Fuld
Fellows: Changing the face of nursing
After
graduating with a degree in psychology, Jordan Bell 99C
traveled to Southern Nepal to volunteer with the Womens
Health Initiative, to Eastern Turkey to produce an independent
documentary on the Kurdish population, and to Macedonia
to teach at an international school.
During
her travels, she encountered a small boy with a severely
infected dog bite on his arm.
It
looked really bad. I asked the people I was with, Can
we take him to a doctor? and they said, No,
a doctor is too far away and too expensive. And
I thought, If we even just had an antibiotic. .
. . I realized there was something I wasnt
able to give.
Bell,
who describes herself as someone who tends to see
possibilities, didnt like feeling helpless.
When, during a return visit to Atlanta, one of her former
Emory professors told Bell about the Fuld fellowships
at the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing, she saw
the chance to combine social activism and international
health by pursuing a masters degree in nursing.
Bell
is one of twelve fellows currently in the Fuld Leadership
Program, which enables students who have degrees in other
fields to become nursing leaders and scholars. The program
is funded with $5 million from the Helene Fuld Health
Trustthe largest single gift in the School of Nursings
history.
The
fellowship funds three years of schooling for students
who earn both bachelors and masters degrees
in nursing. The first two Fuld fellows, Kelly Moynes and
Emilé Crosa, began the masters portion of
the program this fall. All of the fellows have bachelors
degrees (and several, masters degrees) in disciplines
ranging from microbiology to Asian studies, and many had
previous careers.
The
expectation, says Assistant Professor of Nursing
Ann Connor, the fellows faculty mentor, is
that theyre going to change the profession of nursing.
Theyre already changing the school. With the diversity
of their backgrounds, they are coloring the water in marvelous
ways.
A
well-traveled group, Fuld fellows have visited Cuba, Mexico,
the Bahamas, Jamaica, and Korea to study health care systems
abroad. They also assisted the Lillian Carter Center for
International Nursing in hosting the 2004 Global Nursing
Partnership Conference in Atlanta.
The
fellows participate in community outreach activities,
such as Café 458, an upscale restaurant for the
homeless; MedShare International, which collects and recycles
surplus medical supplies and equipment for other countries;
Joes Place, which offers a foot-care clinic for
the homeless; Project Open Hand, which provides meals
and nutrition services to people with HIV/AIDS, homebound
seniors, and others with illnesses or disabilities; and
the International Rescue Committee, a refugee resettlement
agency.
Nurses
have this unique role they can play in the community,
says Laura Rainer, whose undergraduate degree is from
Auburn University in microbiology and who will receive
dual masters degrees in nursing and public health
in 2006. They care for people, and people trust
them.
Rainer,
who is fluent in Spanish, and several other fellows participated
in the Migrant Farm Worker Health Program, which provides
services to a thousand migrant workers in south Georgia
each summer.
Fellows
are encouraged to study public health policy with the
goal of becoming political advocates as well as nurse
practitioners. As much as the fellows acknowledge the
importance of influencing change at the highest levels,
they remain eager to provide the direct, hands-on care.
When
I was a teenager, I saw a homeless girl about my age on
the streets, completely emaciated, says Moynes.
I am confident that the world can be a healthier
place, and that anger can provide the fuel for change.M.J.L.
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