Dr. Jeanine Valrie-Logan Prepares to Open Birth Center in Chicago’s Urban Underserved South Side

February 6, 2023 By Frontier Nursing University

Growing up, Jeanine Valrie-Logan, CNM (FNU Class 146), MSN, MPH, wanted to be an opera singer or a doctor. Today, she’s neither one, but she’s putting both her medical and communications talents to good use. She is in the process of opening the Chicago Southside Birth Center and is spreading the word throughout the community, which currently has no other birth centers nearby.

“Geographically, there’s nothing there,” said Valrie-Logan, who currently works part-time as a certified nurse-midwife at the Birth Center PCC in Berwyn, Illinois. When PCC Community Wellness Center (PCC) opened the birth center in 2014, it was the state’s first freestanding birth center. “For me, going to work from the south side of Chicago takes about an hour, and that’s when you get to a first birth center. People are traveling from everywhere to come see us at PCC because there’s nothing in between.”

If all continues according to plan, the Chicago Southside Birth Center will be that place in between by late 2023. The plans are well underway, including the purchase of a building in the Avalon neighborhood on the south side of Chicago. Since January 2022, Valrie-Logan has had a fellowship with Chicago Beyond, an investment organization through which she is managing the development of the birth center. She has undertaken the legal tasks involved in opening a birth center, including the completion of a certificate of need and establishing transfer agreements with local hospitals. She has also overseen plans to construct a 2,000-square-foot addition to the building, with the space to be used as birth center suites. She hopes to have state approval of the project by late winter of 2023 and to begin construction shortly thereafter.

Central to beginning construction, of course, will be having the funds to do. Valrie-Logan has been writing and submitting grants and creating GoFundMe campaigns to keep the project on track. Initially, she budgeted $1.9 million for the construction and renovation, but when the bids came back, that number grew to $3.2 million.

“Fundraising has its ebbs and flows,” Valrie-Logan said. “We will get this grant or that grant, and then the next three grants we won’t get. I’m working on a major donor fundraising plan right now. It’s exciting figuring out who I can make the ask to or what connections can be made to get some larger investment. We’re hoping to make connections and get some municipal funding.”

The birth center will be operated as a nonprofit. The plans are for the birth center to have two midwives in addition to Valrie-Logan in the first year, along with two birth assistants and support staff, including accounting, administration, and a receptionist. Valrie-Logan has projections for the number of births at the birth center, starting with year one and growing each year after that.

Community Support for the Birth Center

Her confidence in the success and growth of the birth center stems from the community support it has received already and the overall community needs for the birth center.

Avalon is a predominantly black community, and the birth center sits on a major thoroughfare, five minutes from the closest hospital, with which Valrie-Logan has secured a transfer agreement.

“It’s really beautiful because three community hospitals have closed since 2019,” Valrie-Logan said. “The big one that’s left – the University of Chicago – doesn’t take all the insurance. It’s the only one that has a midwifery practice. From the feedback I’m getting, our birth center is being very well received by community members and stakeholders. A lot of my time since January has been spent community building, letting people know about the project, and making connections. I recently met with the lieutenant governor. It’s just been amazing.”

Once the birth center is open, a board of directors will provide guidance, which Valrie-Logan welcomes with open arms.

“I wanted to make it a place where everyone who works there feels ownership in it – how we work, when we work, what kind of programs we are offering with guidance from the people who will receive those services,” she said. “We have a community survey that people can go to the website and take. It takes about two minutes and asks what kind of services do you want to see in the space? What kind of qualifications do you want to see in your provider? Do you want them to speak Spanish? Do you want them to provide gender-affirming care? These are all things we envision for the space, but we also want to receive confirmation from the community.”

Valrie-Logan understands that meeting the community’s needs means being more than a birth center. Born and raised in Evanston, Illinois, Valrie-Logan attended DePaul University for her undergraduate degree. Her first birth work, however, was in Washington, D.C., while she was attending George Washington University. She volunteered at Dr. Ruth Lubic’s birth center, Community of Hope, and became a doula. There, she saw firsthand the importance a birth center could have in the community.

