Northern Nurse

Northern Illinois University’s School of Nursing

Nurses Teaching Nurses NIU alumni making an impact on the profession’s future Angela Spahr, BSN ’13

Inside Young alumni hit ground running Nurses using degrees for different paths

Summer 2019

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A message from Nancy Valentine, interim chair Dear Alumni and Friends of Northern Nurse, It has been an exciting and productive year at the NIU School of Nursing. Since I joined the team as interim chair over a year ago, we’ve accomplished much, most importantly, we now have the first NIU School of Nursing Strategic Plan.

This framework emphasizes teamwork to building diversity, promoting outreach to build community-based partnerships, threading rural health concepts into the curriculum, utilizing alumni talents and fostering innovation.

Like all great plans, we started with a vision and mission.

Our vision: To be a regional center for excellence in nursing education and scholarship. Our mission: To prepare nurses to be leaders in providing patient-centered care, fostering research, integrating knowledge and improving health outcomes for all.

We’ve already begun initiatives to help advance our school. We received an Illinois Board of Higher Education Nursing School Grant to facilitate RN to B.S. education. Grant funds will be used to discover ways to advance articulation agreements with community colleges, as well as to explore barriers to baccalaureate preparation in nursing. We anticipate the model we build will be the standard articulation agreement statewide. (Read more on page 5).

Having a diverse student body to assure there are caregivers for a diverse population is another strategic goal, this one with a national focus too. This was evident at the spring 2019 American Association of Colleges of Nursing meeting in Washington, D.C. I met with health care staff for Illinois Senators Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth to discuss the issues facing health care and nursing in Illinois. The AACN discussed three main congressional requests: • Reauthorize the Title VII Nursing Workforce Development Programs.

•S upport Title VII and National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR) Funding in FY2020.

• Support higher education policy that is sustainable, inclusive, and innovative.

The AACN meeting was also an opportunity to get a first glimpse of changes coming in CCNE accreditation standards, network with leaders in nursing and lawmaking, and gather ideas to bring back to NIU. Speaking of networking, I’m proud to report NIU’s very own Laura Beamer, P.hD., associate professor of nursing, has been appointed to U.S. Representative Lauren Underwood (D-IL 14th District) nursing advisory board.

One of our most important strategic goals involves you. Northern Nurses already have an excellent reputation, and we want to amplify the accomplishments of our alumni. On the following pages you’ll discover what some of your fellow alumni have been doing since receiving their nursing degrees. You’ll find they are truly changing the nursing world.

As always, I welcome your feedback. Please feel free to call or send an email, 815-753-6550, nvalentine@niu.edu. Also, please send us your updates for our next Northern Nurse.

Nancy Valentine, RN, Ph.D., MSN, MPH, FAAN, FNAP Interim Chair Northern Illinois University School of Nursing

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School of Nursing Northern Illinois University 1240 Normal Road DeKalb, Illinois 60115-2828

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6 Nurses educating nurses Many Northern Nurses are sharing their experience and professional expertise in innovative ways.

10 Beyond the bedside Three NIU nursing alumni have used their nursing skills in fresh ways to expand their careers.

12 Young alumni What’s that first year as a nurse like? For these Northern Nurses, the learning continues.

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16 inside back

Current student activities Nursing Mentor earns honorary degree Grant to help NIU prepare more nurses with B.S. degrees Alumni updates Thank You One More Glance

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Current student activities

Nursing students inducted into honor society Sigma Theta Tau, the international nursing honor society, has inducted 34 NIU students into their ranks.

To become a member, students need to have completed at least half of the curriculum for their baccalaureate nursing degree, have at least a 3.0 GPA for undergraduates, 3.5 for graduate students and rank in the top 35% of their class.

Congratulations to NIU’s March 2019 inductees: Suzi Albers, Allyson Alsum, Mallori Bachleda, Maurelle Behrens, Natalia Bekker, Jessica Buesing, Cassandra Buckley, Anna Campbell, Janina Della-Peruta, Arianne Demonteverde, Bridgette Edmeier, Modupe Egbeyemi, Jeri-Lamia Farmer, Jennifer Freiberg, Ashley Gabriel, Morgan Giusto, Courtney

Hoster, Justyna Jaworski, Kayla Kohlmeier, Zoe Lange, Kimberly LoDolce, Aleka Mantzoukis, Melanie Martineck, Allyson May, Melissa Perrian, Rachael Rapp, Angelica Rosinski, Ria Sangsomwong, Allison Sawyers, Shane Simonini, Goda Stelnionyte, Ashly Stromberg, Zoe Taylor, Jamie Turner-Rose, and Mikayla Voigt.

Seventh annual Interdisciplinary Case Study Event another success Over 250 NIU students recently participated in the seventh annual Interdisciplinary Case Study Event — an event that brings together students from audiology, counseling, dietetics, medical laboratory sciences, nursing, physical therapy and speechlanguage pathology to discuss issues related to providing quality health care to a patient.

The event aims to help students improve their interdisciplinary collaboration skills such as developing trust with patients

and other team members, engaging in active listening, and integrating knowledge and experience from other professions as a way to effectively inform care.Students and their faculty prepared approaches for the case of a 66-year-old male with a history of recurring squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue. At the event, participants shared their case scope of practice and priorities with students from different disciplines. Participants

discussed referrals and how collaboration could improve patient outcomes. Attendees asked the patient questions via Skype and provided him recommendations.

