By: Wilvena McDowell-Bernard, Program Coordinator, Diversity Initiative PRIDE
Moving Forward at the 7th Annual DI Event
Frontier Nursing University hostedits 7th annual Diversity Impact student
conference, June 1-4, 2017 on the historic FNU campus in Hyden KY. This year’s theme focused on “Moving Forward: Uniting through Diversity” where students, alumni, faculty, staff and guests united for team building tasks, cross-cultural activities and collaborative discussions to address health disparities and ways to improve minority health among underrepresented and marginalized groups.
FNU Diversity Impact 2017
The conference started off with an impactful welcome address by FNU President Dr. Stone, as she inspired attendees on ways nurses can use their leadership skills to impact and affect health disparities among underserved and underrepresented patient populations. Attendees then rolled up their sleeves to engage in an arts and craft session that explored their creative intuitions to highlight cross-cultural communication and its’ unique role in the nursing profession.
The arts and craft activity offered attendees insights into understanding what cultural language barriers may feel like from a patient and provider perspective in healthcare. FNU PRIDE student, LaTonya Rice, reflects on what she learned from the activity, “Learning to listen to patients more…will help me to be a better communicator when I’m providing care to my clients.”
FNU Explores Rural Health on a Field Trip!
Students enjoyed a field trip to Hurricane Creek Miner’s Memorial in the appalachian mountains, and toured the site commemorating the 1970 Finley Mine explosion, which claimed the lives of thirty-eight coal miners with only one survivor. One aspect of the memorial shed light on various health conditions many coal miners endured on a daily basis. Attendees traced historical events to further explore rural health in Appalachia.
Diversity Impact Takes the Challenge
The enthusiastic Mannequin Challenge activity brought everyone together to create awareness of the Diversity Impact event and to showcase how participants are impacting health care within their communities. The Mannequin Challenge illustrates that everyone has a role at the frontlines of healthcare to combat health disparities.
Afterwards attendees also enjoyed a cookout and nature tour of hidden trails around the Wendover House used by Mary Breckinridge during the early years of what was then called Frontier Nursing Service (FNS).
Sessions Address Social Issues of Today
A range of diversity topics were led by nationally recognized guest speakers, faculty, staff, and students. Attendees learned the importance of cultural linguistics with Premier Speaker Capt. James l. Dickens from the US Dept. Health & Human Services, Office of Minority Health (OMH). Capt. Dickens discussed the linguistic relationship between language, culture, and how language barriers and lack of cultural awareness can dramatically impact patient/provider healthcare services.
Vaishu Jawahar, a 2016 Courier Intern, offers helpful advice from what she learned during the sessions, “As healthcare providers…you have to be able to take care of everyone or at least make them feel comfortable enough to seek out your care.”
Attendees learned hidden facts about the role Appalachia played in Rural & Immigrant Health, the Civil Rights movement, and the economic development of Eastern Kentucky, taught by Shane Barton from the University of Kentucky.
Keynote speaker and 12th President of the National Black Nurses Association, Dr. Eric Williams addressed the importance of cultural competency among nursing students, and discussed ways nurses can foster their leadership skills and mentorship to improve minority health among underrepresented and marginalized groups. Attendees were encouraged to get active within their communities, school, and local professional nursing chapters.
Session speaker, Dr. Vernellia Randall, national author of “Dying While Black” (2006), walked through the historic timeline of health disparities linked to care administered to minorities, along with various racial barriers that limit and sometimes restrict access to care. She also explored the lack of minority health professionals along with cultural bias and racial micro-aggressions that impact care provided to culturally diverse patients.
Attendees enjoyed a surprise guest appearance by nationally recognized author, Dr. Scharmaine Baker of the NOLA the Nurse children’s book series. Dr. Baker was recently featured on NBC Universal TV for the “Harry” Show.
During the conference, attendees were provided with helpful resources on Gender-Identity, Sexual Orientation and Trans-appropriate Patient/Provider Care from FNU Faculty Member Dr. Trish Voss, on nursing practices for LGBTQ patients and communities.
Attendees took a journey through the relationship of global midwifery from a Mayan midwifery perspective. Student speaker Essence Williams of class 140, addressed maternal-child and reproductive health amongst vulnerable populations in Guatemala, including traditional Mayan practices, and cultural rituals of indigenous cultures.
Afterwards, attendees learned how to infuse mindful, relaxation practices to achieve optimal performance in all areas of their lives with student speaker Heidi Carter of class 129.
Attendees Feel Renewed & Inspired
By the end of the conference, students, faculty & staff left feeling more empowered and focused on making a positive change in their communities. Laura Willis, an FNU PRIDE Alumni and family nurse practitioner in Ohio, expresses her appreciation and reasons why she continues to return to campus as an alum, “There’s a connection to this pace, to the history that’s here. And there is something so very important about all of the unique perspectives…that re-energizes and reinforces why I do what I do.”
Click Here for WYMT news report on Diversity Impact
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).