“I just loved it,” Valrie-Logan said. “My friend was getting prenatal care there, and I was like, ‘What is this magical place where you can see a midwife and then go to your childbirth ed class?’ One thing we want to focus on at Chicago Southside Birth Center is not only to be a place where people can get prenatal care and have a baby. We really want to have a heavy reproductive healthcare model. We eventually want to bring on a nurse practitioner who can see the whole family in the space as well. We have a space of about 2,000 square feet in the back of the clinic that would be a community garden. We know people don’t have access to food or transportation, and we want to fill at least some of those gaps.”

"I didn’t want to lose what brought me to midwifery. It was community work and it was community birth. I knew the history of Frontier, the history of getting on a horse and going to someone’s home and being with them at birth. I didn’t want to insert myself into a system that I didn’t feel was authentic to me. I wanted to really be strong in what it means to be a midwife."
- Jeanine Valrie-Logan, CNM (FNU Class 146), MSN, MPH

Answering the Call

Public service comes naturally to Valrie-Logan, as many of her family members have served in community leadership roles, such as aldermen, school superintendents, and school board members.

“It’s very inspirational, knowing that this is my legacy,” Valrie-Logan said. “I can do this. My family has done this. I have something to lean on.”

In addition to her family, Valrie-Logan also gained inspiration from a trip to South Africa shortly after she completed her undergraduate degree. The experience involved spending 6-12 months in South Africa working with community-based organizations.

“We always talk about being called. I was definitely called to midwifery,” Valrie-Logan said. “It was emergent to me when I was in South Africa, and I could see the midwives. They were organized, they were activists, they were raising families, and helping out neighbors all at the same time.”

After her time in Washington, D.C., Valrie-Logan and her husband Walter moved back to Chicago and were soon preparing for the birth of their first child. They searched for a birth center, but there were none there yet. That was in 2010, and it marked the beginning of her plans to one day open a birth center in the city.

She understands not only the impact that a birth center can have but also the impact the presence of a provider who looks like the patients they are caring for can have as well.

“There’s research that shows that when patients have the same racial or ethnic background as their providers, they have better outcomes,” Valrie-Logan said. “We plan to hire nurse-midwives who look like the community and live in the community so when, for example, someone is coming in, and they don’t have food, we know exactly what you mean because we’re a part of this same community and these are some of the resources that we have for you to access.”

“This is what concordant care looks like,” she continued. “I’m invested in what’s happening in this community. Everyone in this community looks like me. I want to make sure that the folks I’m seeing are safe and have what they need. We are envisioning Chicago South Side Birth Center as a place where we are actually listening to people and affirming people’s whole selves and their autonomy to the kind of care they want to receive. I think that goes a long way to changing outcomes for individuals.”

Valrie-Logan credits Frontier Nursing University with helping to cultivate and shape her natural inclination to community service and leadership. When choosing where to go to become a certified nurse-midwife, she said the choice was clear.

“At the time, my choices were either the brick-and-mortar at the University of Illinois-Chicago or Frontier,” she said. “I didn’t want to lose what brought me to midwifery. It was community work and it was community birth. I knew the history of Frontier, the history of getting on a horse and going to someone’s home and being with them at birth. I didn’t want to insert myself into a system that I didn’t feel was authentic to me. I wanted to really be strong in what it means to be a midwife.”

We are proud of the work Jeanine has done so far and look forward to seeing what the future has in store for her! Valrie-Logan and her husband, Walter, have three daughters: Ahimsa, 12; Satya, 8; and Nyahbingi, 4. To learn more about FNU’s certified nurse-midwifery program, visit our website.

Free to Breastfeed: Voices of Black Mothers
By Jeanine Valrie-Logan and Anayah Sangodele-Ayoka

Before she launched her plan to open a birth center, Jeanine Valrie- Logan became a published author. She and co-author Anayah Sangodele-Ayoka wrote Free to Breastfeed: Voices of Black Mothers. Valrie-Logan said the idea to write the book was inspired by her mother, who passed away while Jeanine was still in college.

