ANEW Students
Meet our Students
Our Students share their passion for serving rural and underserved communities, and their reasons for working with ANEW
Alexia Schou
Clinical Site: Chiricahua Community Health Center (CCHCI)
My desire to provide care to rural and underserved communities is influenced by emigrating from South Africa to Canada as a teenager; transitioning from the South African culture to the North American culture was difficult. I understand what it feels like to be lost in a new culture as one’s family struggles to find their footing. This insight guides my care, as many patients are either immigrants, part of an underserved community, or are struggling to cope in general. Improving this population’s environment, by focusing on their physical health or giving them hope and encouragement to keep moving forward, motivates me, and gives me great satisfaction. My goals and objectives at the end of one year of clinical training include: demonstrating strong critical and decision making skills, developing my ability to formulate appropriate diagnosis for patients, constructing complete SOAP notes, performing detailed and thorough assessments for patients, and becoming a trusted member of the clinic. I additionally hope to foster strong connections with the community I will be serving.
Alma Donahue
Clinical Site: El Rio Health
I am a Hispanic woman born in El Paso, Texas, and raised in Cd. Juarez, Mexico. My education in Mexican schools taught me the country's history, culture, customs, and language. During the time I lived in Cd. Juarez, I saw poverty and people in need. These experiences motivated me to want to make a difference in people’s lives. Therefore, I obtained a bachelor’s degree in finance from Texas Tech University to help people achieve their financial goals. I worked for the FBI to improve people’s safety by performing translations and interpretations in English and Spanish. Eventually, I became a nurse to fulfill my calling and help vulnerable people in need. My experiences, education, and training have given me the necessary skills to close the gap in communication between Spanish-speaking patients and medical providers. My fluency in Spanish allows me to communicate and educate this population in different ways to ensure understanding. I can gain this community’s trust and respect because I understand what it is like to have a language barrier and the challenges it creates. I look forward to the opportunity to make a difference in a patient’s life.
Clinical training is an essential part of my education as a nurse practitioner. It will allow me to apply the knowledge and skills I learned in the classroom to real-world situations, under the guidance of experienced mentors. My goals and objectives at the end of the one-year clinical training experience include using this time to reflect on my strengths, weaknesses, and learning needs, and seek feedback and guidance from my preceptors. Moreover, I want to be able to communicate effectively with patients and families by practicing active listening and using clear and empathic language. Furthermore, I look forward to developing advanced skills in assessing, diagnosing, treating, and evaluating patients across the lifespan and diverse populations. Finally, I need to enhance my cultural competence and sensitivity by learning about different cultures' health beliefs and practices, especially the Spanish-speaking community.
Alyssa Roy
Clinical Site: El Rio Health
As an oncology nurse, I have seen how distance and lack of resources can drastically change outcomes for people. I have witnessed pain and premature death from cancers that have multiple effective first line treatments because people did not have access to healthcare. Because of this experience, I am interested in working with historically underserved populations to reach more people with primary care, screenings, and health promotion efforts that can add quality years to a person’s life. As a bedside nurse, I saw the impacts of social determinants of health on outcomes, but it was a limited viewpoint. Only being part of a person’s acute care made me interested in understanding how elements of their lives culminated in certain healthcare results. This clinical immersive training program provides an opportunity for me to zoom out and learn about these factors on a larger scale. I am hoping to obtain a solid foundation in primary care and an introduction to the role of the advanced practice nurse throughout my immersive clinical training. I am looking forward to working with people from many different backgrounds to enhance my cultural humility and my clinical skills.
Antonio Solis
Clinical Site: El Rio Health
My interest in providing care to rural communities stems from the understanding that these communities often have limited resources. This limitation often leads to minority populations not having the same opportunities afforded to other groups. Because of this, I want to work with underserved communities and act as a change agent for people who need help the most. As a first-generation American to immigrant parents, I have personally benefited from programs that target the underprivileged. As a result, I believe I keenly understand their challenges and needs. In addition, my experience working as a psychiatric staff nurse and then later as a psychiatric travel nurse has allowed me to better communicate with those experiencing acute crises and effectively navigate stressful situations. By the end of the year, I hope the immersive clinical training experience will give me the tools to more fully understand the day-to-day experience of being a psychiatric nurse practitioner.
