COVID-19 | Page 3 | Frontier Nursing University

4 Tips for Educators Transitioning to Online Learning During COVID-19

September 7, 2020 By Frontier Nursing University

When the ball dropped on January 1 of this year, no one expected the reality that is 2020. COVID-19 is undoubtedly making its mark on history – not just in terms of lives lost but also ways the threat has caused families, businesses, and organizations to alter their everyday lives. For most schools and universities, that has meant a transition from in-person to online learning. Thankfully, Frontier Nursing University (FNU) has been using a distance education model for more than 30 years, causing us to need significantly fewer adjustments than many universities. However, like all organizations, we still needed to reconsider our usual way of life in a few areas.

We decided to keep an open mind as we innovated new program models and focused on self-care for our students, staff and faculty. We hope that what we have learned in the past few months, combined with our decades of distance education experience can positively impact other educators as the new school year kicks off.

Here are four tips for educators making the switch to online learning during COVID-19:

Don’t Be Afraid to Innovate New Course and Program Models.

It’s unlikely most schools and universities had a “Pandemic Plan” pre-2020 – but when life throws you lemons…well, you know the rest. In the wake of such uncertain times, it’s essential to be willing to adapt usual course models or programs in the interest of student and faculty safety. The adjustments can be challenging, especially for institutions that have operated the same way for decades, but the educators willing to make these changes will thrive.

Although FNU relies on a distance education model, there are also in-person portions of each student’s journey that we quickly realized we needed to redesign effectively. As we began to look at reinventing our in-person programming, we had two main concerns – maintaining a sense of trust and community in the new learning environment and upholding the top-quality education standards that FNU has held for almost 100 years.

To maintain community, we centered our new programs around video technology like Zoom to keep students and educators engaged with each other throughout the experience. We expanded this model by incorporating small groups and break out sessions with an emphasis on team-building and fellowship while still following curriculum guidelines.

Our second challenge was upholding excellence in our courses as we transitioned intensive hands-on skills training to a digital platform. Reimagining activities like instructing students to remove sutures, or asking patients about their medical history without in-person conduct, took great innovation and creativity to remain comprehensive. However, we were ultimately able to meet these goals by working as a team and embracing new technologies. As a school, we were able to provide each student with the physical props needed to train from home in specific procedures and tasks. We then leaned again on Zoom and similar platforms for instruction and have been able to grade accurately through videos of students reenacting the skills taught to them via state-of-the-art simulation programs. We are grateful that the adaptive, persevering nature of our students and staff has allowed us to reinvent some of our most vital programing in a truly successful way.

As the old saying goes – you can’t change the direction of the wind, but you can adjust your sails. Now is the time to reevaluate and make the creative adjustments necessary to keep safety your priority while continuing to provide quality education.

Create a Safe Space for Students to Process.

As educators rush to find ways to maintain valuable student learning, it is also important to remember that another vital element of success lies in mental health. The educators who genuinely care for the wellbeing of their students will stand out from the rest.

Throughout this trying year, FNU instructors have implemented several new ways to check how students are coping mentally as they continuously open up new outlets of connection and communication. Some of the methods FNU instructors have found success in engaging students during this time include message boards, pre-class discussions, and Facebook groups. These tools allow students to vent frustrations, fears, and anxieties. They have also begun spreading inspirational messages, sharing meditation practices, and offering encouragement to one another. This simple digital platform has resulted in a greater sense of community throughout our student body, providing students who may be feeling isolated a place to connect.

How can you support the mental health of your students? Don’t be afraid to leverage social media platforms or new technologies to check in on your student body.

Remember your Own Mental Health.

While your students’ mental health is essential, your staff and faculty’s mental health is just as vital. It is easy to overexert yourself as an educator. To best help students with their educational and mental health needs, you cannot forget to prioritize your well-being.

As one of our nursing instructors, Dr. Vicki Burns, wisely explains, “We cannot hope to bring comfort, community, and support to others if we are trying to access those things from an empty well. We must achieve a healthy work-life balance and care for ourselves physically, spiritually, and emotionally. We must keep as many healing rituals and routines in place as possible under the circumstances, and be careful guardians of what we allow ourselves to dwell upon. What we focus on can quickly become who we are, so we must be vigilant about how we wish that to look.”

