As 2023 comes to a close, we will be sharing a few highlights from the year on our blog. We hope you enjoy!
After a three-year hiatus due to the pandemic, one of Frontier Nursing University’s oldest programs relaunched this summer behind the leadership of the Director of Annual Giving and Courier Program, Lisa Colletti-Jones. The Courier Program, which was operated from the Versailles campus for the first time, provided an opportunity for two college students to participate in an eight-week service learning internship within Woodford County, which is home to the city of Versailles and the FNU campus.
The Couriers Rebecca Kouvei and Echioma Onyemaobi with Lisa Colletti-Jones, Director of Annual Giving and Courier Programs.
Courier Rebecca Kouvei
As a senior public health major at the University of Texas at San Antonio, Rebecca Kouevi is passionate about connecting with patients to understand their problems better and collaborate with them to find effective solutions. Her studies include epidemiology and disease control concentrations, and she is minoring in sociology.
“I chose (sociology) because I wanted to bring that patient-centered and cultural sensitivity aspect to care,” Rebecca said. “First of all, let’s treat the person in front of us. It is about more than just the medicine prescription or their presenting disease. Different factors – economic, social, health, and diet – contribute to their health and wellbeing as a whole person.”
Rebecca, who resides in Richardson, Texas, just outside of Dallas, is a first-generation college student and is on track to graduate next spring. She hopes to become a physician assistant or a nurse practitioner and later plans to do medical missions and work with underserved populations, hoping to work for World Health Orginization (WHO).
“I love how versatile a physician assistant’s career pathway can be, the freedom to jump from one specialty to another – like surgery, primary care, and pediatrics. However, nurse practitioners’ practice independence is a big draw also,” Rebecca said. “Whether I become a nurse practitioner or physician assistant, I do not think I can go wrong either way. They are both helping people. Whatever I decide, I hope to make a difference in my patients’ lives and positively impact the community I serve.”
Rebecca has worked with the Woodford County EMS and The Midway Center for Integrative Health during the Courier program. She has gone on calls with the EMS, which has given her a first-hand perspective of how the EMS personnel interact with patients in the most stressful of times.
“One call I was on was with an elderly patient,” Rebecca said. “She had fallen on her head. When the EMS arrived, I saw so much more than just bandaging someone up. Her daughter was there and in disarray. One of the EMS people was over there calming her down, offering to let her ride with us while at the same time taking care of the mom who fell. It’s just nice to see the interaction between providers, patients, and families. The tender care, empathy, and compassion displayed left an imprint on me.”
At The Midway Center for Integrative Health, Rebecca has worked with Dr. Jim Roach, M.D., ABIHM, ABOIM. “One of the first two questions he asks is about their spiritual and mental health, followed by their diet inquiry,” Rebecca said. “He is really thorough, and I like how he is able to take time with each patient to conduct a comprehensive assessment and determine root problems. I continue to learn about the importance of humanizing healthcare delivery and providing care for that patient right in front of me and value them. It is paramount to collaborate with patients, to put yourself in their shoes, seeking to understand the buy-in for patients, and considering their lifestyle to formulate an effective and comprehensive care plan that they can adhere to for optimal outcomes.”
Rebecca said the Courier experience has been fun, educational and has sharpened her healthcare delivery vision.
“Everyone is super friendly, and I have enjoyed meeting various people from diverse backgrounds and disciples,” she said. “Each week, we have discussions with different practitioners and professionals who are experts in their fields. It has been amazing getting everyone’s knowledge and insight, and advice on how to improve the healthcare system. It is easy to focus on all the things that are wrong with healthcare, but we have physicians and nurse practitioners who are there because they want to be there. They care about their patients and seek to help them attain a quality life amidst their health challenges. Focusing on people will make a difference for everyone.”
Rebecca said that the Frontier community, led by the Annual Giving and Courier Program Director, Lisa Colletti-Jones, has gone above and beyond and made her Courier experience positive.
“I am just impressed by the staff members,” she said. “They are passionate and caring people who do their work well. They are dedicated to ensuring an impactful and hands-on experience for us to explore our individual interests. I am so thankful for Lisa and everyone here who made the program successful. It has been a great time, and I am so grateful for this experience and all the ways it has enriched my professional development.”
