Blog

  • Mary Breckinridge Featured in Dreamers & Doers: VOICES of Kentucky Women

    FNU Founder Mary Breckinridge was recently featured as one of 40 women in Dreamers & Doers: VOICES of Kentucky Women, a Kentucky Women Remembered Film Project that brings to light the untold and under told stories of Kentucky women and their achievements.

    Breckinridge’s inspiring story is one of determination, perseverance, dedication and hope. From the beginning, Breckinridge viewed nurse-midwifery as central to health care. Her passion for delivering quality health care to underserved and rural populations still resides in the hearts and minds of those at Frontier Nursing University today.

    Since the Frontier Graduate School of Midwifery enrolled its first class November 1, 1939, more than 4,000 nurses and midwives have graduated with advanced practice degrees. We are proud to offer not only the longest-running, but also the #1 Nurse-Midwifery program in the United States, as ranked by U.S. News & World Report.

    The Kentucky Commission on Women enlisted the help of filmmaker Michael Breeding to launch the Kentucky Women Remembered Film Project. In the film, Breeding shares stories of women from the Bluegrass State who have shaped history and have the potential to inspire future generations. A youth-oriented version of the film is being produced for girls and boys in the 7th and 8th grades.

    The film features former Kentucky Governor Martha Layne Collins as an on-camera narrator. Additional narration features the talent of Carrington MacDuffie, the voice of ancestry.com.

    Funding for the project was provided by Toyota Manufacturing Kentucky, The Gheens Foundation, Frontier Nursing University, the Kentucky Arts Council, Jerry & Madeline Abramson, Carla Wallace and The Honorable John Yarmuth.

    Watch the segment on Mary Breckinridge in Dreamers & Doers: VOICES of Kentucky Women below-

  • Diversity Impact

    FNU Diversity Impact Student Conference

     June 3-5, 2016

    Join Us for an Impactful, Sight-Seeing, Cultural Excursion! You’re Invited to…

    Learn more on diversity while taking in the sights of nature’s mountains and quiet rivers in Hyden, Ky. Diversity Impact 2016 Weekend Conference is hosted by the FNU student organization Diversity PRIDE Program, and is open to all students 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 inter-cultural workshop activities, along with leadership strategies on current diversity healthcare trends as it relates to patient-provider care.

    FNU Diversity Impact 2016 opens the door for nurse practitioners and nurse-midwifery students to become global thinkers and leaders within their communities. Come and join us for this cultural excursion!

    Student Registration is OPEN: (click link to register)

    REGISTRATION OPEN: Seating reservations, campus room and board will be given on a first-come, first-serve basis until the conference has reached maximum capacity….Hurry, seats are going Fast!
    CICK HERE TO REGISTER For Diversity Impact 2016!

  • Alumni Spotlight: Nadene Brunk, CNM

    At the heart of Frontier Nursing University is a talented and diverse community of students, alumni, faculty, staff, Couriers and preceptors. Spotlight blogs feature members of our FNU community that are focused on the mission of educating nurse-midwives and nurse practitioners to deliver quality health care to underserved and rural populations.

    When Nadene Brunk graduated from FNU as a nurse-midwife she knew her skills would be valuable in the U.S., but it wasn’t until she visited Haiti that she comprehended just how powerful her skills could be. With a maternal mortality rate 12 times that of women in the United States, Nadene realized she could literally save lives in Haiti and has now dedicated her life to doing so.

    An FNU nurse-midwifery alumnus from Class 8, Nadene founded Midwives for Haiti, a nonprofit that educates Haitian women in prenatal care and skilled birth assistance. Nadene hopes to reduce maternal and infant mortality in Haiti, which is deemed the most dangerous place in the Western hemisphere to give birth.

    After traveling to Haiti in 2003 as part of a medical team, Nadene witnessed first-hand the lack of resources and skilled care for pregnant women. Determined to provide a long-term solution, she formed a small team of volunteer midwives and medical professionals and soon returned to Haiti. At the request of a Haitian community leader, Nadene established a culturally appropriate training program for Haitian nurses in Hinche.