Many FNU instructors are involved in the student message boards, but they have also established additional ways to check-in with themselves and their co-workers. Faculty/staff Zoom lunches and support sessions have created a time to vent and chat, email chains of positive messages have offered encouragement, and an overall dedication to checking in and being kind has helped provide stability to our team and, in turn, our students.

Take the time you need to prioritize self-care and implement ways to check in on your colleagues.

Give Grace.

Let us all remember the value of grace during these unsettling times. A Pandemic has a way of bringing life and what really matters into focus.

Throughout the past six months, FNU has been carefully reevaluating our policies and how they impact students in the wake of uncertainty. We’ve adjusted systems to allow for additional flexibility with deadlines, as many of our students are also working out on the Pandemic frontlines.

Dr. Jane Houston, our DNP Program Director, helps us to remember how vital kindness and understanding are this year.

“A little empathy can go a long way,” said Dr. Houston. “Remember how challenging it was to be a student before the advent of COVID-19? We cannot even comprehend what today’s students are going through- balancing work, life, family, school, and possibly illness. Right now, it is our responsibility to balance empathy with rigor.”

The end goal is always for students to get a full-quality education. However, if we can achieve that while giving allowances for the unexpected circumstances of 2020, our students will be better prepared to step into their new nursing roles with a kind heart and a strong spirit.

Give grace to your students. Give grace to your colleagues. Give grace to yourself. We’ll get through this together!

For more information on ways that FNU is continuing to enhance student education and promote our students, faculty, and staff, visit our blog and COVID-19 updates page.

How FNU Transitioned In-Person Sessions to Online Success During COVID-19

September 3, 2020 By Frontier Nursing University

While Frontier Nursing University (FNU) has been using a distance education model for more than thirty years, it has always relied on critical in-person sessions of training and fellowship to nurture student success. When COVID-19 began to pose a severe threat in the United States, FNU leadership knew they needed to find a way to keep students safe, while still providing quality education. Now more than ever, the country realizes the value of qualified nurse practitioners and nurse-midwives, and FNU is committed to increasing the number of dedicated individuals heading out to the frontlines. To maintain this commitment, Frontier had to make significant adjustments to some of these foundational sessions, including Frontier Bound, Clinical Bound, and the clinical experience.

When FNU realized the need to redesign Frontier Bound and Clinical Bound sessions, a lot needed to be considered. Both sessions are usually held at the Kentucky campus and allow for time to learn and connect with one another. Frontier Bound is a three-day introduction into the program, while Clinical Bound is a five-day clinical skill-intensive with hands-on training. How could FNU effectively hold these sessions without face-to-face interaction?

FNU faculty quickly began developing a new plan to create a digital format for the sessions, which would still promote community and provide quality education. By expanding the use of Zoom and other video technology, they were still able to benefit from the engagement of face-to-face communications without health risks. Leadership has been pleasantly surprised to find that the new session format has allowed for the same sense of community and renewed inspiration that students and faculty have always looked forward to at these events. Students are reporting positive feedback for session content while still feeling connected and supported.

Some of the specific changes made in the transition to an online format for Frontier Bound included taking extra time to invest in discussions of student concerns in the wake of COVID-19, conducting team-building activities, and assisting students with internet troubleshooting. Small breakout groups were especially helpful in ensuring an intimate setting in the distance environment.

Considering that FNU Clinical Bound sessions are built around hands-on skill-building activities, reworking the program required a lot of dedication as faculty members attempted to produce equivalent training for students. What resulted is a whole new Clinical Bound program designed around online simulations and student reenactments delivered through Zoom meetings. Before the experience began, FNU shipped supplies to each student, such as a suture pad and perineum model. These supplies allowed Clinical Bound Faculty to teach practical skills such as hand placement for birth and suturing. Because students had their own simulation tools, faculty could watch them do return demonstrations. These demonstrations were assessed and graded by faculty when students submitted physical assessment validation videos. Despite all of the changes, FNU educators have continued to see quality work from adaptive students. Notably, FNU’s clinical preceptors rated the students who attended virtual Clinical Bound sessions with very little difference in performance compared to students who had participated in on-site Clinical Bound sessions.

