Dr. Hélène Nau, DNP, APRN, FNP-C, graduated with her doctor of nursing practice (DNP) from Frontier Nursing University (FNU) in March of this year. Originally from Haiti, Nau built and ran the only emergency room in her home country and was the only trained emergency provider on the island when the devastating earthquake hit in January of 2010.
When the earthquake occurred, Nau was already an emergency RN, first responder, and medical reserve corps for Broward County and Miami-Dade. She is also advanced trauma, acute care and basic life support certified and has served in many critical environments and natural disaster-affected communities.
Following the earthquake recovery process, Nau moved to the United States to further her medical education. She earned her bachelor of science in nursing (BSN) Magna Cum Laude from Chamberlain College of Nursing in 2015, then pursued her master of science in nursing (MSN) with a concentration in family medicine at Chamberlain University and graduated in 2017 with distinction.
Nau said she chose to become a family nurse practitioner (FNP) so that she could better provide a broad spectrum of care to those in need.
“I didn’t want to find myself limited to one population,” Nau said. “I wanted to be able to serve families, geriatric, women and pediatric, to provide as much care as possible. I believe in hands-on holistic care and enjoy the possibility of treating whole families.”
Nau first heard about Frontier while doing online research to find the best DNP program for her lifestyle. She chose FNU for the low tuition, flexibility and time frame offered for completing the DNP program. Although, once she enrolled, Nau found her favorite part of the program to be the Frontier Bound and Clinical Bound sessions. Nau loved connecting and building community with fellow students.
“I am incredibly thankful for all of the close friends I made through the FNU Bound sessions, and for the support I received from the wonderful faculty throughout my journey,” Nau said.
Nau completed her DNP at FNU with a 4.0 GPA.
In 2014 and 2015, Nau was the Volunteer of the Year Award recipient in Broward County. Additionally, this year she received the Pearl Of Nursing Award from Pearls of Life Women Foundation. She also is a Board Member for CapraCare, a non-profit organization dedicated to developing sustainable health programs for Haitian children and their families.
Because of her background working with those dealing with devastation, Nau’s focus is to deliver care to individuals and families who might otherwise go without access due to their immigration or financial status. For this reason, Nau opened her practice, HEALTH360, a direct primary care facility in Pembroke Pines, Fla. Her practice was created with the mission to deliver affordable and accessible quality care to those in her community. Through the direct primary care model, Nau can treat those without insurance or with high deductible plans more personally, with an obtainable cost for the patient.
In her spare time, Nau volunteers at NeuroFit360, a neurological recovery facility dedicated to spinal cord and traumatic brain injuries, where she dons multiple hats. She is in charge of human resources, health maintenance monitoring, X-ray and MRI reading. She also administers IV therapy at NeuroFit360 to neurologically injured clients and high-performance athletes.
Nau is also an outspoken cancer fighter who promotes early detection. Her DNP project was titled Implementation of Screening and Effective Care for Cancer Prevention at GetMed Urgent Care and worked to implement cancer screenings at an urgent care center that had not previously offered this service. Her results showed how easy and vital adding these types of programs to new environments can be.
To round off her many accomplishments, Nau is also a member of the Emergency Nurses Association, Haitian-American Nurses Association, Black Nurse Practitioners of Palm Beach County, AANP and Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society.
Although she is a board-certified family practitioner, runs her own practice and has won multiple awards, Nau likes to say that the most important people in her life just call her “Mom”.
Thank you, Hélène, for all you do to provide quality care to those in need. FNU is proud to have you as a part of our community!
To find out more about other compassionate and driven FNU alumni, visit the alumni news page.
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