Courier Echioma Onyemaobi
Completing his freshman year at the University of Texas Permian Basin, Echi Onyemaobi is taking the time to learn what he wants to do after his college days are over. He is already enrolled in UT Permian Basin’s nursing program and embraced the opportunity to learn more about healthcare as an FNU Courier this summer.
With most summer internships tagged for juniors and seniors, Echi was prepared to work through the summer. But an advisor suggested he look into courier service and helped him set up his profile on Handshake. Not long after, he came across the Courier program and realized it was the opportunity he was looking for.
“When I came across the Courier program, I saw it was more like community service,” Echi said. “That’s what really caught my interest. I’m a freshman, so I’m here to explore.”
Echi, who was born in Nigeria, moved to Odessa, Texas, with his family when he was young. Along with his mother, he has an older brother and older sister. His father passed away when Echi was little.
He has already immersed himself in college life, enjoying the small atmosphere. He is active in student government, having recently been elected as treasurer.
“It’s been a good experience so far,” Echi said of college life. “My teachers have been really encouraging.”
Outgoing and eager to learn, Echi enjoys building relationships and helping others.
“What got me interested in nursing is that you can actually have a more personal relationship with patients,” he said.
During his time as a Courier this summer, Echi shadowed Patty, a hospice nurse with Bluegrass Care Navigators. He went on patient visits with her and had the chance to watch first-hand how she interacted with her patients.
“One thing that she made me see is the importance of a personal relationship with your patients,” he said. “She has that. I see I see it in her patient’s eyes. They are excited to see her. It’s not like we can reverse aging or make them feel younger, but I feel these moments are really important in people’s lives. She could just go and check her patients and move along and just walk away. That’s what she’s getting paid for. But she takes the extra step to make sure the patient is actually happy and at ease. That’s what I really like about this experience. It’s important to do your job, but there’s nothing more important than actually maintaining that relationship that you have with your patient. It can change everything.”
While the Courier program did not change Echi’s mind about wanting to be a nurse, it did give him a much deeper understanding of the profession.
“One thing I’ve loved about this experience is that it showed me the true motivation behind my wanting to become a nurse,” he said. “The Courier program was really a good idea for me because this reinforced my decision to pursue nursing. I have more of an understanding of what nursing can actually be, and I want to become a nurse now more than ever.”
Carrie Belin is an experienced board-certified Family Nurse Practitioner and a graduate of the Johns Hopkins DNP program, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Georgetown University School of Nursing, and Johns Hopkins School of Nursing. She has also completed fellowships at Georgetown and the University of California Irvine.
Angie has been a full-scope midwife since 2009. She has experience in various birth settings including home, hospital, and birth centers. She is committed to integrating the midwifery model of care in the US. She completed her master’s degree in nurse-midwifery at Frontier Nursing University (FNU) and her Doctorate at Johns Hopkins University. She currently serves as the midwifery clinical faculty at FNU. Angie is motivated by the desire to improve the quality of healthcare and has led quality improvement projects on skin-to-skin implementation, labor induction, and improving transfer of care practices between hospital and community midwives. In 2017, she created a short film on skin-to-skin called 
Justin C. Daily, BSN, RN, has ten years of experience in nursing. At the start of his nursing career, Justin worked as a floor nurse on the oncology floor at St. Francis. He then spent two years as the Director of Nursing in a small rural Kansas hospital before returning to St. Francis and the oncology unit. He has been in his current position as the Chemo Nurse Educator for the past four years. He earned an Associate in Nurse from Hutchinson Community College and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Bethel College.
Brandy Jackson serves as the Director of Undergraduate Nursing Programs and Assistant Educator at Wichita State University and Co-Director of Access in Nursing. Brandy is a seasoned educator with over 15 years of experience. Before entering academia, Brandy served in Hospital-based leadership and Critical Care Staff nurse roles. Brandy is passionate about equity in nursing education with a focus on individuals with disabilities. Her current research interests include accommodations of nursing students with disabilities in clinical learning environments and breaking down barriers for historically unrepresented individuals to enter the nursing profession. Brandy is also actively engaged in Interprofessional Education development, creating IPE opportunities for faculty and students at Wichita State. Brandy is an active member of Wichita Women for Good and Soroptimist, with the goal to empower women and girls. Brandy is a TeamSTEPPS master trainer. She received the DASIY Award for Extraordinary Nursing Faculty in 2019 at Wichita State University. 