“She had metastatic breast cancer,” Valrie-Logan said. “She always told me growing up that she felt like she was deprived of breastfeeding because she started having breast surgeries like lumps and cysts when she was 13. When she had me, they told her adamantly, do not breastfeed because that can cause cancer. This was in 1978. When she got breast cancer and was learning about how breastfeeding actually is a protective factor for developing breast cancer, she would always tell me, ‘When you have kids, breastfeed. What they told me was wrong.’ I knew I was going to breastfeed, not only because of the health benefits but also as a reparation – an homage to what my mother wasn’t able to do.”

The book came out in 2012, the same year as the first Black Breastfeeding Week, of which Anayah is one of the founders.

Frontier Nursing University Names Dr. Eva Fried as Clinical Director of Midwifery and Women’s Health

November 1, 2022 By Frontier Nursing University

Frontier Nursing University (FNU) has announced Eva Fried, DNP, CNM, WHNP, as the Clinical Director of Midwifery and Women’s Health. Dr. Fried earned her bachelor’s degree in Women’s Studies from The Ohio State University and went on to complete a Women’s Health Nurse Nurse Practitioner program at Ohio State, earning a Master of Science degree. She earned a Doctor of Nursing Practice from Wright State University and a post-graduate certificate in nurse-midwifery from FNU. Her distinguished career as an educator includes positions as an adjunct professor and clinical faculty advisor at Georgetown University, an assistant professor at Otterbein University, and associate professor and nurse-midwifery program director at the University of Cincinnati.

“We are extremely excited to announce Dr. Fried as our new Clinical Director of Midwifery and Women’s Health,” said FNU Dean of Nursing Dr. Joan Slager, CNM, DNP, FACNM, FAAN. “Her experience and expertise as both an educator and practitioner provide a tremendous resource for our students and the university as a whole.”

Dr. Fried’s clinical experience began as a certified professional midwife in 1993. She then worked as a women’s health nurse practitioner at the Columbus Neighborhood Health Centers and then Professionals for Women’s Health, both in Columbus, Ohio. In this role, she provided comprehensive care, including gynecology and pregnancy care. She is currently a certified nurse-midwife and women’s health nurse practitioner at University Hospitals health system in Cleveland and Ashland, Ohio.

“Dr. Fried has a long history of care as a certified nurse-midwife and as a nurse practitioner,” said FNU Department Chair for the Department of Midwifery and Women’s Health Dr. Eileen Thrower, Ph.D., APRN, CNM, CNE, FACNM. “Her clinical and academic experience combined with her passion for educating our students makes her a great fit as our Clinical Director of Midwifery and Women’s Health.”

Dr. Fried’s many awards and accomplishments include the American College of Nurse-Midwives Excellence in Teaching Award in 2020 and 2021. She was named the Clinical Faculty Advisor of the Year at Georgetown University in 2018 and won the Faculty Scholar Development Award for Summer Writing at Otterbein University in 2017.

Dr. Fried’s service to the profession includes chairing the Publications Committee of The American College of Nurse-Midwives and serving as the Treasurer and Chair-elect of the Accreditation Commission for Midwifery Education (ACME). Her areas of scholarly interest include anti-racism in midwifery education and LGBTQIA+ welcoming healthcare environments with an umbrella interest in belongingness in both educational and healthcare environments.

“I find partnering with patients in their health care to be tremendously satisfying, and I enjoy preparing students to do the same,” Dr. Fried said. “I strongly believe in the mission of Frontier Nursing University and am honored to be part of a university that is committed to preparing excellent nursing professionals.”

Eva and her wife Amy are the parents of six adult children and currently make their home between Columbus, Ohio, and Charlotte, North Carolina.

Dr. Catherine Collins-Fulea Selected as American Academy of Nursing Fellow

August 9, 2022 By Frontier Nursing University

The American Academy of Nursing (Academy) announced that Frontier Nursing University (FNU) Assistant Professor Catherine Collins-Fulea, DNP, CNM, FACNM, has been selected to be inducted into the 2022 Class of Fellows. Dr. Collins-Fulea is one of 250 distinguished nursing leaders selected by the Academy who will be formally inducted into the 2022 Class of Fellows during the Academy’s annual Health Policy Conference, October 27-29 in Washington, D.C.