    With few resources, the first class of nine students held class outdoors with nothing more than a blackboard under a tree. Equipment was donated. Nadene and the other volunteers traveled in a truck that was held together with wire and duct tape.

    Midwives For Haiti became a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in 2006. The hospital from which the team works – St. Therese – is said to be decades past its useful life, but it is adequately staffed by 16 Skilled Birth Attendants, all graduates of the Midwives For Haiti program.

    We are proud to have alumni like Nadene making such a difference!

    Read more about Nadene and Midwives for Haiti in an article by Richmond Times-Dispatch here.

    Watch Nadene’s presentation, “Collaborative Approach to Global Maternity Healthcare” here.

  • FNU Traditions: Building a Community, Part 2

    Student-Led Traditions

     

    With roots tracing back to the early 1900s, Frontier Nursing University (FNU) is a school rich in history. The “FNU Traditions” blog series will give the friends and family of FNU a greater understanding of our many traditions, several of which date back to the days of our founder, Mary Breckinridge.

     

    Our last blog in this series told all about our traditions on campus and around the Wendover dinners during Bound sessions, most of which are faculty led. Here are just a few of our traditions that are student-led:

     

    Blessing Ways: “Blessing Ways” began as a Native American tradition, in which a ceremony was held to celebrate a woman’s right of passage into motherhood. For years now, FNU students have adapted this into their own version of “Blessing Ways”. During Clinical Bound, students are given time to hold a ceremony for one another, “blessing” or honoring each other as they prepare to care for people as nurse-midwives and nurse practitioners. Each group of students can create their own version of Blessing Ways or opt out of it. Some students choose to hold their ceremony in our beautiful historic chapel.  Often times, students use a very special ceramic bowl that was specially crafted and donated to FNU by one of our students for the hand washing or “Blessing of the Hands” portion of the blessing way.  No matter how students choose to celebrate the ceremony, it has become a staple student-led tradition of Clinical Bound.

     

    Bead Exchange: For years students coming to Clinical Bound would bringbeads to give to their fellow classmates. Students would then make bracelets with one bead from each of their peers. The bracelets would be worn during clinicals and the preceptor would cut the bracelet off the  the student has met all clinical goals and objectives.This tradition hasn’t happened in a few years, but it’s never too late to bring it back!


    Giving Back: One of the greatest student-led traditions at Clinical Bound is when students decide to give back to the institution. Many times this comes in the form of adopting a room on campus. Students will paint, decorate, or fix-up things on campus that need improvement. Some examples include donation of DVD players for common rooms, new bedding and lamps for dorm rooms and revitalization of the outdoor areas around a fire pit.  These improvements demonstrate the connection and dedication  our students have to FNU and are enjoyed by students who come to campus after improvements are made. What great students we have at FNU!

     

    Learn more about FNU traditions in Part 3.

     

    Related Content:

    FNU Traditions: Building a Community, Part 1

    Campus and Wendover Dinners

  • Faculty Spotlight: Mr. Zach Young

    At the heart of Frontier Nursing University is a talented and diverse community of students, alumni, faculty, staff, Couriers and preceptors. Spotlight blogs feature members of our FNU community that are focused on the mission of educating nurse-midwives and nurse practitioners to deliver quality health care to underserved and rural populations.

     

    Zach Young is the Assistant Director of Library Services at Frontier Nursing University. His duties include answering faculty, staff and student reference questions, providing research instruction to FNU students, and assisting the Library Director with maintaining an up-to-date and relevant library collection.

     

    Zach is instrumental to the success of both students and FNU’s evidence-based education approach. He shares, “My favorite part is the interaction with the students and seeing their information literacy skills grow from orientation at Frontier Bound to graduation.”

     

    Zach is often asked to present and his work has also been published, evidence of his commitment to excellence at FNU. He participated in writing a book chapter entitled “Evaluating and Using the Evidence,” in the book Best Practices in Midwifery: Using the Evidence to Implement Change. Zach has also attended numerous library conferences to present research data on student mobile device usage, culminating with the article “Mobile resources use in a distance learning population: what are they really doing on those devices?” published in the Journal of Library & Information Services in Distance Learning.