“It was impressive to see strangers come to an event, and quickly become a team with their tablemates,” said Sherrill Morris, School of Allied Health and Communicative Disorders chair and one of the event’s organizers.

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Current student activities

Actors employed in FNP assessment process The NIU School of Nursing has implemented the Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) to assess clinical skill proficiency for its family nurse practitioner (FNP) students.

The OSCE involves hired actors who are trained to provide specific physical indications and information for the student to assess. They then also provided feedback concerning their treatment as a patient. While this approach has been used widely for doctors’ training for decades, this approach is now being used more frequently in advanced nursing education as well. Using OSCEs can foster a deeper learning and encourage more meaningful reflection.

NIU’s FNP students were administered OSCEs in a simulated exam room while a faculty member watched, listened and recorded the session via computer in another room. Once the exam was completed, students received feedback from the patient and the faculty member. NIU’s graduate nursing program now includes a family nurse practitioner track, a nurse educator track and a doctor of nursing practice (DNP) program.

Celebrate our 60th Anniversary Alaska and Hawaii were admitted into the Union. The Barbie doll was first sold. Frank Sinatra topped the charts.

Ben-Hur was on big screens. The computer modem was invented. A gallon of gas was 25 cents. And Northern Illinois University added the Department of Nursing Education.

We are planning a gala to celebrate and you are invited! Be sure to check your email for an invitation.

In the meantime, we’d love your help. We’re looking for photos and stories of your time at nursing school at NIU. We are especially interested in locating a nurse’s uniform from 1959 or one of the early years of our nursing program. Email us at chhsevents@niu.edu.

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Donor Highlight

Donor helps simulation population grow at NIU The School of Nursing added a new member to their simulation team last fall: Juno. Juno is a mobile human simulator that can be used for several different educational tasks to teach student nurses about conducting thorough health assessments.

This clinical skills mannequin is more transportable than a full-size simulation mannequin, but still

offers a fully immersive learning experience. Juno is wireless, tetherless and can be configured to both male and female. Not only do nursing students get to use Juno, but it also helps with outreach at STEM fairs and secondary school educational trips. Juno was funded

by Ethel Hock, ‘65 B.S. Nursing, and Clayton Hock, ‘66, B.S., ‘68, M.S. Accountancy.

A student demonstrates how to use a stethoscope on Juno.

News

Nursing mentor receives honorary degree

Laura Beamer, Marcia Grant and Marilyn Stromborg NIU conferred an honorary doctorate degree to Marcia Grant, an exceptional professor who has mentored over 200 nurse scientists and has received over $35 million in external grant funding A distinguished professor emeritus of the division of Nursing

Research and Education at City of Hope Medical Center in Duarte, California, received her distinction during the Graduate School commencement, May 2019.

“Grant’s sphere of influence continues to ripple through the School of Nursing at Northern

Illinois University,” said Laura Beamer, assistant professor of nursing at NIU. Beamer nominated Grant for the honor.

Beamer, who chairs the NIU School of Nursing Research committee and mentors two NIU nursing professors, said she credits Grant for teaching her important research techniques.

“Grant is a nursing luminary across the globe and within NIU,” Beamer added.

Grant’s accomplishments are many. She holds a Ph.D., RN and FAAN. For 31 years she was the director of her division at City of Hope Medical Center. She served as codirector of the Cancer Control and Population Sciences Program from 2005-2011. Grant was elected fellow of the American Academy of Nursing in 1991. Her contributions to nursing research – focused on evidence-based best practice and improving quality of life for cancer patients and survivors –are widely disseminated in over 330 publications.

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News “Her continuous contributions to the nursing literature has upgraded and improved the care of cancer patients throughout the world,” said Marilyn Stromborg, former chair of NIU’s School of Nursing.

“I credit her mentorship and sharing of research expertise with

helping increase my research productivity, ability to involve graduate students in funded projects and increasing successful grants that benefited the School of Nursing,” Stromborg said.

conducting research, providing professional education, publishing and earning awards.

Stromborg and Grant continued their partnership, writing grants,

Grant to help NIU prepare more nurses with B.S. degrees

Nancy Petges The increased demand for nurses who hold bachelor of science degrees continues, with some organizations recommending 80% of registered nurses hold a B.S. degree by 2020. To help meet the demand, NIU’s nursing program has received funding aimed to increase the number of RNs returning to school.

Research shows patients are safer when they are cared for by a baccalaureate-prepared nurses who have greater nursing competency, enhanced critical thinking, communication and leadership skills, said Nancy Petges, assistant professor of nursing and co-author of the grant.

“The best way that nurses in academe can improve patient

outcomes is by equipping our students with the latest tools based on research and evidencebased practice so that they can deliver excellent care at the bedside,” said Amber Davis, RNB.S. program coordinator and co-author of the grant.

The Illinois Board of Higher Education Nursing School Grants Program has awarded $110,185 to NIU’s School of Nursing to facilitate RN to B.S. education.

Petges said they will use the funds to focus on three areas: program quality improvement, engagement and outreach.

To reach quality improvement goals, some of the funds will be used for faculty development and acquiring a “Quality Matters” designation, the gold standard for certifying quality in online programs. Also, because NIU’s RN to B.S. degree program is online, funds will be used to create a platform that will help faculty and student engagement.

Additionally, NIU used grant funds to hold a roundtable discussion with associate degree nursing programs across the state, as well as their clinical partners, for the purpose of advancing articulation

agreements and exploring barriers to baccalaureate preparation in nursing.

“Information gained from this discussion will be instrumental in developing a more highly educated nursing workforce,” Petges said.