After completing her basic nursing and midwifery education in England, Dr. Collins-Fulea opened an in-hospital birthing center at Grace Hospital in Detroit in 1981 when only five other certified nurse-midwives (CNMs) were practicing in the entire state. She joined the Henry Ford Health System in Detroit in 1991, where she started a new practice with six other CNMs. Over the years, she grew this practice into one of the most respected in the state, leading 22 midwives at two hospitals and practicing in eight outpatient centers.

Dr. Collins-Fulea, who received her Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) degree from FNU, joined the FNU faculty in January 2019. She has also been active professionally on both the state and national levels with the American College of Nurse-Midwives (ACNM), having recently completed a two-year term as the president of ACNM. She has also chaired many ACNM committees, including the national quality management section, the division of standards and practice, the service directors network, and the volunteer structure re-alignment task force. In addition, she has served as a regional representative on the ACNM board of directors and two terms as vice president.

“We are very proud to have Dr. Collins-Fulea at Frontier,”FNU Dean of Nursing Dr. Joan Slager, CNM, DNP, FACNM, FAAN, who was selected as an American Academy of Nursing fellow in 2020, said. “As a national leader and advocate for nursing and nurse-midwifery, she continues to set a great example for her students and fellow faculty. “

“I am truly honored to be selected for induction as a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing,” Dr. Collins-Fulea said. “The Academy is highly regarded for its longstanding commitment to promote and advocate for the nursing profession. I look forward to doing my part to help forward the Academy’s mission.”

The Academy serves the public by advancing health policy and practice through the generation, synthesis, and dissemination of nursing knowledge. Academy Fellows are inducted into the organization for their extraordinary contributions to improve health locally and globally. With more than 2,900 Fellows, the Academy represents nursing’s most accomplished leaders in policy, research, administration, practice, and academia.

“As the American Academy of Nursing’s President, it gives me great pride to announce the largest class of Fellows since the organization began nearly 50 years ago,” said Kenneth R. White, Ph.D., RN, AGACNP, ACHPN, FACHE, FAAN. “At a time when investments in, and policy to address, health equity, innovation, and access are paramount, the Academy is thrilled to welcome these dynamic and courageous nurse leaders who will support our collective vision of healthy lives for all people. Induction in the Academy is a powerful moment in a nurse’s career. When we gather this fall, to award the Fellowship credential, I look forward to celebrating each Fellow’s incredible accomplishments that have improved the well-being of communities across the globe.”

Through a competitive and rigorous application process, the Academy’s Fellow Selection Committee, which is comprised of elected and appointed Fellows, reviewed a record number of applications, representing a 30% increase from the previous year, ultimately selecting the 2022 Fellows based on their contributions to advance the public’s health. Induction into the Academy is a significant milestone in which past and current accomplishments are honored by their colleagues within and outside the profession. To learn more about the 2022 Class of Fellows, visit this website.

FNU Celebrates the Life of Kitty Ernst and Encourages Donations to Scholarship in Her Name

May 25, 2022 By Frontier Nursing University

Kitty Ernst was a mentor, visionary, taskmaster, cheerleader, and dear friend to Frontier Nursing University (FNU). As we mourn the loss of this wonderful woman, educator, and pioneer for nurse-midwifery, we reflect on her life and the legacy that she leaves behind. Kitty planted the seeds for community-based midwifery and led the development and implementation of FNU’s Community-based Nurse-midwifery Education Program (CNEP) program.

To honor Kitty’s incredible impact on Frontier, we worked with Kitty to create the Kitty Ernst Scholarship Fund to support Frontier nurse-midwifery students. Just as she foresaw the need for community-based advanced practice nursing, Kitty also recognized the need to assist our students. She knew that minimizing student debt would enable graduates to focus fully on their call to serve.

Kitty was always a big proponent of giving back and paying it forward. We invite you to ‘Answer the Call’ and contribute to the scholarship fund.

Click Here to Make a Gift Online

At the American College of Nurse-Midwives Annual Meeting and Exhibition, FNU debuted a special Kitty Ernst Tribute video at our FNU Alumni & Friends Reception. We invite you to watch the video and reflect on the incredible impact Kitty left on FNU and the entire midwifery community.

