Morningside College Nursing Department News

Members of Morningside College’s Volunteers in Mission (VIM) Team gained new perspectives and experienced Southern hospitality at its finest while on the mission trip they took to Lake Charles, LA from March 3 to March 10.

During their spring break, four first-year nursing students, Katie McGuire, Nicole Branstetter, Yuichi Ichinose, and Brooke Pottorff, joined 15 other students and 2 Morningside staff members, Kathy Olsen, campus minister, and Robbie Rohlena, Dean of Students, in the Lake Charles area helping survivors of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. While in Louisiana, they tore off and replaced the roof of one house, removed moldy drywall, carpeting, and linoleum, and laid wood laminate flooring in other houses.

This opportunity taught students more important lessons than how to use a nail gun or shingle a house.

“I have never been so inspired by people in my life.

These people have lost everything, yet they were

incredibly strong and so helpful to our team.”

--Katie McGuire, VIM Team member

and first-year nursing student

First-year nursing students, Nicole Branstetter, Katie McGuire, Brooke

Pottorff, Yuichi Ichinose, and pre-nursing student, Michaela Andersen.

The 2006 Walker Faculty Excellence Award recipients are:

Dean Stevens, Jackie Barber, and Lillian Lopez.

Jacklyn Barber, Associate Professor of Nursing, receives the 2006 Sharon Walker Faculty Excellence Award - December 13, 2006

Jacklyn Barber, Associate Professor of Nursing, was one of three faculty members awarded the Morningside College 2006 Sharon Walker Faculty Excellence Award. Morningside President John Reynders presented the awards during the annual faculty banquet held December 13, 2006. The recipients were selected from a field of nominees by a panel of three outside evaluators.

The Sharon Walker Faculty Excellence Awards were funded by a generous gift from Morningside alumni Jim and Sharon Walker, of Wayzata, Minn.

Jackie began teaching at Morningside in 1997. She is currently the director of the Palmer Undergraduate Student Research Symposium. She serves as secretary and executive committee member of the board of directors for the Siouxland Chapter of the American Red Cross. She is a member of the Healthy Siouxland Initiative and the End of Life Task Force. She is also a committee member of the Siouxland Disaster Action Team and an active volunteer for the Siouxland Art Center.

Morningside College nursing students receive pins at ceremony - October 8, 2006

Twenty-four Morningside College nursing students received lamp pins at the 2006 Professional Beginnings Ceremony held Sunday, October 8, 2006, 2 p.m. at Grace United Methodist Church, 1735 Morningside Avenue.

The students being honored were Rebecca Harrell, Trisha Janssen, Christina Loft, Erin Popken, and Ashlee Walker, all of Sioux City; Lorie Ludwig of Hinton, Iowa; Whitney McElrath of Moville, Iowa; DeRae Bettin of Sloan, Iowa; Meggan McDonald of Salix, Iowa; Kelli Irwin of Marcus, Iowa; Emily Olsen of Marne, Iowa; Heidi Meyer of Alta, Iowa; Sara Schrank of Mapleton, Iowa; Kari Streff of Alton, Iowa; Veronica Vazquez of Denison, Iowa; Nicole Helgeson of Altoona, Iowa; Stephanie Loeschen of Ocheyedan, Iowa; Kerstin Levi of Omaha, Nebraska; Amanda Cades of Lincoln, Nebraska; Danielle Petersen of Lyons, Nebraska; Emily Grabow of Fort Calhoun, Nebraska; Whitney Turner of Trumbull, Nebraska; April Tobin of Dell Rapids, South Dakota; and Katherine Kromminga of Dakota Dunes, South Dakota.

The ceremony signifies a milestone in the students’ educational process. Each of the students is a third-year nursing student. They received the pin commemorating the work of Florence Nightingale.

The ceremony included an address from nursing department faculty members Jackie Barber, Dr. Mary Kovarna, Patricia Graham, and Lynne Carroll.

Two Morningside Nursing Students Use Their Spring Break Helping Those Devastated by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita

March 13, 2006 - Junior nursing student, Tristan Gray, and first year nursing student, Veronica Vazquez, joined the Morningside College Volunteers in Mission (VIM) team in providing volunteer recovery efforts to survivors of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita living near Picayune, Miss., which is 30 miles from the Gulf Coast. Some of their activities included scraping and painting the entire outside of the Wesley Chapel near Poplarville, Miss.; taking care of animals and cleaning pens at an animal rescue; and tearing down, cleaning, and salvaging usable materials and personal belongings from private homes in and around Pearlington, Miss.

The Morningside group also traveled to New Orleans, La., and Bay St. Louis, Miss., to witness first-hand the devastation from the hurricanes that hit the Gulf Coast nearly seven months ago.

“In some places there were just posts where there were once homes,” said Tristan Gray, a junior from Holstein, Iowa. “Sometimes, people just spray-painted their address on a board and nailed it to a tree to show where they used to live.”

Gray plans to use her experience as part of an independent study on disaster relief efforts for the fall 2006 semester.

In addition to providing physical labor, the Morningside group donated more than 70 pairs of blue jeans and several school uniforms, previously collected at Morningside, to the First United Methodist Church of Picayune. David Lowery, pastor at the church, will distribute the clothing to needy families.