Following Clinical Bound, the next step in a student’s journey is working alongside a preceptor during their clinical practicum. Unfortunately, as a result of COVID-19, many of Frontier’s clinical sites have been unable to accept students over the past few months. For FNU leadership, translating this aspect of the student experience was undoubtedly the most challenging. However, after weeks of brainstorming and development, Frontier’s dynamic faculty created an equivalent and innovative program to fill this gap.

FNU successfully built a Virtual Clinical Simulations program for displaced clinical students. The program’s state-of-the-art simulation design provides virtual, lifelike scenarios for students. Some topics addressed include: taking patient history, handling pregnancy concerns during the wake of COVID-19, breastfeeding, and postpartum issues. Much like the Clinical Bound training, leadership is receiving positive feedback from students and staff as knowledgeable, confident, new nurse practitioners and nurse-midwives emerge from the program. This type of educational experience replaced 135 hours of the then-minimum requirement of 675 hours of on-site clinical experience during the first months of the Pandemic. This dramatically decreased the stress for FNU’s clinical site placement during this critical period as they adjusted to the demands of the Pandemic. Due to the positive response to these simulated clinical experiences, Frontier will continue to supplement in-person clinical with a selected simulated clinical time that is led by FNU faculty.

Although the Frontier community can’t wait to all unite in in-person fellowship again, we rest easy in the meantime, knowing our students, faculty, and staff continue to exceed expectations in adaptability, kindness, and comprehension.

For more information on ways that FNU is continuing to creatively and effectively adjust its curriculum to meet the community’s needs during COVID-19, visit the FNU blog and COVID-19 updates page.

View this special issue of the FNU Quarterly Bulletin, which focuses on how the FNU community has answered the call to combat the COVID-19 Pandemic.

COVID-19 Front Lines: Sunoz “Sunny” Soroosh Answers the Call at Makeshift Hospital in New York City

August 4, 2020 By frontieredu

The Frontier community is proud to have students and alumni serving on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic. We are committed to sharing their stories in order to provide insight, hope, and encouragement. Thank you to all the health care workers who are risking their own well-being daily to serve our nation. Click here to read more stories of courage and dedication.

The past several months have been rife with troubling news as we have seen a global pandemic change our daily lives. Meanwhile, our modern-day heroes of the healthcare system like Frontier Nursing University (FNU) student Sunoz “Sunny” Soroosh have continued to adapt and serve without hesitation.

Soroosh is a student of FNU’s Nurse-Midwifery (CNEP) program. She had expected to graduate in the Fall of 2020, after also completing her Women’s Health Care Nurse Practitioner (WHNP) Certificate. Soroosh was only 14 births away from graduating in mid-March when the pandemic brought her student clinicals to a screeching halt. After finding out clinicals would be postponed, she switched her part-time RN job at Planned Parenthood to full-time but was laid off two weeks later, like many others forced out of work in the wake of the pandemic. While disappointed, it didn’t stop her from looking for an opportunity to serve. Soroosh has been a resident of New York City for 10 years, so she naturally felt called to help those in her community.

“I never expected to find myself jobless and in the middle of one of the worst-hit areas by a pandemic, but I quickly adapted and found a way to help,” she said. “I was afraid at the beginning, but I tried to be brave and think of those who came before me — my mentors and role models at Frontier.”

Soroosh took a position at the Javits Center Medical Station in April, working alongside the U.S. Military. Javits Center, which is a large convention center known for hosting the New York City ComicCon and other events, was converted into a makeshift hospital for about a month when the surge hit.

At the epicenter of the pandemic, Soroosh worked alongside other nurses providing direct bedside care and helping patients wean off of oxygen so they could return home. Meanwhile, like many healthcare workers, she had to make personal sacrifices and isolated herself for the sake of her loved ones.

“I lived alone in a hotel to prevent my loved ones from getting sick and used a rental car to avoid public transportation and risking exposure to others,” she said.

While working in close proximity to the virus, Soroosh witnessed the inadequacies of the U.S. healthcare system, especially the lack of resources and qualified staff available in minority communities.

“We were not prepared for this pandemic,” she said. “I found this to be especially true in public hospitals in poor inner-city neighborhoods. Many deaths were preventable.”

