Frontier Nursing University was recently featured in Diverse: Issues in Higher Education, a publication offering news, information and insightful commentary on issues concerning diversity in American higher education. The article, “Frontier Goes the Distance in Serving the Underserved,” shares the story of FNU Founder Mary Breckinridge and her path to becoming a champion for improving health care for Americans living in rural and underserved areas.
The article discusses the challenges that rural areas of the country still face, such as “health disparities exacerbated by social conditions, like poverty or a lack of access to care.” The article cites a 2008 Harvard School of Public Health study on life expectancy rates that shows troubling trends in rural areas, particularly the Deep South and parts of Appalachia. According to Diverse, “…the 2008 Harvard study showed a divergence in outcomes between wealthy and less wealthy counties. In some counties, life expectancy has actually declined, the study found, attributing the causes to diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular disease.”
After losing both of her young children, Breckinridge dedicated her life to improving health conditions for women and families living in remote areas without easy access to hospitals and healthcare providers. Today, FNU is committed to reaching and offering graduate-level education to nurses living in rural and underserved areas with an online distance education model.
FNU graduate and part-time faculty member Erin Tenney shares in the article how important distance education was to her finishing her education. She also speaks to the importance of FNU’s community-based approach to health care.
Tenney shared with Diverse, “I think that’s really where the care piece happens: in the community and in the home. Rural communities are very different than urban communities, and each has very important historical, cultural, family based-beliefs and practices that are absolutely essential to health.”
Read the full article in Diverse: Issues in Higher Education here.
The mission of Diverse: Issues in Higher Education is to provide their audience with information that is honest, thorough and balanced. Diverse seeks to be a catalyst for change. The publication’s ultimate objective is to contribute to the building of educational, cultural, social and economic structures that will allow every individual to achieve his or her full human potential and contribute to the greater good of the community and the nation.
preceptor, Ms. Beth Bramlett, CNM, from Tampa, FL is known for being “universally loved and respected by her students,” according to RCF Meghan Garland. Beth takes in FNU students regularly as she provides full-scope midwifery care for the patients of the Tampa Family Health Care System. 
In 1928, Mary Breckinridge, founder of Frontier Nursing University, established the Courier Program, recruiting young people to come work in the Kentucky Mountains and learn about service to humanity. Couriers escorted guests safely through remote terrain, delivered medical supplies to remote outpost clinics, and helped nurse-midwives during home visits and births. Frontier has benefited tremendously from the tireless work of the over 1,500 Couriers who have served. This tradition and legacy continues to this day.
No. 28 in the 2017 U.S. News & World Report ranking of the
midwifery while taking in the sights of nature’s mountains and quiet rivers in Hyden, Ky. Diversity Impact 2016 Weekend Student Conference is hosted by Frontier Nursing University’s Diversity PRIDE Program, and is open to students and alumni who want to become part of FNU’s legacy of providing culturally competent care to rural and underserved communities. Students will engage in cross-cultural and intercultural workshop activities, along with leadership strategies on current diversity healthcare trends as it relates to patient-provider care. 
join us for a fun and free event – a reception and screening of an episode from the upcoming season 5 of the hit PBS show “Call the Midwife.” The reception will begin at 6 p.m. Enjoy complimentary heavy hors d’oeuvres and beverages leading up to showtime at 7 p.m. You don’t want to miss being one of the first to preview the new season of “Call the Midwife!” Feel free to bring guests.
Dean for Academic Affairs and the Frontier Nursing University (FNU) Professor of History. She has served on the faculty at FNU since May 2009 and as Associate Dean since January 2014. 
Frontier Nursing University students travel to Kentucky from across the U.S. to attend orientations and education sessions in preparation for online coursework and clinical experience. The growth in enrollment over the last decade from 200 to more than 1600 students has prompted this new development. FNU currently admits approximately 800 new students each year and in 2015 graduated 565 nurse-midwives and nurse practitioners. FNU’s current operations include the historic campus in Hyden, Ky., the Wendover Bed & Breakfast Inn, a retreat center and national historic landmark, and two administrative office locations in Lexington.