There is no better way to honor Kitty’s legacy and the opportunities the nurse-midwifery program provides to our students than by making a gift of your own. We are asking the FNU community to help build this fund to $500,000. Meeting our goal of $500,000 would allow us to give significant scholarships to nurse-midwifery students each year, celebrating Kitty’s commitment to the midwifery profession in perpetuity.

To learn more about the Kitty Ernst Scholarship Fund and Kitty’s life, please visit our website. Any amount that you can give to the scholarship fund is a boost for our future midwives. We thank you for your contribution to this scholarship in Kitty’s name.

Click Here to Make a Gift Online

FNU Graduates Open Midwifery Clinic Aimed at Making Homebirth Midwifery Affordable and Available to Everyone

May 5, 2022 By Frontier Nursing University

(L to R) Caitlin Hainley, DNP, ARNP-CNM, IBCLC and Emily Zambrano-Andrews, DNP, ARNP-CNM

When your business offers something no one else does, it’s either because you’re ahead of the curve or there’s a reason no one else is doing it. For Drs. Caitlin Hainley and Emily Zambrano-Andrews, both might very well be true.

Fellow Frontier Nursing University (FNU) alumni Hainley, DNP, ARNP-CNM, IBCLC, and Zambrano-Andrews, DNP, ARNP-CNM opened the Des Moines Midwife Collective on September 1, 2021. Their clinic is the first in central Iowa and only the second in the entire state to accept insurance care for homebirth midwifery services. They understand why others don’t accept insurance, but more importantly, they know why Des Moines Midwife Collective does.

“What we really want to do here is bring accessible care,” said Hainley, Companion DNP Class 5. “I want to be the type of midwife I wish had been around when I was having babies. I want to be open to all socioeconomic demographics.”

“We want to give women access to care and to serve women of all backgrounds,” said Zambrano-Andrews, Companion DNP Class 5. “That’s hard to do when you are cash pay only and don’t take insurance.”

So hard to do, in fact, that the only other clinic in the state that accepts insurance for home birth midwifery care is a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) located in the northwest corner of the state, approximately four hours from Des Moines.

Without insurance, Hainley said home birth costs between $6,000 and $7,000 and must be paid upfront in cash. “That prices out so many of our population,” she said. “Those lower socioeconomic groups are really at a disadvantage at finding midwifery home birth care.”

Hainley and Zambrano-Andrews come by their passion to serve women of all ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds honestly. Included in the insurances they accept is Medicaid.

“Medicaid reimbursement is not always very high, but it’s just important for us to provide access,” Hainley said. “We were once the Medicaid moms looking for midwives. We have both been poor. We’ve both been on Medicaid and food stamps. Accessing kind, respectful, equitable care is important to us because we’ve been there.”

Both of these Iowa midwives were born and raised in rural Iowa but took different routes to arrive where they are today. Zambrano-Andrews gave birth to her first child when she was 19. It was an experience that forged her path to becoming a nurse-midwife.

“I was on state insurance so I felt like I had to go to one place,” Zambrano-Andrews said. “A nurse practitioner gave me most of my care, but then my delivery was with an OB and that was not the most pleasant experience. I decided I wanted to go to nursing school after I had my daughter. I wanted to be a labor delivery nurse to be supportive of women.”

One of Zambrano-Andrews’ instructors in nursing school was FNU graduate Ann Ersland, MSN, Class 32.

“She was my motivator and my mentor,” Zambrano-Andrews said. “She was a huge influence to me. Doing clinicals with her and learning what midwives do and what the difference is between midwives and OB physicians was fascinating. I knew someday I wanted to be a midwife but I felt like I just needed to do nursing for a while to get experience.”

Zambrano-Andrews was a nurse for 10 years at a small-town hospital before deciding it was time to become a midwife.

“At that time I had two children,” she said. “After I went to my orientation week for Frontier I found out I was pregnant with my third. I decided to push through and do school. When I started my DNP program I found out I was pregnant with my fourth.”

With few jobs available after the fellowship, Zambrano-Andrews took a hospital-based midwifery position but found it unsatisfying compared to her out-of-hospital work. That’s when she reconnected with her former FNU classmate Hainley, who was working at Primary Healthcare, an FQHC that served a large uninsured and underinsured population.

