When Frontier Nursing University (FNU) alumni Tayler Johnston, DNP, CNM, WHNP-BC answered the call to help underserved women, it led her from a small town in Tennessee all the way to the Caribbean.
Tayler graduated from CNEP Class 128 in 2017. She is now the Director of a non-profit outpatient clinic in rural Haiti, serving lower- to middle-class women and families. Respire Haiti’s Love+1 Medical Clinic is located in the small town of Gressier, Haiti, about 10 miles outside of Port-au-Prince.
As clinic director, Tayler oversees all maternal and women’s health-related programs at the clinic. Many women in the Gressier community have no prenatal care, and give birth at home, some unassisted. Some patients are also extremely poor, and wouldn’t have the option to seek medical care elsewhere. Tayler and her fellow nurses are working to provide more options to improve pregnancy and birth outcomes for the women in the community.
Tayler Johnston works with underserved women and families in Gressier, Haiti
She made the decision to become a nurse-midwife while in nursing school. Tayler’s obstetrics/gynecology clinicals sparked initial interest in midwifery, but watching nurse-midwives deliver babies during her next clinical rotation sealed the deal for her.
“I immediately knew that’s what I wanted to do for the rest of my life,” she said. Meanwhile, she already knew she wanted to dedicate her life to improving outcomes for women and children in the most desperate circumstances.
Tayler pursued the Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner (WHNP) as well to increase her practice in primary care and gynecological issues. She moved to Haiti right after she achieved the WHNP.
“I wanted to be the best practitioner I can possibly be and provide the best care to my patients, as well as be the best employee and asset to the healthcare community,” she said.
She completed a Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) from Haiti in late 2017 to further equip her for whatever primary care challenges she would face.
The choice to attend Frontier was two-fold: The top-ranked institution fit exactly what Tayler was looking for, and the distance education program allowed her to work full-time and avoid taking out a single student loan.
Though her education was online and in the midst of a full-time job, Tayler took full advantage of the Frontier community. Several of her former classmates have become good friends and resources.
“We often turn to each other for advice or with questions,” she said. “It’s so great to have that community and support system.”
Thank you, Tayler, for representing FNU in your crucial work with women and families in Haiti. We are proud to have you in the FNU community!
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).