When the COVID-19 pandemic spread to the United States in early 2020, the public responses ranged from panic to denial. As businesses and services were restricted or completely shut down across the country, FNU alumni stepped forward. True to the Frontier mission, they were determined, creative, and brave in their efforts to serve their communities.
Here are two examples of the countless acts of heroism performed by FNU alumni amidst the panic and chaos of the pandemic:

Mary “Ginny” Bowers, PMHNP, CNM, IBCLC
Mobile Midwifery: Today, FNU graduate Mary “Ginny” Bowers, PMHNP, CNM (Class 82), IBCLC, works at the University of Virginia Health as a psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner, nurse-midwife and lactation consultant. But in 2020, she was the head midwife at Chesapeake Women’s Health in Easton, Maryland. While much of the world came to a screeching half, Ginny knew that her patients would need her care more than ever. She came up with a plan and, on March 18, 2020, shared it with the world with a simple social media post: “Mobile midwifery! Taking care of my pregnant mamas in their cars in order to help out the community.”
The drive-up option reduced the risks of exposure as patients had direct access to a bathroom, lab, and ultrasound without ever stepping foot in the waiting room. Bowers measured patients’ blood pressure, fetal heart tones, and maternal heart rates while they remained in their vehicles.
“Pregnant women carry a significantly higher risk of complications when exposed to respiratory viruses and I wanted to help decrease that risk in any way possible,” Bowers said. “I elected to function as both the medical assistant and the provider so as to limit the patient’s exposure.”

Jennifer Scott, CNM, MSN
Serving A Mennonite Community During the Pandemic: Jennifer Scott, CNM (Class 75) MSN, was working at Community Midwives in Penn Yan, New York, in 2020. Penn Yan is located in the rural Finger Lakes region of central New York. The majority of Scott’s patients were from a large local Mennonite community. The women would often make appointments on the same day and share a ride to the clinic.
Like many businesses, Community Midwives closed its doors during the pandemic. Telehealth visits were not an option for most of Scott’s patients, who did not have computers or cell phones. Instead, Scott and her colleagues began performing home visits.
“We are doing home visits because it is easier to isolate and wipe down our equipment between homes,” Scott said in 2020. “This also keeps our clients from congregating in the waiting room.”
They also limited visits to patients who were near term or at higher risk. In addition to providing healthcare, Scott became a source of news for her patients, keeping them updated on the pandemic by printing and distributing the latest information from local and state health departments.
Today, Scott continues to serve this rural area as a certified nurse-midwife at F.F. Thompson Hospital Ob-Gyn & Midwifery Care in Canandaigua, New York.
“FNU taught me to grab my saddlebag, get on my horse and ride up that mountain,” Scott said. “It taught me that my calling is to care for the underserved, the vulnerable families, without hesitation.”