Dr. Sabrina Ali Jamal-Eddine is an Arab-disabled queer woman of color with a PhD in Nursing and an interdisciplinary certificate in Disability Ethics from the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC). Dr. Jamal-Eddine’s doctoral research explored spoken word poetry as a form of critical narrative pedagogy to educate nursing students about disability, ableism, and disability justice. Dr. Jamal-Eddine now serves as a Postdoctoral Research Associate in UIC’s Department of Disability and Human Development and serves on the Board of Directors of the National Organization of Nurses with Disabilities (NOND). During her doctoral program, Sabrina served as a Summer Fellow at a residential National Endowment of the Humanities (NEH) Summer Institute at Arizona State University (2023), a summer fellow at Andrew W. Mellon’s National Humanities Without Walls program at University of Michigan (2022), a Summer Research Fellow at UC Berkeley’s Othering & Belonging Institute (2021), and an Illinois Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and related Disabilities (LEND) trainee (2019-2020).
Vanessa Cameron works for Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nursing Education & Professional Development. She is also attending George Washington University and progressing towards a PhD in Nursing with an emphasis on ableism in nursing. After becoming disabled in April 2021, Vanessa’s worldview and perspective changed, and a recognition of the ableism present within healthcare and within the culture of nursing was apparent. She has been working since that time to provide educational foundations for nurses about disability and ableism, provide support for fellow disabled nursing colleagues, and advocate for the disabled community within healthcare settings to reduce disparities.
Dr. Lucinda Canty is a certified nurse-midwife, Associate Professor of Nursing, and Director of the Seedworks Health Equity in Nursing Program at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Columbia University, a master’s degree from Yale University, specializing in nurse-midwifery, and a PhD from the University of Connecticut. Dr. Canty has provided reproductive health care for over 29 years. Her research interests include the prevention of maternal mortality and severe maternal morbidity, reducing racial and ethnic health disparities in reproductive health, promoting diversity in nursing, and eliminating racism in nursing and midwifery.
Dr. Lisa Meeks is a distinguished scholar and leader whose unwavering commitment to inclusivity and excellence has significantly influenced the landscape of health professions education and accessibility. She is the founder and executive director of the DocsWithDisabilities Initiative and holds appointments as an Associate Professor in the Departments of Learning Health Sciences and Family Medicine at the University of Michigan.
Dr. Nikia Grayson, DNP, MSN, MPH, MA, CNM, FNP-C, FACNM (she/her) is a trailblazing force in reproductive justice, blending her expertise as a public health activist, anthropologist, and family nurse-midwife to champion the rights and health of underserved communities. Graduating with distinction from Howard University, Nikia holds a bachelor’s degree in communications and a master’s degree in public health. Her academic journey also led her to the University of Memphis, where she earned a master’s in medical anthropology, and the University of Tennessee, where she achieved both a master’s in nursing and a doctorate in nursing practice. Complementing her extensive education, she completed a post-master’s certificate in midwifery at Frontier Nursing University.
Dr. Tia Brown McNair is the Vice President in the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Student Success and Executive Director for the Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation (TRHT) Campus Centers at the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) in Washington, DC. She oversees both funded projects and AAC&U’s continuing programs on equity, inclusive excellence, high-impact practices, and student success. McNair directs AAC&U’s Summer Institutes on High-Impact Practices and Student Success, and TRHT Campus Centers and serves as the project director for several AAC&U initiatives, including the development of a TRHT-focused campus climate toolkit. She is the lead author of From Equity Talk to Equity Walk: Expanding Practitioner Knowledge for Racial Justice in Higher Education (January 2020) and Becoming a Student-Ready College: A New Culture of Leadership for Student Success (July 2016 and August 2022 Second edition).
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