Brooke Baca
Clinical Site: MHC Healthcare (MHC)
I am interested in providing care to rural and underserved communities because of my personal experience and background being an individual who grew up in similar circumstances. I come from a disadvantaged, underprivileged, overlooked, and otherwise disregarded background. Access to healthcare and like options were limited at best. Finding psychiatric care and support is a difficult task even for the average person; adding the dynamic of being from a rural or underserved community to the mix, this presents unnecessary additional barriers to receiving essential healthcare services, including mental health and substance use disorders. I am interested in helping these communities as they deserve access to equitable healthcare, mental health care, and substance use disorder treatment and the chance at a happy, fulfilling, healthy life.
My personal and professional background have helped shape my passion focused on supporting healthcare in rural and underserved communities by reinforcing an instilled sense of doing good for all, regardless of convenience. All human beings have inherent worth and value, including and especially those from rural and underserved communities. My personal background being from an underserved community has helped shape my passion for this group as it developed a sense of resiliency in me, fueled by overcoming adversity in my own life, to want to pass that gift forward as a provider to the people of these communities.
My goals and objectives to obtain at the end of the one-year immersive clinical training experience are to become a well-rounded provider with respect and compassion for those of rural and underserved communities. There are so many people out there with so much hurt, and not a proportionate outlet of help to cope. My goal is that I want to be a provider who knows the patient struggle and is the change in the system that allows these populations access to health equity and quality healthcare services, including mental health and substance use disorder services. My goals and objectives are to continue my educational experience, learn the best evidence-based practices and interventions to utilize in real-life practice, and provide an overall stress-free, inclusive environment where every individual from every walk of life is welcome and able to receive care.
Christina Love
Clinical Site: Mariposa Community Health Center
Hello, my name is Christina Love, and I have been a nurse for 11 years. I completed my undergraduate degree at the University of Arizona and am pleased to be able to complete graduate school at my alma mater. I have worked in various areas of healthcare, such as the emergency room, interventional radiology, and the operating room.
My dedication to serving rural and underserved communities is deeply rooted in my professional commitment and personal experiences. As a minority who grew up in an underserved area, my journey in healthcare is deeply rooted in giving back to the community that shaped my identity. Coming from an environment where access to quality healthcare posed a challenge, I witnessed firsthand the disparities and hardships faced by my community. These experiences ignited a passion to be a catalyst for change to ensure everyone has access to the quality care they deserve. Growing up in an underserved area gave me a unique understanding of the challenges individuals face in such communities, instilling in me a sense of empathy and resilience that I bring to my professional endeavors. Fluency in English and Spanish positions me as a bridge between different linguistic and cultural perspectives, enabling me to address language barriers that may hinder patients' quality of care.
During this immersive clinical experience, my primary goal is to provide comprehensive care, health education, and evidence-based treatments that empower individuals to take control of their health. Drawing from personal experiences, I understand the importance of trust and cultural sensitivity in healthcare. I aim to build strong relationships within the community, creating personalized healthcare plans that consider cultural factors and foster a sense of partnership. Additionally, I aspire to advocate for sustainable improvements in healthcare infrastructure through collaboration with local organizations and enhance my clinical skills. These goals reflect my commitment to making a difference. Through collaboration with healthcare professionals, community leaders, and individuals in the community, I aim to create sustainable initiatives that improve healthcare access and outcomes. My journey is more than a career path; it's a mission to bridge the healthcare gap in underserved communities. By combining my background, educational foundation, and professional experiences, I am dedicated to creating positive change and contributing to the healthcare community.
Cynthia Parkhurst
Clinical Site: MHC Healthcare (MHC)
My name is Cynthia Parkhurst and I am interested in providing care to rural and underserved communities because I was born and raised in a rural and underserved community myself. I grew up in Pirtleville, Arizona just outside of Douglas, which is also a border town. I remember having to travel out of town just to see specialists or to complete special medical, dental, or orthodontic procedures. We were very limited on medical services and supplies. I continue to live in a rural community still today in the town of Marana, Arizona.
My passion in supporting rural and underserved communities starts with my father. My father was an EMT and safety and health instructor in our small town, which is what piqued my interest in health. Coming from a small town, I understand both the values and the culture, but also unfortunately the disparities that come with it. I completed nursing school at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Arizona, where I got to experience the disparities of another underserved community and a variety of cultures. Today, I continue to live in a rural area, I continue to see the need for medical services which require an understanding of small-town settings.
As a bilingual family nurse practitioner who comes from an underserved rural community, I feel that I can relate closely to the rural and underserved population. I empathize with their struggles and understand their views. I am also bilingual in Spanish and have experience in teaching, psych, and treating chronic disease through nutrition, all of which have helped shape me as a provider. The goals I would like to obtain by the end of the one-year clinical immersive clinical training is to learn more in depth about rural health and to gain hands on experience so that I can learn how to best help serve those that I identify so closely with.