The overall program goal is to recruit students to align their academic goals with attaining a B.S. degree in their careers. Developing articulation agreements with rural associate degree programs will foster this growth, Petges explains.

“We know associate degree nurses have busy schedules: balancing work, life and now further education,” Davis said.

“With the working nurse in mind, we endeavor to provide an online program that will positively impact their daily practice from the first course in the program through the last course.”

“We anticipate by establishing a program for RN to B.S. degree completion that offers an exciting and engaging educational opportunity, we’ll possess a winning formula for encouraging baccalaureate preparation,” Petges said. “We look forward to developing this program and then sharing it with other regions in the state.”

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Cover story

Nurses educating nurses It’s the ultimate in giving back: teaching. Many Northern Nurses are sharing their professional expertise in innovative ways. From teaching students how to care for the homeless, to developing clinical reasoning model for nurses, our alumni are preparing future nurses.

Teaching care for the vulnerable Catherine May, (’00, B.S., nursing) M.S., FNP, Adjunct Clinical Faculty, University of Rhode Island College of Nursing;

Teaching Associate, Warren Alpert School of Medicine, Brown University.

May came from a marginalized background, but she got the opportunity to return to school and graduated at age 41.

“I came to NIU as a nontraditional student, and it was a wonderful experience. I was so fortunate to have some of the professors that I did,” May said. “I always knew I wanted to work in the community, rather than in in a hospital setting, and Northern

was so supportive of that. No one suggested that the work I wanted to do was somehow less than acute care nursing.”

She felt passionate about the social determinants of health care, the forces upstream that adversely affect a community’s health. She turned that interest into working with vulnerable populations, spending the last 15 years working with individuals experiencing homelessness. The multidisciplinary team includes a social worker, psychiatrist,

NIU Associate Professor of Nursing Cathy Carlson (right) instructs a student.

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case manager and a peer support worker. And, she is a preceptor for nursing and medical students in this setting as part of their community rotations.

May teaches clinical classes in community nursing for vulnerable populations, and an online course in the social determinants of health.

“That course is especially interesting as it is a nursing class that is open to non-nursing students. It is a wonderful opportunity for nursing students, who are often so concentrated in their studies, to interact with other young people from other disciplines,” May said.

Daniel J. Pesut Accelerating nursing’s pace Daniel J. Pesut, (’75, B.S., nursing) Ph.D., RN, FAAN, Professor of Nursing, University of Minnesota, Director, Katharine J. Densford International Center for Nursing Leadership.

Pesut’s beginnings in the U.S. Army student nurse program made him realize something.

“I realized I didn’t have the mental health knowledge I needed.

I could take care of the physical things, but not the other issues,” said Pesut of his experience as a first lieutenant working in a burn unit in 1975.

He began to research how patients coped with their injuries, and developed an interest in selfregulation strategies and how they could be taught to patients to assist in their recovery.

When his military service ended in 1978, he decided he loved education and school, and he’s been there ever since.

He has held both academic and service positions, and has conducted extensive research, including looking at how nurses think creatively. That research lead to his co-authoring “Clinical Reasoning: The Art and Science of Creative Thinking.”

Pesut was frustrated by nursing’s old process model — assess, plan, implement and evaluate (APIE) — which evolved to add diagnosis (ADPIE). He felt there was a missing link related to outcomes.

“I realized that outcomes were often the opposite of problems, and if one were to be creative, one would hold the problem and the outcome together in the same framework or mental model,” Pesut wrote in the book, “Nurses as Leaders: Evolutionary Visions of Leadership” (Springer Publishing Company LLC).

While teaching undergraduates, he and a colleague developed the Outcome-Present-State Test Model of Reflective Clinical Reasoning (OPT model) which shifts the nursing process focus to outcome specifications and the significance of clinical judgments.

This method is used today all over the world to educate nurses.

Today, his focus is on teaching leadership courses, career coaching and consulting on nursing policy. He’s paying attention to the trends that will affect nursing and research like artificial intelligence, augmented reality, simulation, genetics and genetics profiling. And he’s watching nursing education trends that show a shift from

traditional university settings to badges, micro certificates and less emphasis on tradition.

He continues to challenge people to think about nursing and health in the future. To that end, he has created Foresight Leadership: The Future of Nursing and Health (www.foresight-leadership.org).

“My goal is to be a cheerleader and to challenge people to pick up the pace of nursing. We have a tendency to think more about the past and honor our heritage,” Pesut said.

“There aren’t many in the profession who have had a future orientation.”

Kathy Wagner Immersed in rural care Kathy Wagner, (’73, B.S., ’78 M.S., nursing), Faith Community Nurse.

After decades working in hospitals, universities, Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Organizations and retirement communities, Wagner retired to Door County, Wisconsin. But, she didn’t exactly retire. She became a Faith Community Nurse, volunteering with a variety of activities connected to healthy living.

“Many people retired here and are growing older without the resources they had in Minneapolis or Chicago,” Wagner said. “There are a number of people living on a Continued on page 8.

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Nurses educating nurses Continued from page 7.

shoestring, especially during the winter. They need assistance.”

In order to prepare caregivers for challenges they could face in communities like hers — where the nearest critical access hospital is 30 miles away — Wagner and three colleagues organized an immersion experience for student nurses at the University of Wisconsin.

The eight accelerated BSN students who participated received a crash course in rural nursing. They spent time on a local continuing care campus, at a disabilities center, and a child care center run by a nurse on the remote Washington Island.

