Each year, Frontier Nursing University looks forward to May, when we join with the American Nurses Association (ANA) in celebrating National Nurses Week. Although these celebrations have looked a bit different the past two years, the enthusiasm has only increased. As of this year, National Nurses Week has become National Nurses Month, and the World Health Organization (WHO) has extended the Year of the Nurse and the Midwife into 2021. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the world has seen a heightened need for nurses and midwives worldwide. The extension of the Year of the Nurse and Midwife demonstrates the continued support by WHO for the endless dedication and sacrifice of frontline workers throughout the pandemic.
As nurses and midwives approach work in the second year of COVID-19, support and encouragement for frontline workers continues to be essential to keep our country moving forward. This week, Frontier joins with people across the nation to celebrate nurses by following the weekly themes outlined by the ANA for National Nurses Month. Below you can find each week’s theme along with ways FNU has stepped up to support nurses throughout the past year:
Week 1: Self Care
- When COVID-19 first closed down the FNU campus over a year ago, Frontier leadership quickly established a virtual hub for information and resources about the pandemic. On this page, students and faculty can find the most up-to-date data on the disease, as well as several self-care strategies provided by Dr. Jess Calohan, DNP, Associate Professor, and Department Chair of FNU’s Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner program.
- Frontier is proud that its campus has been utilized as a vaccination site. It has been an honor to be a part of moving our community in a safe and healthy direction. While the vaccination process continues, FNU is asking community members to share photos of receiving or administering the vaccine here.
Week 2: Recognition
- As a nursing university, FNU is well aware of the sacrifices being made every day by the men and women serving on the frontlines. Throughout this year, the university has built a running blog to honor and share the stories of students, alumni, and faculty making a difference in the fight against COVID-19.
Week 3: Professional Development
- Frontier has continued to be committed to its students and the overall nursing community throughout the pandemic. The university has worked to expand nursing education throughout the pandemic through continuing education (CE) opportunities. Current CE options available through Frontier include “Anxiety in Children and Adolescents: Trends in Treatment,” “Midwifery Pearls of Telehealth,” “Epigenetics for the Practicing Clinician,” and “Hot Topics in the Management of Perimenopause & Menopause: A Conventional & Integrative Approach.” Additionally, FNU has recently released a new course, “Introduction to Cultural Safety,” designed to help health care workers gain a deeper understanding of best practices for serving cultures different from their own. This course is available to the FNU community and anyone interested in providing quality service to people of all backgrounds.
Week 4: Community Engagement
- During this period of isolation, Frontier has worked hard to expand community engagement and continue to provide support to faculty, staff and students alike. This has been done through Facebook groups, message boards, notes of encouragement, and so much more. During the past year, Frontier has found sharing stories of alumni, students, and preceptor successes to be an excellent resource for keeping the FNU family connected. If you are interested in sharing your story or know someone from FNU with a great story, please share it with the FNU communications team here.
- On top of COVID-19, the past year has also put on display the harsh disparities and racism that still exist in the country today. With the deaths of George Floyd, Brenna Taylor, and so many others, FNU was determined to continue the school’s tradition of hosting a Diversity Impact Conference. 2020 marked the ten-year anniversary of the conference and although it was moved to a digital platform, the enthusiasm for the mission, fantastic speakers and presentations, and the opportunity to have important conversations revolving around race, gender, and identity remained the same.
- In a further effort to stand in solidarity with marginalized individuals, FNU also released an anti-racism statement that can be found here.
Frontier is proud to continue to celebrate, support, and educate nurses throughout the difficulties of this past year. If you or someone you know is interested in learning more about FNU and our commitment to lifting nurses of all ethnicities and backgrounds, visit our mission page.
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).