Michael Claussen, FNU Development Officer
Frontier Nursing University hosted its 
annual holiday party at Wendover Bed & Breakfast Inn on Saturday, Dec. 5, to benefit local families in need in the Leslie County, Ky., area. Guests were invited to take a step back in time and enjoy snacks and fun while they gathered around FNU’s one-of-a-kind nurse’s tree.
More than 100 people attended the festive gathering. Guests were treated to Frontier stories portrayed by Leslie County High School Drama students, and the Leslie County High School Choir performed a wonderful Christmas program. Christmas ornament crafts were a big hit with guests of all ages!
Many of the guests who stay at the Wendover Bed and Breakfast Inn specifically come for the home-cooked meals that are served in the Big house. A delicious sampling of chicken and dumplings, meatloaf, pulled pork and peach cobbler were featured at the special “Taste of Wendover.” With two kinds of hot chocolate – white chocolate with peppermint and rich milk chocolate – served with peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies, everyone had a “sweet” time.
Santa also made his way from the North Pole to Wendover to the delight of the children in attendance. Each child received a special gift bag, a longstanding tradition at the “Big House,” and a copy of one of two beautifully illustrated children’s books, Katie Caught a Cold or Sadie’s Sore Throat, written and donated to FNU by a former Courier, Charlotte Cowan, MD.
The holiday celebration marked 90 years since FNU founder Mary Breckinridge hosted the first Christmas party at her log cabin home at Wendover. All of Leslie County, Ky., was invited to the Big House in 1925 for hams, pies and a retreat from the cold thanks to the log home’s large fireplaces.
Below is a review of the Bed and Breakfast by a party attendee and former Leslie County resident, Amy Pennington Brudnicki.
“Sometimes in your travels, you come across a place that’s so special, you know that one trip won’t be near enough. I found this to be true recently when I returned to the Big House for a weekend visit with my Mom, sister and niece.
The Wendover Bed & Breakfast was decorated beautifully for Christmas, both the house and grounds. And just like my last visit, the meals were delicious.
Unlike my last visit, I brought my family this time – one of which was my eight-year-old niece. It was nice to share this experience with her because we weren’t immersed in technology. We played cards, walked down by the river, took pictures, and hiked the mountain around the house. When it was time for bed, we shared stories about events that likely happened in the Big House over the years. I was able to tell her about the legacy of Mary Breckinridge, about the saddle bags on the horses and how children used to think they bulged because they were holding babies, and about our family’s own first-hand experience with Frontier Nursing School.
I told her I really liked the Big House. She told me she really liked bacon. It’s the small things in life that make you smile and that certainly made me smile! Then she said, “I like talking with you.” If you have kids, I don’t have to tell you how much that statement meant to me. My reason in sharing this is to point out the importance of stepping back and focusing on the genuine simplicity of things. The Big House is perfect for that. You can’t help but to reflect when you’re surrounded by so much nature and history.
Someday when my niece is older, she won’t recall an App or a video game. But she will remember this trip and the memories we made just enjoying the moment. I love technology as much as the next gal, but sometimes, it’s nice to get back to the basics, to get back to what really matters and make lasting memories.
The Big House has quickly become a favorite destination of mine. If you have an appreciation of Appalachia and discovering its genuine beauty, check out the Wendover Bed & Breakfast Inn. My hunch is that you’ll love it as much as I do. And just like me, you’ll make plans to return . . .
Amy Pennington Brudnicki
Richmond, KY
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).