They also observed home health care. The students, Wagner and her two colleagues also had discussions about public health issues like clean water access, housing repairs and poverty.

The met with the head of the local emergency management system to learn more about the challenges they face.

Wagner was impressed by the students.

“We were so energized by their presence. All these young adults are so bright and so focused. I’m blown away,” Wagner said.

Wagner says the dean of the U.W. School of Nursing has approved the program for next year. Additionally, she is part of a Philanthropic Education Organization (PEO) that has raised funds for scholarships for nursing students.

“We look for CNA students who we think have potential, and get funding for them to go to school,” Wagner said. “I’m proud of the funds we have donated to help

CNAs develop a long career for themselves. I’m paying it forward.”

Preparing professionals Lori Williams, (’87, B.S.,

Lori Williams, middle nursing) DNP, RN, RNC-NIC, CCRN, NNP-BC, at American Family Children’s Hospital affiliated with University of Wisconsin Hospitals in Madison.

“Someday they will be taking care of us, so we want them to be really good,” said Williams about the nurses she instructs at the University of Wisconsin.

Williams views her role as a clinical instructor as a natural progression. “I’ve always had education as my role. I’ve always done patient education. I’ve gravitated toward staff education too. I was informally tapped to be a unit educator. I’ve always enjoyed working with everybody — students, paramedics, other nurses,” Williams said.

Being a clinical instructor means keeping her nursing skills up to date, especially in technology, since the advent of computerized

charting. “When I’m out on the unit with students, my skills cannot be rusty,” she said.

In addition to clinical teaching, she is on the editorial board for a maternal-child journal, and writes regularly for three other nursing journals. She also serves in leadership roles for the National Association of Neonatal Nurses, Society of Pediatric Nurses, and the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners. She is also involved in the neonatal and pediatric certification programs for the American Academy of Critical-Care Nurses Certification Corporation.

Seeing student nurses’ hopes and dreams come true is one of the best rewards, Williams said. Her former students tell her when they get jobs, get accepted to graduate school or are doing something exciting. “I have one former student in New York in the Society of Pediatric Nurses,” she said.

Aha! moments Randa Melms (’12, B.S., nursing), RN, MSN-ED, BSN, Clinical Instructor at NIU and ER Nurse.

Students make her feel really good about what she’s doing.

“I love the ‘aha!’ moments,” Melms said. “I usually work with second- or third-track medicalsurgical students, and they are new and have a lot to learn. Taking them through the processes and critical thinking of nursing, and giving them their first learning moments — I love that moment.”

Melms discovered her own “aha!” moment when she was a

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Randa Melms

U.S. Army second lieutenant. After graduating from NIU’s School of Nursing and completing ROTC, she was stationed in Fort Hood, Texas as a postpartum nurse, then on to Fort Leonard in Wood, Missouri as a medical-surgical nurse, and then an emergency room nurse.

She discovered she loved educating nurses and precepting, so she completed her master’s degree online, transitioned out of the military and became a clinical instructor at her alma mater while also working in the emergency room at Northwestern Kishwaukee Hospital in DeKalb.

“As an educator, it’s our responsibility to keep up with ever-changing medicine and to make sure we are the best prepared because we expect that of our students,” Melms said, adding that she will always keep some component of bedside medicine in her career because it keeps her relevant and current.

“I feel so lucky to do what I do, and I wouldn’t change the path I’ve chosen,” Melms said.

Associate professor earns university teaching award Jie Chen has come a long way to be at NIU’s School of Nursing, and she knows many of her students have as well. It’s that keen understanding of the student experience that led to her earning a 2018 Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award at NIU. Chen began her career as a cardiac surgical nurse in her native China. “When I was a student, I never thought I’d be a teacher. I was afraid to speak to teachers,” she said. But she encountered teachers who were inspirational, caring and who built her confidence. That’s something very important for students to see from their faculty, she said.

“We have a responsibility to identify and recognize students’ potential and show them our belief in them. I think that’s a very effective way to motivate students to reach their goals,” Chen said.

Now an associate professor of nursing, she began teaching at NIU in 2009. Chen has carefully designed her courses and consistently supported her

students, helping them achieve success. Since her students are in the beginning of their nursing studies, she takes care to help them build confidence while also emphasizing critical thinking skills. Because nursing is fastpaced and technology changes frequently, memorizing facts from a textbook or PowerPoint isn’t

Jie Chen

enough to make a successful nurse.

“Students cannot remember everything they learn. I try to teach them clinical reasoning — I think that is the most important skill to learn in the nursing program,” Chen said.

Just as she enjoyed talking with patients, she now relishes speaking to students. “Part of the joy I have in teaching is interacting with students. When they come to my office and talk about their personal lives, it’s really special,” Chen said.

“It’s a powerful motivation for me.

I want them to be successful and love being a nurse.”

Her teaching approach resonates with her students, and her strategies have been credited for inspiring students to formulate study groups as well as to become nursing success program tutors.

“It takes a dedicated professor to create many successful and knowledgeable students. She has truly made a difference in my nursing education journey,” said former student Shareny Mota (’18).

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Beyond the bedside

For these Northern Nurses, a career of patient care was just the beginning. They have taken their education and experience to exciting and meaningful new ventures.

From auditing medical charts, to preventing disease in Latin America, to coordinating bereavement support at large urban hospital, these NIU alumni are proving nursing’s endless possibilities.

A rewarding career in support Judy Bond Friedrichs, (’77, B.S., nursing), DNP, RN, Bereavement Support Coordinator.

