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.
Opening a new practice is always exciting, but even in the best of times, it also comes with some uncertainty. Imagine opening a new practice while completing your DNP and amidst the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. That’s what Traci Buran, MSN, FNP, DNP, Class 34 experienced when her practice, Affinity Family Practice, opened on March 2, 2020, in Cheyenne, Wyo.
Traci, who is originally from Ishpeming in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, worked as a registered nurse (RN) for 10 years in dialysis, endoscopy, the emergency department, and outpatient surgery. After earning her family nurse practitioner (FNP) degree from FNU in 2018, she worked part-time in an FNP-led clinic in Cheyenne. The decision to open Affinity Family Practice didn’t come until November 2019 when her practice partner Sheriedan Grannan, FNP, presented the business plan.
“After we talked about mission, vision, values, and goals, and I pondered the business plan at home, I decided to go for it,” Traci said.
“We started working on opening the practice shortly thereafter. It took us about two months to get the practice open, which required a lot of hard work and many long hours. Our soft opening was on March 2nd through the 6th, and then we opened full time on March 9.”
Traci, who is set to graduate from Frontier Nursing University (FNU) with her doctor of nursing practice (DNP) degree in June, treats acute and chronic conditions in patients of all ages, and provides primary care services such as Department of Transportation (DOT) physicals, immunizations, minor procedures and point of care tests. Enough former patients followed Traci and Sheriedan to Affinity Family Practice to enable the successful launch of the clinic, even with the uncertainty created by COVID-19.
“The community has been very supportive and excited,” Traci said.
“As a new practice, there is some trepidation amidst the COVID epidemic. When you are trying to advertise and attract new patients, it is very difficult when people are scared to leave their homes, and we do not want to encourage people to go out or into a medical clinic unnecessarily right now. However, we quickly adapted to offering and completing TeleMedicine visits, which has been a great way to bridge the gap for many patients, and we are still able to provide triage and medical guidance over the phone. We are able to swab patients for COVID if needed, and have offered drive up service to prevent the patient from leaving their vehicle or coming into the clinic.”
While fully acknowledging the tragic impact of the pandemic, Traci remains optimistic that better days are ahead and that valuable lessons are being learned.
“Our healthcare system was woefully ill-prepared to deal with something like this,” Traci said.
“However, I do believe that our country and world can and will overcome this crisis, and I have to believe that our political and healthcare leadership will work to do so. I think we need to understand that in the future, more vigilant steps should be taken to remain prepared for the next pandemic, and at the very least, a COVID resurgence in the fall — not only on the national level, but in each community and clinic as well.”
The fact that Affinity Family Practice has enjoyed such a successful launch despite the unforeseen challenges is a testament to the business planning and ongoing marketing of the practice. The ability to adapt to the pandemic and quickly adjust to offering drive-up and TeleMedicine options is indicative of the preparation of Traci and her partners.
“I don’t think that anyone was truly prepared for COVID,” Traci said. “However, FNU did do a great job of instilling evidence-based practice and a sense of community into us as students, and I believe that these two principles combined are very powerful tools in the healthcare setting, especially during a pandemic.”
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).