and cheerleading that I do as their provider becomes unnecessary, as they are now their own champions fighting for their own health and wellness. As an advanced practice provider, I also want to give back to the profession that has given me so much. Working with new nurses has always been a passion of mine, working to precept and train several nurses over my career, I intend to keep that practice training new nurse practitioners as they come into the field. Through higher education, or by providing a clinical site for training, I know that I will always have something to do with the education of new healthcare professionals, passing on the amazing knowledge that was bestowed onto me by the wonderful nurses that helped me achieve my own goals of providing the best care for my patients, regardless of the setting. It is an honorable thing to pass on one’s knowledge, and I look forward to keeping that tradition of passing on nursing knowledge as I continue my career and practice.

As a registered nurse with over 12 years of experience in critical care and emergency medicine, I know exactly what it looks like when a chronic condition is either poorly managed or simply out of control. Whether it is in an acute, comatose state or a chronic complication like diabetic foot ulceration, the implications and impact on the person's life, and the lives of their loved ones, are impacted in such a dramatic, profound way that you cannot help but feel for their condition and their frustration. As a future family nurse practitioner, my goal is to listen to my patients that have these chronic conditions, to hear what impact their disease is having, what has worked, what has not, and how we, as a team, can come up with a plan that makes them feel empowered to live their life to the best of their ability. History has taught us that a non patient-centered plan of care to treat these complicated illnesses leads to noncompliance and lacks the motivation that is needed for success. As a family nurse practitioner, I intend to use my years of experiencing listening to my patient's stories to help navigate the goals that are set so that there is not only success, but that there are actual goals met that can be celebrated by my patients and their families through their improved health. Though I am not a diabetic myself, I watched members of my family deal with the complications of both insulin dependent and non-insulin dependent diabetes, especially its impact on their day-to-day lives. I use those memories when I interact with my patients, remembering how alienating it seemed when they could not participate in things like birthday cakes and trick-or-treating. I believe that one of the greatest paths to success is to acknowledge the difference and help to make a plan so that participation in “normal life” is possible. To feel like you simply cannot participate breeds feelings of hopelessness and loneliness, and for my patients I want them to feel empowered, included, and healthy. My ultimate goal would be to change the mindsets of my patients with diabetes or other chronic illness so that they can see how they can participate in all of those activities without needing me as the provider to guide them. By empowering my patients to take control of their lives and diseases through education and effective, personalized treatment, things that used to be viewed as barriers simply become minor obstacles to navigate, allowing them to live full, healthy lives with their loved ones.