Friedrichs noticed something while she was working in the NICU and helping with a parent support group immediately after graduating from NIU in 1977.

“I saw how helpful it was for parents to share stories and know they were not alone,” Friedrichs said of her role at RushPresbyterian-St. Luke’s Medical Center in Chicago (now, Rush University Medical Center).

She also saw the nursing staff struggle. She noticed when a child died, the staff was not sure how to respond emotionally. “I witnessed the way we cared for families when their babies died. We felt bad, like we failed, and it was hard to face, so maybe we didn’t.”

So, Friedrichs did something about it. She created an ongoing education and training plan for the staff. This helped the staff become more confident and competent when entering the room of a dying patient.

It is Friedrichs’ hope that her nursing and medical colleagues are a very positive part of a family’s story when they look back on the care they received during a loved one’s journey.

NICU nursing is difficult itself, but Friedrich faced an added challenge: showing value in the role of bereavement support.

“My challenge was to find ways to show my expertise and to show outcomes of the support program,” she said.

She earned her nursing doctorate from Rush University in 2016, is a Fellow in Thanatology (FT) and a Certified in Perinatal Loss Care (CPLC) professional. “My certifications and degrees helped me get to a place where I could capture that data and propose a new job position which was approved by a very caring administration,” Friedrichs said.

Today, Friedrichs publishes and speaks on grief, resilience and quality. She is an ELNEC trainer, an RTS coordinator and continues to work as Rush University Medical Center’s Bereavement Support Coordinator along with their medical/nursing/social service teams, chaplains and palliative care programs.

Friedrichs said NIU gave her a great base of scientific inquiry, desire to achieve and leadership skills.

“Thank you to the NIU School of Nursing faculty for the solid education and great experiences which set me on a wonderful path in life,” Friedrichs said.

Behind the scenes Samantha Hellenga, (’93, B.S., nursing) Clinical Care Reviewer for Care Coordination/Utilization Management, and Real Estate Broker with Caravan properties LLC. Hellenga considers herself to be your eye in the sky — the person who makes sure your hospital bill is right the first time. “If I’m in charge of your traumatic event, things are going to go much better for you,” Hellenga said.

Hellenga came to her role after a career path that took her from being an orderly before finishing her boards, to ORs, travel nursing, and to house supervisor at a 400-bed hospital. An injury sustained in a car accident made her rethink commuting.

“How do I do nursing, and not touch a patient,” Hellenga explains. She began working for an insurance company, conducting prior authorizations.

But, she decided she wanted to work for herself — and make more money. She got a real estate license.

“As a nurse, sometimes you get burned out and you have to reinvent yourself. Just because you are a nurse doesn’t mean you can’t reinvent yourself; problem solving skills and the ability to talke to anyone, about anything translates across genres and is valuable in many settings,” Hellenga said.

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She accepted a contract position as a clinical reviewer in Alaska to pay off some debt. When she returned to her home in Colorado Springs, Colorado, a headhunter was looking for her. A hospital out of state needed her skills. Unwilling to give up her real estate business and relocate, Hellenga was able to work out a deal to work remotely.

“I telecommute from my living room back to Albuquerque, New Mexico, auditing surgical and medical charts. I like it, and enjoy solving the medical mystery as well as advocating for patients with their insurance company.

If I do my job right, you get an accurate bill after your total hip replacement and never know I was there,” Hellenga said.

Hellenga is also a medical test reader, reading certification tests for fire fighters and EMTs. “I feel like I’m helping my community to have enough police and firefighters,” she said.

The nursing education she received from NIU provided a solid platform to live her life and have adventures every day.

“I never knew I would be here today,” Hellenga said. “That degree allows me to reinvent myself over and over again.”

Samntha Hellenga

Around the world and back again Mary Vandenbrouck, (’79, B.S., nursing), MPH, Public Health Specialist, USAID. Vandenbrouck began her career working in cardiac step-down care, and then in the ICU at a teaching hospital in New Mexico.

“I saw a lot of things there that were preventable while working in the ICU. I felt I would be better off on the prevention side rather than the consequences side,” Vanderbrouck said. She moved to California to pursue a master’s in Public Health.

She had a minor in Spanish from NIU. She also spent a semester abroad in Ecuador and was an exchange student in Peru. She put her language skills to good use with her MPH with an emphasis in International Population and Family Health. She worked as a bilingual public health nurse on a prematurity prevention research project, and worked in various Los Angeles County health department prenatal clinics.

She joined the Peace Corps in 1986 and was posted to rural Paraguay where she was the sole provider of health services in a community with no electricity or running water. The first person who walked through the door to her makeshift clinic had malignant hypertension — he was cut by a machete and had an arterial bleed.

“My physical assessment skills got really good. I developed a pharmacy. I saw lots of crazy tropical diseases,” she said. Those diseases included leishmaniasis (spread by sand fly bites), leprosy and botfly infestations. She traveled to a health post 7 miles away and discovered they didn’t know how to assist in births.

So, she held midwife training, including one woman who attracts mothers from 50 miles away to use her services. She also trained local women to do injections. She also

set up linkages with a hospital over 35 miles away.

“It was all about training other people. It was amazing. They were all bright and motivated to learn,” she said.

After her Peace Corps work, she headed to Washington, D.C., where she managed a large Planned Parenthood clinic. Then, she went to work for CARE in Bolivia, and then to Peru with Pathfinder International.