Despite the frustrations, she says she also witnessed positive changes for maternity and family care. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo eased out-of-hospital birthing restrictions to give women more options during the pandemic. This led to the creation of Jazz Birth Center, a midwife-led birthing center for low-risk pregnancies, where Soroosh works as a birth assistant. Soroosh has seen its positive impact on the women of NYC throughout her time working there.

In addition to her work at Jazz Birth Center, Soroosh is also working as an RN at a public COVID-19 testing site run by the city, as well as finishing her clinical hours at North Central Bronx Hospital.

Thank you, Sunny, for being brave and answering the call in New York City. Your Frontier community is very proud of you.

COVID-19 Front Lines: Greta Gill CNM Embraces Positive Changes to Patient Care

July 23, 2020 By frontieredu

There’s no doubt that the COVID-19 pandemic has changed life as we know it, but for many Frontier Nursing University (FNU) graduates and faculty, their call to serve has remained the same. This especially rings true for Greta Cohn Gill MSN, CNEP Class 25.

Gill is a nurse-midwife and service director at El Rio Health, the largest and oldest midwifery service in Southern Arizona. She has had the privilege of caring for a wide range of patients – from Air force pilots, engineers, and professors to refugees, unaccompanied minors, people suffering from substance use disorder, and homelessness. Her midwifery team places a high priority on education, honoring patient preferences and role modeling health to influence long term outcomes for families.

Baseline community health needs have remained constant during the pandemic. Responding to the crisis and meeting baseline needs has required flexibility and creativity in the delivery of services.

“We were part of a relatively well-coordinated public health response initially,” said Gill. “Unfortunately, location mitigation orders were lifted without safeguards in place. Now we are experiencing a surge and remain in the first wave of the pandemic.”

As this first wave continues, Gill’s diligence has as well. Her clinical team, consisting of seven FNU alumni, two FNU faculty, and three FNU students, was able to leverage existing innovations and rapidly adapt.

“We have nurse-midwives on our team with health vulnerabilities. We needed to deploy our resources in a conservative and thoughtful manner. We have altered our on-call staffing to meet the needs of our mothers while lowering unnecessary exposure for the workforce. Our Centering program continues on Zoom. All of our nurse-midwives are able to meet with a client virtually. We were already offering early discharge in our alongside midwifery unit and we are pleased that more families are choosing this. And of course, there is an endless effort towards COVID testing and supporting those who are sick.”

She would never wish for a pandemic, but she is choosing to look at the bright side of how it’s transformed care.

The pandemic has required our team to examine institutionalized patterns, habits, and workflows. We laser-focused on the truly necessary components of maternity care. The pandemic has been a challenge but also an opportunity to remodel maternity care. We have become more honest about what mothers really need to have good outcomes.”, she said.

In 2020, El Rio Health celebrates its 50th birthday. The health center’s mission to care for the vulnerable in Tucson has never been more urgent. Currently, 25% of the clients at the health center test positive for the virus. In response, Gill and her team have rapidly adjusted to the changes in clinical practice.

“Nurse midwives are calm under pressure. I would bet our resilience is higher than in other professions. We find joy in being with families and this brings balance the constant clinical pressures that came with COVID 19,” Gill said.

Adaptations have made their way into the lives and rituals of the midwives. They even threw a drive-by baby shower to celebrate a CNM colleague who recently gave birth in their CABC accredited Alongside Midwifery Unit.

The crisis has also brought hope to the El Rio Midwives. They plan to leverage the great changes that happened as a result of COVID-19 and transform maternity care delivery.

“Generally innovative change is slow and incremental. COVID 19 has proven that we can and must do better without delay,” Gill said.

Beyond changes to maternity care delivery, Gill is also an advocate for growing the midwifery workforce locally. She has a vision of mentoring young people of color through nursing and midwifery education so that the midwifery workforce better reflects the community at large.

Thank you, Greta, for serving and being an advocate for your community of Tucson, Ariz. Most importantly, thank you for answering the call amidst this global pandemic.

COVID-19 Front Lines: Michelle Cochran Serves Patients After Recovering from COVID

July 6, 2020 By Frontier Nursing University

The Frontier community is proud to have students and alumni serving on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic. We are committed to sharing their stories in order to provide insight, hope, and encouragement. Thank you to all the health care workers who are risking their own well-being daily to serve our nation. Click here to read more stories of courage and dedication.