Unlike Zambrano-Andrews, Hainley did not stay in Iowa after finishing high school. She spent some time traveling along the east coast and taking classes at community colleges. She ultimately went to Harding University in Arkansas, where she met her husband and graduated with a degree in English. She and her husband then moved to China for five years. She taught British and American literature at a university there, then got involved in pregnancy and birth education.

“I basically helped any foreigner in our area of China who needed help navigating the Chinese hospital system during pregnancy, birth, or lactation,” Hainley said. “I had a doula business. I got really interested in women’s health.”

The couple moved back to Iowa in 2011 and Hainley immediately began taking classes to become an RN. After graduating, she started at FNU in 2014, ultimately going into the DNP program with Zambrano-Andrews.

“We met when I was finishing my RN,” Hainley said. “Emily had already been a nurse for about 10 years at that point and she was getting ready to go back to midwifery school and I knew I was going to midwifery school. We were both in love with home birth. We had home births ourselves and we talked about how we wanted to do home birth when we graduated. We were in many of the same classes in school and we worked together our last two years before we opened our own clinic.”

The decision to open their own clinic was not only the fulfillment of a dream but also the opportunity to put into place some ideas that had been percolating for years. Both had experienced the lack of access to the type of care they wanted and were determined to offer that very service to the women in their community.

“There were times throughout my own pregnancies and births where I could not access affordable care. I ended up having two babies at home without a midwife, just because of the lack of access to care,” Hainley said. “Because we had been there ourselves, we had a lot of great ideas but we didn’t have the power at our previous place of employment to enact them. So, we finally said, if they are such great ideas, let’s just take them and build them ourselves.”

They did a business plan and knew what they wanted their clinic to look and feel like. There was plenty they didn’t know, but they jumped in with both feet and hit the ground running. In the months since opening, they have learned much and recognize they have much more to learn. They deal with the challenges of accepting insurance willingly while acknowledging the challenges it presents.

“Taking insurance costs a lot,” Hainley said. “You have to have malpractice insurance, which costs a lot. Some of the home birth midwives don’t have that because they don’t take insurance and they don’t have to have it. You have to have good billers. All of this costs money and time, so I understand why they don’t. It is a struggle to bring that valued home birth care to an affordable setting. But it’s worth it. It’s worth it for every person’s life who is touched by that care.”

“Hopefully we’re improving health outcomes for our state and our community,” Zambrano-Andrews added. “There’s a lot of places where women got prenatal care here that have closed their doors. They have to drive a long way to get care. I feel like midwifery care, in general, has more of a wellness approach so I’m hoping that community health improves by what we’re doing here.”

Not only is the Des Moines Midwife Collective unique in its willingness to accept insurance, but it is also the first free-standing lactation clinic in the state of Iowa. Hainley has her International Board of Lactation Consultant certification and ZambranoAndrews is working toward hers.

Currently, they have no staff other than themselves. They function not only as the nurse-midwives, but also the receptionists, schedulers, greeters, and billers.

“It’s so costly to provide affordable care, but it’s worth it to us,” Hainley said. “We are building something for future generations and we’re building something to prove it can be done. We get to do that together and it’s really a great thing to have a partner in this.”

In the clinic, they do prenatal visits, lactation appointments, and women’s healthcare. In the home, they do births, 36-week prenatal visits, and a 24-hour postpartum visit. Some lactation visits are also offered in the home. Their years of experience in the community have helped them make multiple connections in the event of cases in which medical care in a hospital setting is required.

Both Hainley and Zambrano-Andrews are thankful for the preparation provided to them by FNU. They were both drawn to FNU’s history and community-based emphasis.

“I picked Frontier because they were more community-based,” Zambrano-Andrews said. “I felt like their focus on supporting birth centers was what really drew me to Frontier versus other programs.”

“They have such a great community background and they have a great emphasis on building community,” Hainley added. “They have such an emphasis on community and that fits really well with what we’re doing. Some of that was fostered and grown by how Frontier runs its program.”

The Des Moines Midwife Collective has received great support since its opening and has been welcomed by other midwives in the area. While the learning curve of owning a business has been steep and some challenges still loom, it has all been worth it so far.