Upon her return to the U.S. in 2000, she became a Senior Fellow with the Public Health Institute in USAID’s Global Health Bureau.

When the fellowship was up, she went to work as a public health

Mary Vandenbrouck specialist, continuing work to support a wide range of health programs in Latin America and the Caribbean as well as Mozambique.

Vanderbrouck built her success on a strong foundation that allowed her to gain new experiences.

“I got a really good education at NIU.”

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Young Alumni

Hitting the ground running

Young Northern Nurse alumni share their first impressions of going pro.

We caught up with a few recent Northern Nurses to see how their careers are progressing, and what advice they have for new graduates.

Learning continues Courtney Flemming, (’18, B.S., nursing), BSN, RN, critical care nurse at Swedish American Hospital, Rockford, Illinois.

Though she’s been working for just a year, Flemming is already

Courtney Flemming taking care of acute patients on the night shift and thinking about getting critical care certified. She’s also on two workplace committees that challenge her to be a better nurse every day.

“What surprised me is how much I’ve learned. I never realized how fast they train you to open your eyes and fix things,” Flemming said. “I was worried about having

such critical care patients.”

Flemming served a summer internship at Swedish American Hospital in 2017, was hired to work there full time in 2018, passing her NCLEX three weeks after her May 2018 graduation. After a six-month orientation at the hospital, she was on her own.

She reports she is now confident in her assessment skills — something she credits NIU for preparing her.

“The clinical instructors push you to go out on your own and immerse yourself in the situation,” Flemming said. Additionally, she gained a confidence while serving practicums in different locations, taking that information and those connections into her first job.

Her advice to new NIU nurses or nursing students: Apply everywhere.

“Don’t limit yourself. You’ll be surprised. I thought I’d be an NICU nurse, but I’m an adult nurse now and I absolutely love it,” she said.

“If you limited yourself in the beginning, it will be hard to move later. There’s never not something to be learned.”

Knowing what you know Elizabeth Ritter, (’15, B.S., nursing), RN, CCRN, nurse at UW Health American Family Children’s Hospital.

It’s taken her four years, but Ritter said she’s starting to feel confident.

“Most people find their niche — friends from nursing school and people who I’ve met, after about two years in, they were feeling confident in what they were doing. Four years later and I’m starting to feel I can

Elizabeth Ritter confidently handle whatever is thrown at me,” Ritter said.

And a lot is thrown at her. She’s a staff nurse in a pediatric intensive care unit. It’s a combined ICU so she could be taking care of a post-op cardiac baby one day, then the next day an 18-year-old trauma patient.

“Every day I’m seeing something I’ve never even heard of,” she said.

Ritter said her solid foundation in critical thinking, and knowing what you know and what you don’t know, was crucial for her coming into her role as a pediatric nurse.

“Pediatrics is covered quickly in school — it’s more adult-based nursing. We definitely didn’t talk about pediatric intensive care issues,” Ritter said. A lot of ICUs don’t hire new nurses, she said.

“It was definitely challenging.

There were certain things in I learned in school that made me think, ‘What’s the worst thing that can happen to my patient today and how can I be prepared?’ and

Northern Nurse Page 13

that’s the way I still think about my patients,” Ritter said.

Her advice for NIU nurses starting their careers or still in school: Try not to be so hard on yourself.

“I was an overachiever in nursing school. It can be really difficult — you expect it to go as well as it did in school. I felt like I had to know everything out of nursing school,” she said. “Be gentle with yourself — keep high standards for yourself, but know what you know and what you need to ask for help for.”

All the hard work at NIU and beyond has been worth it for Ritter.

“I’m amazed that I work in this kind of field,” Ritter said. “I’ve seen miracles — kids who beat all the odds. Those moments make it worth it.”

Spreading her wings Angela Spahr, (’13, B.S., nursing), RN Clinical Referral Specialist, Banner Health Systems, Arizona.

Spahr’s career has already taken her across the country and to Haiti in just six years. Her first job out of nursing school was in Iowa where she joined a nursing residency program, working in the emergency room.

Angela Spahr After five years in the ER, she was ready to grow her résumé in a different direction. She took a role as a clinical referral specialist at Arizona’s largest hospital system, coordinating patient transfers to appropriate care levels. It’s a role she enjoys because she gets to see how hospitals work to improve patient outcomes. She also still works in the ER. In 2016, Spahr joined a coworker on a trip to Haiti to provide care.

“Once you go, it’s hard not to go back,” Spahr said. “I can take

a week off my life. It’s easy to do, once you see all the love and need people have.”

She is part of a team who conduct urgent and primary care clinics — sometimes for people who have never received care. They held clinics in any public building they could utilize.

Over her last trip, they focused on primary care. They secured a building where clinics could be held twice a week, and the CHAMPs organization (Connecting Hope And Medicine to People in Haiti) partnered with a Haitian doctor and dentist to see patients twice a month.

Spahr is on the CHAMPs board of directors. As a millennial, she sheds new light on fundraising — reaching out to snack and supply companies through social media and emails, and collecting many donations.

Spahr’s advice to students and new graduates: Do as much as you can. She became a CNA while still in school, and had several internships too.

“Do as much as you can when you are in school. It will help you later.

Residency programs are great, too.

I loved it,” she said.

Page 14 Northern Nurse

Alumni Updates

Spring Piatek Finding Purpose The care and compassion that Spring Piatek (’05, BS, nursing, ’13, MS, nursing) experienced as a sick child led her on a path to a career in health care.