Everyone understands that working on the front lines of the COVID-19 Pandemic comes with inherent risk. Working as a nurse practitioner at Metro Immediate and Primary Care, which is part of the George Washington University Medical Faculty Associates, in Washington, D.C., Michelle Cochran, MSN, FNP, Class 71, experienced that risk first hand. When the pandemic hit, her clinic began providing assessment and testing for COVID-19 to help ease some of the demand on the hospital. Then, in April, she tested positive for the coronavirus.

“I started out thinking maybe I just had a cold,” Michelle said. “Initially I was sneezing and had nasal congestion, but by the evening I had a headache and felt a bit achy. That was five days after a known exposure, so I was tested the following day. My main symptoms were headaches and low-grade fever but I did develop secondary pneumonia at the end of week two. I would say it took three to four weeks to recover. I was retested negative at three-and-a-half weeks and returned to work after four weeks.”

While some might be understandably hesitant after such an experience, Michelle felt obligated to do more upon her return to work. She continues to take the proper precautions to prevent another infection, but she also intends to donate convalescent plasma and argues that she should be even more involved on the front lines.

“I feel I should take more of the testing shifts and potential exposure since I have the gift of antibodies,” she said.

Michelle has passed on the commitment to help others to her college-age son, who tested positive for COVID-19 in March. After recovering, he donated convalescent plasma at Johns Hopkins as part of a National Institutes of Health study and encouraged her to do the same after she recovered.

Michelle admits that the pandemic has brought more than a few moments of worry and doubt, but said she leaned on her experience at FNU as a reminder of her calling.

“When my clinic started to do COVID-19 testing in early March, I had a couple of days where I thought, ‘This isn’t what I signed up for as a primary care FNP,’” Michelle said. “But then I realized this is not what anyone signed up for, but it is what is needed in my community now. In that way, it is exactly what I signed up for as a community-based family nurse practitioner from FNU.”

When she’s not dealing with COVID-19, Michelle is part of a primary care practice that also features an adjacent urgent care clinic, where she also sees patients. Michelle moved to Washington, D.C., when she was four and it is where she continues to work, live, and raise her family. She says the racial disparity for COVID cases has been eye-opening.

“The racial disparity here in COVID severity is huge,” she said. “The percentage of patients testing positive for COVID who are Black is 46 percent, but the percentage of COVID deaths who are Black is 75 percent. The city has done an admirable job with testing availability and opening testing sites in wards of the city that do not have proximity to health care. But the fact that African American/Black people are dying from COVID complications in high numbers shows a disparity that we need to address at the root. Yes, the levels of hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidemia are high in this group in D.C., but why?”

“I believe we are seeing the physical effects of the stress of being Black in this country,” Michelle said. “It is not something that will be easy to address, but now is the time. It’s past time. It is a public health issue.”

From one healthcare crisis to the next, expect Michelle to be on the front lines, serving her community.

COVID-19 Front Lines: Julian Williams Answers the Call on FEMA Assignment

June 29, 2020 By Frontier Nursing University

The Frontier community is proud to have students and alumni serving on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic. We are committed to sharing their stories in order to provide insight, hope and encouragement. Thank you to all the health care workers who are risking their own well-being daily to serve our nation. Click here to read more stories of courage and dedication.

Sometimes “answer the call” means literally answering the call. When the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) called this spring, Julian Williams, RN, CMSRN, FNP-C, Bridge 144, answered. Julian was already on a FEMA assignment at the Woodhull Medical Center of Brooklyn where he was working in the inpatient internal medicine department when the pandemic swept the country and FEMA contacted him for COVID-19 disaster response. He began working at Coler Rehabilitation and Nursing in New York City.

“I came into this position knowing the inherent risks associated with exposure to COVID-19,” Julian said. “I won’t lie and say that I did not have my reservations given my own risk factor — an underlying heart abnormality — but I knew that my training, clinical expertise, and my commitment to healthcare necessitated my need to respond and help my new community. FNU taught me to ‘Answer the Call’ whenever and wherever I am needed. This was no exception. It was my pleasure and duty to respond when called.”

Julian was born in Bridgeport, Conn., but spent most of his youth in North Carolina before moving to New York after college. When he’s not on contract with FEMA, Julian works at South Shore Family Medical Associates in Inwood, NY. There, his scope of practice is within the realm of family medicine. The practice provides preventative health maintenance, chronic disease management, acute illness management, as well as in-house services via specialists. Julian estimates that the typical outpatient volume is 25-plus visits per day.