“We have very appreciative clients who are so amazed that we are here and are taking insurance so they can have the desired birth they want,” Zambrano-Andrews said.

“You sacrifice for what’s important to you,” Hainley said. “It’s more than just putting a sign in a yard. It’s living a life that is meaningful even if nobody knows what you’re doing. It’s a sacrifice for what’s important.”

Learn more about the Des Moines Midwife Collective at www.midwifedesmoines.com. You can learn more about FNU’s Certified Nurse-Midwifery program by visiting our website.

Editor’s Note: During the course of the interview, Hainley and Zambrano-Andrews expressed their gratitude for so many people who have helped them and made sacrifices to aid them in this journey. In particular, they wanted to acknowledge their families and say, “Thank you to our friends and family who have helped us along the way.”

Zambrano-Andrew’s family includes her husband Jesus Zambrano, whom she calls “her biggest supporter. If I didn’t have him, I don’t know if I’d be a midwife.” Together they have five children: Mina, Olivia, Elio, Giselle, and Elena.

Hainley and her husband Matt have four children: Juliet, Zella, Snowden, and Gemma. She also wanted to express her appreciation for her parents, Royce and Lisa. “My dad did so much contracting and manual labor work for us,” she said. “It wouldn’t have looked as pretty if he wasn’t involved. And my mom has helped paint and has taken up all the slack while my dad helps us.”

Join Frontier Nursing University in celebrating National Public Health Week

April 3, 2022 By Frontier Nursing University

The past two years have shown us: Public health is critical. That’s why Frontier Nursing University (FNU) is excited to be a part of the 27th National Public Health Week, celebrated April 4-10.

We know public health is more than a single topic; it’s countless issues and practices that help every American to live as long and as well as they can. This year, we’re joining the American Public Health Association in their celebration: Public Health is Where You Are. The COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing public health crisis of racism in the U.S. have shown us it’s now more important than ever to come together and support well-being and health equity in our communities.

Over the past year, there are many things the FNU community has done to support health equity in our communities. Several alumni and students are already making an impact in their home communities and recognizing where the need is greatest. We’ve created content on the importance of advocacy. FNU provided educational sessions for nurse-midwives and nurse practitioners focusing on antiracism, quality improvement, health equity and substance use disorders. Additionally, our new Versailles, Ky. campus became a COVID-19 vaccination site for our local Kentucky community, Woodford County.

These initiatives and actions fit our mission, which is to provide accessible nurse-midwifery and nurse practitioner education to prepare competent, entrepreneurial, ethical, and compassionate leaders in primary care to serve all individuals with an emphasis on women and families in diverse, rural, and underserved populations.

How can you get involved?

Celebrate and reinforce gratitude for public health. Look for ways to strengthen our communities, locally and globally. Name and dismantle racism in your community. Hold accountable those responsible for climate change. Urge your elected leaders to prioritize families by advancing policies for paid sick leave and a living wage, and to protect public health workers by ensuring public health authority. Work to make sure health and wellness are not just available, but accessible to everyone in your community. There are countless ways to make your voice heard and become part of the movement for public health.

Follow FNU on social media as we’ll share some facts and information on each day’s theme:

Monday: Racism: A Public Health Crisis
Tuesday: Public Health Workforce: Essential to our Future
Wednesday: Community: Collaboration and Resilience
Thursday: World Health Day: Health is a Human Right
Friday: Accessibility: Closing the Health Equity Gap
Saturday: Climate Change: Taking Action for Equity
Sunday: Mental Wellness: Redefining the Meaning of Health

You can also check out APHA’s toolkit for other ways you can keep the momentum going in your community. We encourage you to send the sample proclamation to your local and state representatives.

Let’s join together to work toward a brighter, healthier, equitable future.

Kentucky’s Emergency Declaration Demonstrates National Need for More Nurses

February 11, 2022 By Frontier Nursing University

Dr. Susan Stone

This article was written by Frontier Nursing University (FNU) President, Dr. Susan Stone, DNSc, CNM, FACNM, FAAN and was originally published in the Woodford Neighbors magazine, February 2022 issue.