When Spring Piatek was treated for Kawasaki disease at Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago at age 4, she remembers a nurse staying with her in the middle of the night to tend to her fever.

The nurse gave her a grape Popsicle to soothe her raw throat from crying and reduced her fever by placing cool rags on her forehead. She sat by her side and talked with her to calm her down.

“It was a simple act, but something that I remember to this day,” said Piatek, who recovered from Kawasaki, an inflammatory disease that primarily affects children under age 5. “That act of serving and comforting the ill is what led me to become a nurse.”

She thought her calling was in pediatric nursing, but another experience convinced her otherwise. During an internship in nursing school at NIU, she gained experience in the oncology unit at Rush Copley Medical Center.

After graduating from Northern

with a B.S. in nursing in 2005, she began working in the oncology unit at Rush Copley and was awarded Employee of the Year in 2007.

Despite her success, Piatek wanted to advance in her field and made the decision to go back to NIU part time for a master’s degree in nursing. She graduated from the master’s program in 2013 and earned her license as an advanced practice nurse with a specialization in oncology.

“I think the overall structure of the nursing program at NIU prepared me extremely well. More importantly, the mentorship that I received from my professors and clinical instructors had the most influence on my nursing career,” she said. “I still keep in touch with many of my instructors that I had over 10 years ago, and I always appreciate their insight.”

She then took a position at DuPage Medical Group and gained experience in breast surgery and oncology, then moved on to Northwestern Medicine in Winfield to work in the High Risk Breast Clinic.

A young patient that she met last year at the clinic was referred because both her mother and sister had been diagnosed with breast cancer. During the visit, the patient shared that she had recently felt a lump. Piatek ordered diagnostic imaging, and that lump turned out to be breast cancer.

The woman is doing well and has finished her cancer treatment.

She told Piatek that she and her family have initiated a charity and survivorship assistance for women with breast cancer to honor their mother, who ended up losing her life to the disease.

“These women are the heroes in

my eyes. To have the opportunity to care for women like this, to hear their story and help them through what can be a very stressful time, that’s what it’s all about,” Piatek said.

She has a long list of educational training, including clinical breast exam certification and certification as an advanced oncology clinical nurse specialist and a breast care nurse.

“I feel very blessed to be able to work for a health system that supports nurses and encourages continued education,” she said.

“I have a great manager and work with a great team of breast surgeons, radiologists and oncologists who support and provide mentorship for me.”

At the end of the day, her husband and daughter are reminders of what’s important in life, Piatek said, and she hopes that she is setting an example for her daughter.

“I hope to inspire a passion and work ethic in my daughter in whatever she chooses to do,” she said.

Republished from myniu.com, NIU’s alumni website.

NIU Aluma appointed Dean of Nursing and Health Sciences at COD Debra Gurney (‘93 MS, Nursing; ‘02 EdD) has been appointed the director of nursing in the biology and health sciences division at College of DuPage.

According to a statement from CoD: “With extensive experience overseeing nursing programs in higher education, Debra Gurney is well-suited to serve as the new director of nursing in the biology and health sciences department at College of DuPage. Her wealth of experience will allow her to

Northern Nurse Page 15

lead program approvals and accreditation processes, evaluate program goals and outcomes, and oversee curriculum.”

School of Nursing Class of ’68 reunites Several graduates of the NIU School of Nursing Class of 1968 gathered for their 50th class reunion recently.

Favorite faculty member Marian Frerichs also made a guest appearance. Derryl Block, Dean of the College of Health and Human Sciences, welcomed them and expressed the pride that the school, college and university have in their accomplishments over the years.

While the alumni updated the group about their lives and careers, one theme emerged: they felt thrust into leadership positions early in their career because they had a bachelor’s degree, which was rather rare at the time for nurses.

Some of the graduates went on to receive doctorates and held senior academic positions in nursing.

The class had a chance to interact with some current nursing students and some things, such as demanding academics and clinical rotations, have not changed much in 50 years.

Updates Bonnie Simonson, (’69 B.S., nursing, ’73, M.S. medical/surgical nursing; nursing administration and nursing education): Retired after a career as a chief nurse executive, assistant director of nursing, clinical director of critical care and director of cardiology services among many other roles and achievements. She lives in Arden, North Carolina.

Susan (Stachowicz) Ruppert, (’76, B.S., nursing), NP: Appointed co-chair of the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education

The Class of 1968, left to right: Kathy (Benson) VanDyck, Jean (Wahlstrom) Salley, Carol (Machalinski) Revzan, Nancy (Jacobs) Jacobsen, Linda (Anderson) Cassata, Linda Olson, Joann (Willis) English.

Nurse Practitioner Residency/ Fellowship Standards Committee; appointed to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing Essentials Revision Task Force; and, Vice-Chair of the Board of Commissioners of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners Certification Board.

Sheila (Janik) Treftz, (’91, B.S., nursing), MSN, APN; Lead APN for a team of APNs managing subacute rehabilitation patients in skilled nursing facilities.

Heather Hamell, (’98, B.S., nursing, ’14 MS/FNP); Nurse practitioner for Midwest Respiratory Ltd in Joliet/New Lenox, Illinois; chosen Advanced Practice Provider of the Year, 2018 for her work at AMITA St. Joseph’s Medical Center in Joliet.

Kari Cieslak, (’05, B.S., nursing): Flight for Life flight nurse, Sycamore resident who has started a small farm with her husband Brad, and their three boys.