“Prior to COVID-19, life was a bit simpler,” Julian said. “Besides treatment for the more common viral/bacterial illnesses, and/or chronic disease management, the healthcare burden was not as amplified as it has been recently. Things have certainly improved, but there is not a single day that COVID-19 is not a topic of discussion within our panel of providers. Prior to beginning my current assignment at the post-acute care facility, COVID swept through the facility like a whirlwind; there were some deaths, and we now appear to be on a decline of COVID positive patients. However, our daily discussions focus on COVID case tracking, quarantine protocols, and learning how to better synthesize laboratory data as it pertains to COVID infection and symptom/disease remission.”

In addition to wearing the appropriate PPE, Julian is swabbed twice per week for COVID-19 infection. He credits that diligence and his own personal health routines for helping him to stay healthy thus far.

“I think my judiciousness toward implementing the safety precautions has helped me remain healthy,” Julian said. “However, I still take my daily multivitamins, vitamin B12, Zinc, and Vitamin C for good measure. One cannot be too careful.”

Further precaution includes the FEMA mandate that the healthcare workers stay in a local hotel to reduce the risk of spreading the virus to the public. At Coler Rehabilitation and Nursing, Julian has been working in an inpatient setting as well as in post-acute care.

“FNU prepared me for COVID by equipping me with the clinical knowledge, confidence, and skills necessary to care for the acutely ill during this pandemic,” Julian said. “While I have seen my fair share of deaths due to COVID infection, I would say that my experience has been a bit different, especially in the post-acute care setting, as many of the patients have been COVID positive, but completely asymptomatic and otherwise healthy. I tell my patients that there is still much to learn about COVID-19, and as recommendations change, so will our approach to treatment; however, in the meantime we will continue to focus on tightly managing your chronic conditions, as well as provide evidence-based treatment to mitigate the effects of health decline secondary to COVID.”

While there are still more questions than answers regarding the pandemic, one thing remains clear. When the call for help comes, Julian will be there to answer it.

COVID-19 Front Lines: Tammy Andrews Faces the Pandemic in the ER

June 15, 2020 By Frontier Nursing University

The Frontier community is proud to have students and alumni serving on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic. Throughout the next few weeks, we are committed to sharing their stories in order to provide insight, hope and encouragement. Thank you to all the health care workers who are risking their own well-being daily to serve our nation. Click here to read more stories of courage and dedication.

One of the mysteries of the coronavirus is how it impacts people differently. It is fatal in some, while others display few if any symptoms. Life in the midst of the pandemic impacts everyone differently as well. Some have experienced the loss of work, some have missed out on major life events like weddings and graduations, and some continue to face the risks in service to others.

Tammy Andrews, FNP-BC, APRN, Class 72, is among those healthcare heroes working on the front line. In addition to seeing the impact of the virus on patients and their loved ones, she has also felt the weight of COVID-19 on her own family.

“Anyone who works in healthcare is very conscientious about the potential of spreading this virus to their loved ones,” Tammy said. “We have a new grandbaby that is seven weeks old that we still have been unable to visit. My father has end-stage COPD and cancer and it has been very hard to decide whether to visit him or to avoid exposing him to this virus. The overall stress that this has taken on everyone physically and mentally has been huge.”

A nurse for 33 years and counting, Tammy knows what she’s talking about. Born and raised in Irvine, Ky., Tammy began her nursing career at Central Baptist Hospital in Lexington, where she worked for 16 years. She then gained her first direct experience with emergency nursing as a flight nurse for Air Methods Kentucky, an air medical transport service, for six years. Tammy next became an ER nurse at Saint Joseph Hospital in Lexington.

“Working in the ER I was able to see just how many patients did not have primary care providers and who depended on ER for their care,” Tammy said. “I loved to teach and wanted to be able to do more for my patients.”

That desire to do more led her to pursue her Master of Science in Nursing degree (MSN) at Frontier Nursing University (FNU) while continuing to work in the ER.