In December, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear declared the state’s chronic nursing shortage an emergency and announced executive actions aimed at boosting enrollment in nursing programs. This was in response to projections that Kentucky will need over 16,000 additional nurses by 2024 to fill the gaps left by those who retire or leave the profession.

With more than 3.8 million registered nurses in the U.S., nurses comprise the largest component of the nation’s healthcare workforce. Kentucky is not alone in its need for more nurses. The shortage extends to every state and well beyond our borders. According to the World Health Organization, the world needs 9 million more nurses and midwives if it is to achieve universal health coverage by 2030.

Nurses focus on promoting optimal health. They care not only for the sick but also provide guidance to improve long-term health. This forms a partnership between nurse and patient that promotes ongoing health. This partnership results in a high level of trust between patients and nurses. In an annual Gallup poll, nursing has been ranked number one as the most honest and ethical profession for 19 consecutive years, with 89% of Americans rating nurses’ honesty and ethical standards as “high” or “very high”.

Nurses focus on promoting optimal health. They care not only for the sick but also provide guidance to improve long-term health.”

The expertise and versatility of nurses have been brought into focus during the pandemic. Nurses have been called upon to assume additional responsibilities and leadership roles. They have organized testing and vaccination sites, such as the one conducted jointly by the Woodford County Health Department and FNU last year, and taken on the task of directing hospitals and clinics and providing guidance on healthcare systems and programs.

The pandemic has stressed our healthcare system, but the nursing shortage existed before the pandemic and will persist after it. At FNU, we are proud to be a leader in the changes needed to address shortages. Our mission is “to provide accessible nurse-midwifery and nurse practitioner education to prepare competent, entrepreneurial, ethical, and compassionate leaders in primary care to serve all individuals with an emphasis on women and families in diverse, rural, and underserved populations.” The nurse practitioners and nurse-midwives who graduate from FNU are prepared to meet the challenges and needs of their communities.

Nurse practitioners, who are trained with a blend of medical and nursing education, are qualified to provide the level of care necessary to help fulfill our nation’s primary care needs. Similarly, further integration of nurse-midwives in communities across the country is essential to improving our nation’s maternal care. A recent study found that states that have done the most to integrate midwives into their healthcare systems “have better outcomes for mothers and babies”, including fewer interventions and significantly lower rates of cesarean sections.

With more than 2,500 students located in every state in the United States on course to join our more than 8,000 alumni, FNU is preparing these much-needed advanced practice nurses and nurse-midwives to be part of the solution to the shortage of healthcare providers in their communities across Kentucky and the nation. The work we are doing has never been more important.

We are so thankful to call Woodford County, Ky. our home and for the opportunities our students and graduates have here. We hope our community shares our pride in the important roles our graduates play in reducing our nation’s healthcare shortages.

Learn more about FNU and the graduate nursing degrees and specialties we offer.

FNU All-Access Podcast Episode 2: What the Heck is an RCF?

November 22, 2021 By Frontier Nursing University

Episode 2: What the Heck is an RCF?

Welcome to the Frontier Nursing University All-Access Podcast! This podcast provides a closer look at Frontier Nursing University through lively and entertaining discussions with a wide variety of guests and topics.

In Episode 2 “What the Heck is an RCF?”, host Angela Bailey welcomes Dr. Mary Jones and Stephanie Boyd to explain the role of the Regional Clinical Faculty (RCF) at Frontier Nursing University. An assistant professor at FNU as well as an RCF, Dr. Jones explains the unique role RCFs play in supporting students throughout their journey. Boyd, who is FNU’s Director of Clinical Outreach and Placement, further explains the additional support that students and preceptors receive from her department. The trio also explains Case Days, discusses traveling on behalf of FNU, and shares their passions for their professions and exercise.

What You’ll Learn From This Episode:

The role of Regional Clinical Faculty at Frontier
The role of FNU’s Clinical Outreach and Placement team
What Case Days are and why they matter
FNU’s connection to Every Mother Counts

Listen to the Full Episode

Full Episode Transcript

Enjoy the show?
Be sure to follow the Frontier Nursing University All-Access Podcast on Google Play, Apple Podcast, Spotify, or wherever you find your podcasts. Visit the FNU All-Access Podcast page here.