Arielle Payne Summerfield, (’09, B.S., nursing), RN, CWOCN: Wound and ostomy care nurse at

Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital, Downers Grove, Illinois; provides education to nurses, patients, and NIU capstone students.

Gina Stilling, (’10, CNP), CNP, ANCC: Working in internal medicine for a Northwestern Medicine practice in McHenry, Illinois.

Jane Dorado (’12, B.S., nursing): Family practice nurse working for Elizabeth Baker, MD in northern Illinois.

Chelsea Wachholder (’12, B.S, nursing), RN: A critical care unit nurse at SwedishAmerican Hospital, Rockford, received a DAISY Award for extraordinary nursing.

Amy Grissette, (’16, B.S., nursing) RN: Clinical nurse manager at Rush McNeal Loyola, directing patient care for two units consisting of 65 beds, and supervising 140 nursing staff.

Ellen Gebhardt, (’18, B.S., nursing): MICU nurse at the Cleveland Clinic.

Page 16 Northern Nurse

Thank You Wonderful donors in support of our future Northern Nurses President’s Circle

Dean’s Circle

Derryl Block and Steven Greenfield John Christiano Ellen Davel David Hewson Nancy Jacobsen

Lois Lundgren Michael Menard Lynn Risica Nancy Valentine Kathy Warzecha

Donors

Mariella Curtis Jean Dahlben Maribeth Daines Doreen Dann Amber Davis Nancy Deacy Wendy Demler Susan Denavit David Dosier Victoria Downs Sue Driscoll Edith Duncan Carolyn Dystrup Paula Egbert Susan Elke Ann Engelmann Cheryl Eno Joy Erickson Margaret Falconio-West Jane Fay Kathleen Fenner Patricia Finn Sandra Forney Lisa Foster Karin Frederick Larry Friedrichs Charlyn Geldmacher Janet Gentry Jane Glaze Nancy Goyette Mary Grapski William Groenewold Jodi Gunther Christine Hacker Esther Hackman Kathleen Haller Janet Hardy

Dawn Hartman Carole Hickman Cynthia Hinojosa Sandra Hoffman Alberta Holmes Ashley Hood Karen Hoops Kimberly Horton Monica Houtz Christine Hunt Mary Jackowski Bonnie Johnson Vivian Johnson Mary Kavoosi Susan Kelly Karen Kempe Madeleine Kerr Nancy Kester Karen Kittle Suellen Klein Colleen Klein Carol Knop Alma Dean Kolb Mary Koren Paula Koziol David Kuchinski Dixie Kulbieda Alma Labunski Lloyd Lange Patricia Leach Donna Leeds Leidos Jennifer Lindquist Cheryl Lingle Constance Litwiller Lise Lunde Brigid Lusk Cynthia Luxton

M. Catherine Burkart Don and Ann Charleston Marian Frerichs Clayton and Ethel Hock Earl and Cynthia Rachowicz Alex Wenner

Dominique Acuff Nancy Aho Anne Ahrens Beth Alford Yvonne Austin Melissa Avery Toni Baca Marilyn Balch Margaret Barilich Nancy Barry Susan Baylor Laura Beamer Anita Berry Nancy Bertani Linda Birum Mary Bjekich Barbara Bollenberg Pamela Bottino Janet Bowen Patricia Bowman Darla Bradle Linda Brady Ellen Braun Marilyn Brecher James Britton Lynn Brkovic Gerald Brouder Leona Burnham Michael Burns Joanne Cavaliero Roxane Chan Patricia Clark-Beard Beverly Collins Ann Cook Stephanie Crawford Patricia Crowl

Northern Nurse Page 17

One More Glance

Pin pals from 1973: Charlene, Deborah, Kathy (Wagner) and Linda.

Jean Lytle Marlene Mahlke Diane Malone Judith Mamayek Barbara Marck Rebecca Maxson Douglas May Virginia McMillion Sue Means Jerry Metcalf Janet Meyer Kim Miceli Caryl Miller Mark Miller Janet Mingo Laura Miro Carmen Mohn Mary Molloy Virginia Moore Paul Mordini Caryn Muirhead Patricia Murphy Susan Neidlinger Rebecca Nelson Lisa Nickerson Susan Noble Walker Linda O’Neill Heidi Oates Ruth Oesch Anna Ortigara Marilyn Ortinau Karen Pangborn

Eileen Paul Pat Pearson Daniel Pesut Jeffrey Pierson Linda Pietens Mark Polzin Jane Powell Cheryl Ramler Martha Redeker Elizabeth Redeker Shirley Rees Carl Reiter Alane Repa Nancy Rich Deborah Ritchey-Okeson Catherine Rovey Susan Ryckman Linda Rydman Katherine Sammis Deborah Sawyer Sheryl Sawyers Barbara Schaff Michaella Schmidt Christine Schmidt Brenda Schmitz Patricia Schneider Cindy Schott Nancy Schwabauer Michael Shane Sarah Shanks Carolyn Shelton Judith Sill

Ieda Sisler Concha Sitter Jacqueline Skaleski Lin Sookdee Keith Spacapan Janice Spikes Mary Spiller Ann Staff Kenneth Staroscik State Farm Companies Foundation Mary Stratta Jennifer Strawn Wayne Thoren Henry Treftz Susan Trimby Helen Turner Janet Ulmer Barbara Valasek John Wasilewski Peg Webb Mike Webb Beverly Webber Wendy Weidner Rebecca West Diana Williamson Debra Willis Barbara Wizniuk Sandra Wolf Rita Yaeger Jessica Zambrano

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