The Frontier community is proud to have students and alumni serving on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic. Throughout the next few weeks, we are committed to sharing their stories in order to provide insight, hope and encouragement. Thank you to all the health care workers who are risking their own well-being daily to serve our nation. Click here to read more stories of courage and dedication.
Even in the best of times and conditions, expectant mothers understandably experience a range of emotions such as excitement, fear, joy and uncertainty. Now, many are facing an additional stress element in the form of the COVID-19 pandemic, and it’s a fear understood and, at times, shared by their providers.
“Each new day brings a heightened level of concern from our families and while we try to practice social distancing; birth is a very intimate process,” said Dolores (Dee) J. Polito, APRN, CNM, who is the Director and Chief Midwife at the University of Kentucky Midwife Clinic in Lexington, Ky.
“Mostly we are seeing high levels of anxiety among staff and patients both. It is difficult to maintain a calm demeanor when staff is anxious about exposure and to encourage staff to portray calmness to patients for their care is challenging. I work with an amazing team of CNMs (FNU graduates JoAnne B. Burris, APRN, CNM, Class 130 and Hayden Murrell Meza, APRN, CNM, Class 136, along with Chrissie Adams, CNM). They demonstrate strength and creativity and I am proud of their responsiveness, dedication and perseverance. They inspire me to be innovative and I wouldn’t want to be in a crisis with anyone else.”
Dee with FNU alumni Hayden, Chrissie and JoAnne
Dee, who received a certificate in midwifery from Frontier Nursing University (FNU) in 1997 and is certified by the American Midwifery Certification Board, offers both pregnancy support and non-pregnancy services at the UK Midwife Clinic. For women with healthy, normal pregnancies, the certified nurse-midwives provide care and guidance through the pregnancy, up to and including delivery.
In 2019, Dee completed the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) training to be able to prescribe Buprenorphine, allowing her “to create a midwifery-led centering model of group care for pregnancy in the setting of substance abuse with the support of medication-assisted therapy.”
The ability to understand and adjust to the needs of the women and families in her career has always been important, but never more critical than in the midst of the pandemic. Dee credits FNU with helping furnish her with the skills to face this challenge.
“FNU prepared me for my role as a leader and an advocate for women and families in their independent, community-based learning platform,” Dee said.
“When I was a student, we sent our assignments to our faculty by snail mail and it seemed innovative at the time. The innovation and creativity it took to translate midwifery education to a community-based model was unique at the time and those same traits were instilled into me as a student. Being innovative and creative is a requirement when faced with the challenges and uncertainty of the global health crisis for COVID-19.”
Part of that innovation for Dee and her team has been the implementation of Telehealth to reduce risk of exposure.
“I think it’s very important to preserve some normalcy and doing this project together – but separated – allowed my staff to be creative and have some fun . We have to remember that the work we do and the care we give cannot stop because of coronavirus. Women and families still seek our caring attitudes, our warmth and our friendliness. And they can count on a smile even if it’s under a mask,” said Dee.
“We are responding to many patient concerns about keeping their pregnancies healthy and safe and we are having to be creative in getting patients the care they need,” Dee said.
“Telehealth is teaching us that this may be a valuable tool in how we provide care. There have been wrinkles to iron out and we continue to learn how to make the experience better and how to meet all the requirements for appropriate and timely billing. Telehealth will be a part of our services going forward.”
Even though there is fear and uncertainty every day for Dee, her patients and her staff, Dee leads the way, understanding that she has been prepared to handle this challenge. Experience, training, education, innovation, and leadership are just some of the tools she has acquired throughout her career to give her the confidence to face the COVID-19 pandemic day after day.
“I was a student of Kitty Ernst,” Dee said. “She was my faculty for the Birth Center Course. She was perhaps the most influential force to prepare me for my role now.”
“During Midwifery Bound, Kitty met with a small group of students and talked to us about our journey to midwifery school. She asked, ‘What important thing have you done in your life?’. I responded that I hadn’t really done anything important in my life thus far. She asked, ‘Are you a mother?’ and I responded that I was indeed a mother. She exclaimed, ‘Then you have done the most important thing in the world. You are a mother.’”
“From then on,” Dee continued, “I felt empowered, inspired and motivated to achieve any goal I set for myself.”
What is a Certified Nurse-Midwife (CNM)?
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).