Hyden, Ky. – On April 3, 2019, the Courier Program at Frontier Nursing University (FNU) co-hosted the 3rd annual Healthy Futures Fair for Mountain View Elementary (MVE) students and community members in Leslie County, Ky. The event was funded primarily through a grant from the Frontier Nursing Service Foundation.
The fair, co-hosted with Mountain View Elementary School in Leslie County, was held in collaboration with MVE’s Open House and was attended by 168 people, including a dozen volunteers. Participants had the opportunity to meet representatives from health providers in the area, learn about available services, and explore careers in the healthcare industry.
Several healthcare organizations were involved in the event, including: Kentucky River Community Care, Kentucky River District Health, Stinnett Area Community Center, Leslie County Early Head Start, Hazard Community and Technical College, Hospice of the Bluegrass, Appalachian Regional Healthcare, and Primary Care Centers of Eastern Kentucky. Participants received Information about higher education, local healthcare services, stroke screenings, free local daycare services, and FNU’s Summer Courier Program.
Through funding granted by the Frontier Nursing Service Foundation, three scholarships totaling $1,000 will be given to students from this year’s Healthy Futures Fair. An essay contest was open to any Leslie County Schools student interested in pursuing careers in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) fields. Contestants were asked to answer one of four questions in a short essay that focused on the ideas of healthy futures. The scholarship recipients will be featured in a news story next month, so be on the lookout in May!
FNU is proud to serve the Appalachian region through events like the Healthy Futures Fair. By educating students on the healthcare services available to them as well as healthy lifestyle choices early in their young lives, we work towards a healthier future for Appalachia.
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- Courier Program Coordinator Tara Dykes-Barnes (right) and AmeriCorps VISTA/ Courier Program Assistant Austyn Caudill (left) coordinated and organized the Healthy Futures Fair event with the collaborative efforts of Sarah Osborne and Mountain View Elementary’s 21st Century Program.
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- A Mountain View Elementary student learns about sonography and ultrasounds at the Healthy Futures Fair main event on Wednesday, April 3rd.
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- Information about the Courier Program is placed in the tabling event for the Healthy Futures Fair on April 3rd.
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- Community members explore the community partner tables set up at the main tabling event of the 2019 Healthy Futures Fair on April 3rd.
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- Kelly Callahan (Hospice of the Bluegrass) is photographed at the Healthy Futures Fair main tabling event on Wednesday, April 3rd.
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- Kentucky River District Health representatives pose at the main tabling event on Wednesday, April 3rd.
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- Diane Whitehead (Stinnett Area Community Center) poses next to her table at the Healthy Futures Fair main tabling event on Wednesday, April 3rd from 4pm-6pm.
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- Sherrie Stidham (Kentucky River District Health) and MVE students act out peer pressure skit to practice saying “no” to tobacco and substances.
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- Sherrie Stidham (Kentucky River District Health) gives tobacco prevention presentation to MVE 6th-8th grade students on Tuesday, April 2nd.
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- Sarah Osborne, 21st Century Program Coordinator, serving MVE after-school students healthy food snacks at the conclusion of the Healthy Food Alternatives activity on Monday, April 1st.
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- MVE Students creating a Food Pyramid in the Healthy Foods Alternatives activity on Monday, April 1st.
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- MVE Students enjoy a Subway catered lunch for the Mission to Mars activity at Hazard CTC’s Challenger Center on March 28th.
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- MVE Students participating in the simulated space mission entitled “Mission to Mars” at the Hazard CTC’s Challenger Center on Thursday, March 28th.
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- 7th grade Mountain View Elementary Students are preparing for their Mission to Mars space simulation at Hazard Community and Technical College’s Challenger Center.
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- One MVE student works with a space mission coordinator to assist in completing the simulated space mission to Mars activity at Hazard CTC’s Challenger Center on March 28th.
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- Front-facing view of the Mission to Mars space simulation control room where Mountain View Elementary students worked collaboratively in a simulated mission to Mars.
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- Primary Care Centers of Eastern Kentucky representatives come out and support the main tabling event for the 2019 Healthy Futures Fair on Wednesday, April 3, 2019.
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- AmeriCorps VISTA/ FNU Courier Program Assistant Austyn Caudill and MVE 21st Century Program Coordinator Sarah Osborne kick off the Healthy Food Alternatives event on Monday, April 1st, 2019.
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- Sarah Osborne, 21st Century Program Coordinator, serving MVE after-school students healthy food snacks at the conclusion of the Healthy Food Alternatives activity on Monday, April 1st.
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).