     

    Zach joined FNU in 2010 as Information Services Librarian. He previously worked at the University of Kentucky Medical Center Library as a Senior Technician. He received a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and a Masters of Science in Library Science from the University of Kentucky in Lexington, Ky.

     

    Zach’s hobbies include reading, photography, soccer and board games. His research interests include open access publishing, consumer health information, mobile device usage, rural health, practice based research networks, distance education and innovative teaching techniques.

    Meet Zach Young

     

  • AANP 50th Anniversary: Interview with FNU Dean of Nursing, Julie Marfell DNP, APRN, FNP-BC, FAANP

    AANP 50th Anniversary: Interview with FNU Dean of Nursing, Julie Marfell DNP, APRN, FNP-BC, FAANP

    Frontier Nursing University is proud to announce that our very own Dean of Nursing, Julie Marfell, was interviewed by the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP) in honor of its 50th anniversary. Frontier had the first Family Nurse Practitioner Program in the nation in 1970.

    Here is the four-page spread with the interview with Dr. Julie Marfell.

  • Student Spotlight: Anna Marie Nieboer

    At the heart of Frontier Nursing University is a talented and diverse community of students, alumni, faculty, staff, Couriers and preceptors. Spotlight blogs feature members of our FNU community that are focused on the mission of educating nurse-midwives and nurse practitioners to deliver quality health care to underserved and rural populations.

     

    When the American Medical Resource Institute (AMRI) announced they would be offering a $2,000 scholarship to the winner of an essay contest, FNU Student Anna Marie Nieboer took full advantage. Although she didn’t ultimately win the contest, Anna beat out hundreds of essays to become one of only five finalists. Our team at Frontier Nursing University (FNU) couldn’t be more proud of Anna who is currently enrolled in the Master of Science in Nursing program and plans to become a Certified Nurse-Midwife.

    As a hardworking mother, foster parent, and on-call labor and delivery nurse, Anna feels the call to also pursue the study of Nurse-Midwifery.  She works to carefully balance her personal and professional life so that she can dedicate the needed time to be successful in her studies.In her essay, Anna explains that her passion for midwifery stems out of a desire to provide holistic care to families long after birth. Her essay explains:

     

    “Delivering babies has always been a deep desire of mine since I first held a newborn baby. I decided I would become an OBGYN in elementary school and then changed my career path to a labor & delivery nurse so I could help deliver babies while also welcoming my own.”

    Read Anna’s full essay here.

    Way to go, Anna!

  • Faculty Spotlight: Lisa Chappell FNP, MSN

    At the heart of Frontier Nursing University is a talented and diverse community of students, alumni, faculty, staff, Couriers and preceptors. Spotlight blogs feature members of our FNU community that are focused on the mission of educating nurse-midwives and nurse practitioners to deliver quality health care to underserved and rural populations.

     

    Lisa Chappell is the Associate Dean of Family Nursing since January 2014. She has worked as faculty at Frontier Nursing University since January 2009.

    Dr. Chappell has been a nurse for 40 years including 20 years as a Family Nurse Practitioner. She obtained a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Auburn University, a Master of Science in Nursing from University of Alabama in Birmingham as a Maternal-Infant Nurse Specialist and a second MSN as a Family Nurse Practitioner.

     

    She earned a PhD in Nursing from the Medical College of Georgia in 2007. Her dissertation was titled: Caring for Their Mothers: The Experiences, Self-Care Practices, and Cultural Influences of African American Women Caregivers.

    Dr. Chappell’s clinical practice experience as a nurse practitioner includes rural clinics, emergency medicine, student health, a psychiatric facility, and correctional medicine. Dr. Chappell has 17 years of teaching experience mostly at the graduate level with nurse practitioners.

    NursePractitionerSchools.com recently interviewed Dr. Chappell concerning Frontier’s programs and history. Go here to view the article.

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