Participating students included: Tristan Gray, a junior from Holstein, Iowa; Veronica Vazquez, junior from Denison, Iowa; Dawn Phelps, a senior from West Amana, Iowa: Brenda Alvarado, senior from Donna, Texas; Chris Courtney, freshman from Ireland; Cynthia Gascon, senior from Columbus, Neb.; Tim McCabe, senior from Lincoln, Neb.; Debbie Noble, senior from Louisburg, Kan.; Stephanie Reis, senior from Dension, Iowa; Brooke Sloup, freshman from Omaha, Neb.; and Stephanie Willers, freshman from Jackson, Neb.

Staff members who participated in the trip included Kathy Olson, campus pastor and director of Church Relations, and Lacey Niceswanger and Mary Turner, AmeriCorps VISTA service coordinators at Morningside.

The mission trip was funded by grants from Morningside's office of Academic Affairs, Student Government, and through personal contributions from each participant.

Back left to right: Mary Turner, Cynthia Gascon,

Brenda Alvarado, Lacey Niceswanger, Veronica

Vazquez, Brooke Sloup, Kathy Olson, Debbie

Noble, Stephanie Willers, Stephanie Reis, and

Chris Courtney.

Front left to right: Dawn Phelps, Tristan Gray,

Tim McCabe.

Photo courtesy of Dawn Phelps.

Morningside College professor Patricia Graham receives nursing certification - December 9, 2005

Patricia Graham, assistant professor of nursing at Morningside College, has received certification in medical surgical nursing from the American Nursing Credentialing Center (ANCC).

Nursing certification encourages and recognizes professional achievement and specialization in the field of nursing. Candidates for certification must pass a written exam administered by ANCC. In addition, they must hold a currently active registered nurse license, have practiced the equivalent of two years full-time as a registered nurse, hold a baccalaureate or higher degree in nursing, have a minimum of 2,000 hours of clinical practice within the last three years, and have 30 contact hours of continuing education within the last three years.

ANCC is accredited by the American Board of Nursing Specialties and the National Commission for Certifying Agencies. The organization seeks to promote excellence in nursing and health care globally through credentialing programs and related services.

Seven Morningside College nursing students participate in mission service trip to Kentucky - November 18, 2005

Seven senior nursing students from Morningside College traveled to the Red Bird Mission in Beverly, Kentucky, to work as health care volunteers during the week of November 14-18. The students assisted with primary health care in rural outpatient clinics and through home visits, participated in patient education programs, and worked in the mission's preschool, among other things.

Students who participated in the service mission trip included: Melanie Mahr, Sioux City; Wendy Culligan, South Sioux City, Nebraska; Ashley Fletcher, Sergeant Bluff, Iowa; Jill Arp, Manning, Iowa; Kristi Knoben, Aurelia, Iowa; Kim Parker, Cherokee, Iowa; and Heather Push, Kearney, Nebraska.

This was the first year nursing students from Morningside volunteered at the Red Bird Mission. The students researched, planned, and organized the trip with assistance from Jacklyn Barber, associate professor of nursing at Morningside. Funding for the trip was provided by the students, Morningside College's Student Government Association, and the college.

Red Bird Mission is part of the Red Bird Mission Conference, one of two national mission institutions related to the General Board of Global Ministries of The United Methodist Church. The mission is located in the remote Appalachian area of southeastern Kentucky. Its medical clinic provides health care services to approximately 470 clients each month. Access to the region is difficult and public services such as public water and sewer are virtually non-existent. Roughly 40 percent of the citizens in the area live below poverty level.

Nursing student Michael Gale elected to serve as director of the Breakthrough to Nursing Program for the Iowa Association of Student Nurses - October 28, 2005 - Morningside College junior nursing student Michael Gale of South Sioux City, Nebraska, was elected to serve a one-year term as director of the Breakthrough to Nursing program for the Iowa Association of Student Nurses (IASN) during their annual convention held in Sioux City.

The Breakthrough to Nursing (BTN) program organizes projects to recruit and retain the number of men and minorities into nursing programs through development of student-to-student mentoring programs.

As program director, Michael will also be responsible for coordinating activities with the National Student Nurse Association's (NSNA) Breakthrough to Nursing Project; serve as a liaison between NSNA, IANS, and local school BTN chairpersons; and provide educational and promotional tools for middle, junior high, and high school counselors and students.

Patricia Graham joins the Morningside College Department of Nursing Education as new assistant professor - August 2005

In August 2005, Patricia Graham, R.N., M.S.N. joined the Morningside College Department of Nursing as an assistant professor. She will begin by teaching medical-surgical nursing.

Prior to joining Morningside, Graham was a faculty member at the College of Saint Mary in Omaha, Nebraska, for the past five years, serving as instructor, course coordinator, and academic advisor in the associate degree nursing program. She has a bachelor's degree in nursing from the College of Saint Mary and a master's in nursing with an emphasis in health systems and community health from the University of Nebraska in Omaha. She is a memnber of the American Nursing Association, the College of Saint Mary Honor Society, and Sigma Theta Tau, the International Honor Society of Nursing.