“When I started applying to schools I fell in love with the history of Frontier and knew that was where I wanted to attend,” Tammy said. “I still have my email with my acceptance information. I had been an associate’s degree nurse (ADN) for 23 years before returning to school. I have maintained all of my acute care certifications and I am getting ready to take the Certified Emergency Nurse examination.”

Tammy credits her training, education, and experience for preparing for the unique situations created by the pandemic.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has been especially scary for us in the ER as we see all types of sick patients,” said Tammy. “However, I have always felt very safe and secure at my work. We have been appropriately educated and have had all of the PPE we need. My education and years of nursing experience have helped to prepare me for taking care of this very sick population.”

COVID-19 has obviously impacted the health of those who have contracted the virus, but it has also had health-related effects on many of those who have remained virus-free. Fear of the virus has caused many sick patients to delay needed medical care.

“The general public has been too scared to come to the emergency room and now that they are coming in they are much sicker,” Tammy said, noting that the reduction in the number of non-COVID patients has led to a reduction of patients in many hospitals and clinics.

“We are seeing half the patients we normally do and there has been a modest reduction of staff due to lack of volume. We have had a significant reduction in our hours. It is important for the public to realize that it is safe to come to the emergency room. We are taking all precautions to prevent the spread of COVID and prevent anyone from getting sicker by visiting the emergency rooms.”

While no one has all the answers, Tammy understands that the pandemic is impacting everyone in some form or fashion. She has seen it first-hand, both personally and from the front lines.

COVID-19 Front Lines: Heather Friend Makes Adjustments In Oregon

June 1, 2020 By Frontier Nursing University

In times of crisis, it is easy to see the bad; however, it is during these times that finding the good is the most important. During the COVID-19 pandemic, we are fortunate to be able to celebrate the heroic efforts of those on the front lines. One of those heroes is Frontier Nursing University (FNU) graduate and current Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) student Heather Friend, MSN, FNP, DNP Class 36.

While she was originally born in the tiny coastal town of Crescent City, CA, Heather has lived in the greater Medford southern Oregon area since birth. In 2005, Heather became a registered nurse (RN) and worked in the emergency room and as a Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner. Currently pursuing her DNP at FNU, she is also X-Waivered, allowing her to treat patients with opioid use disorder. She currently works at the La Clinica Wellness Center, a federally qualified health center in southern Oregon where she has been for nearly two years.

“The center continues to be a key asset in the COVID-19 response,” Heather said. La Clinica Wellness Center is located in Jackson County, which was the number one county in Oregon for testing per population capita and number five in the nation for testing per capita at the time of this interview.

“Frontier cultivated a resilience to press on even when daunting tasks are flung in the path such as this pandemic,” she said. “FNU taught me to be open to change, to think with a big picture view, and to ask the tough questions to make successful transformations in how we approach and care for our communities.”

As Heather and La Clinica face the COVID-19 pandemic, they are learning valuable lessons, as they take safety precautions to protect themselves and patients. The staff at La Clinica are wearing masks and implementing temperature checks. However, they are reusing masks due to the limited supply of personal protective equipment.

In this time of unprecedented fear, Heather makes addressing her patient’s concerns and needs a priority. She says that Mary Breckinridge’s legacy drives her to continue the challenging work. In fact, she chose La Clinica Wellness Center, the only place that she applied because she feels that it represents the mission of Frontier. The position, especially during the pandemic, has allowed her to utilize the skills that Frontier has taught her.

“The pandemic has forced us to make many rapid changes, sometimes several in one day,” she said. One such change is implementing Telehealth visits, which she says occasionally take place on her farm so that she can manage her responsibilities as a mother and a practitioner. Roosters, alpacas, goats, and sheep make musical melodies as she visits with patients digitally.

While COVID-19 has presented issues, La Clinica Wellness Center focused on experimenting with innovative measures early on. The clinic has designed outreach protocols with the most at-risk patients as the highest priority. These measures include calling mental health and substance use patients weekly.

Despite the challenges, Heather has found a silver lining in the situation: “Oregon is one of the best states to work as a Family Nurse Practitioner. Our autonomy has allowed us to make huge contributions to the care of our patients as well as other provider’s panels when they are not in the clinic. The new law allowing NPs to sign home health orders has been a lifesaver.”

She continued, “All of these changes have pushed me far outside my comfort level but it has truly advanced my practice into a new world of technology as well as building resilience through hardships.”