Demi Santamaria
Clinical Site: United Community Health Center (UCHC)
My interest for providing care to rural and underserved communities is to improve health care access, help overcome barriers to care, and increase the availability of high-quality health care as there is a shortage in health care providers, such as psychiatric mental health nurse practitioners (PMHNPs). Becoming a PMHNP will give me the opportunity to serve these communities in need as I have a desire to start my own private practice and starting my own practice in a rural area will increase the accessibility of mental health services to those living within it.
There are some instances in my personal background that helped shape my passion to support healthcare in rural communities. For example, I grew up in a rural area in the country surrounded by farms and further away from health care facilities. When my younger brother was little, he got stung by a bee that caused an allergic reaction, and the quickest access to help was the local fire department. It took about an hour for an ambulance to arrive and the closest emergency services were almost an hour away. I was too young to drive at the time, so this also contributed to the difficulties of getting timely health care. My professional background has also shaped my passion to support healthcare in rural communities. I work on an inpatient psychiatric unit at a university hospital I often take care of patients from Native American tribes that have difficulty accessing outpatient services, sometimes leading to their admission to inpatient facilities. Some patients live hours away and have to be transported to our facility because Tucson is the closest to their home that has inpatient psychiatric services. I want to be able to prevent health care disparities within these communities to improve the prevention and management of disease and the promotion of health and wellbeing of clients.
My goals and objectives that I want to obtain at the end of the one-year clinical immersive training experience include to be able to successfully provide care to patients within the rural community setting that I am currently doing my clinicals. I want to make a positive impact in their lives using the skills and competencies I will attain throughout the semester. As a PMHNP student, I plan to do my best to contribute to the improvement of health outcomes for the individuals I provide care to.
Jacqueline Burruel
Clinical Site: MHC Healthcare (MHC
I have wanted to provide care to the rural and underserved communities since before I was a registered nurse. From the time I was 12 I have lived in rural settings across the United States and have watched my family, friends, and neighbors not have easily accessible health care, traveling hundreds of miles for an appointment, or waiting six plus months to get in with a provider. I have always dreamed of giving back to the communities I have lived in by providing accessible health care. Now, I have this wonderful opportunity to pursue giving back to rural communities and I could not be more ecstatic.
I have lived in rural communities across the United States since I was 12 years old. I understand some of the challenges in the rural setting regarding health and wellness. I have always wanted better for the communities I live in, which is what drove me into the profession of nursing in the first place. Personally, I volunteer my time with a non-profit youth sports organization and educate about safety equipment, concussions, and other injuries. I am involved with community outreach groups in my area to assist in answering questions people may have regarding health and wellness. As a registered nurse, I have volunteered my time teaching classes amongst the community including basic handwashing for elementary students, basic first aid principles, and preparedness for traumatic injuries that can happen in rural settings.
At the end of the one-year clinical immersive clinical training experience I look forward to advancing my skills from a registered nurse to an advanced practice nurse who can provide wholistic care to the community in which I live. It is my hope that I learn about the challenges and roadblocks of the rural community on receiving quality healthcare and learn how to overcome these challenges. I hope to feel confident in myself to help provide education and competent care to the rural community. I want to be able to build trust with the community so they feel comfortable seeking healthcare before they are in a dire urgent or emergent need.
Katressa Regione
Clinical Site: Desert Senita Health Center
I am interested in serving rural and underserved communities because I do not believe that access to care should be contingent on how much money you have in your bank account. In my professional career as well as my personal life I have lived and worked near rural pockets in Arizona. I have seen how much healthcare shifts from areas like Sacaton to Gilbert, how quality care has become more about how much someone can spend instead of allowing the same access to care to anyone who needs it. I have worked for large corporations, and I have volunteered my time and skills to communities in need. I am passionate about providing quality, ethical, and compassionate care to those who are in need. My goals for this immersive clinical year is to work alongside practitioners who serve these populations and be able to grow in my skills so that I can be a competent and compassionate practitioner. My hope is to serve these communities and be able to make a positive change.
Kendall Moeller
Clinical Site: Chiricahua Community Health Center (CCHCI
I have been a registered nurse for the last 5 years and have found many gaps in healthcare. Because of my specialty in the NICU my goals are tailored to women and children. Women and children, especially those facing long stays in the NICU, do not receive adequate follow-up after discharge. Not only do these women face a stressful experience by have a sick or preterm infant in the NICU, but they also continue to have all the same responsibilities including caring for their other children, working to save their maternity leave for when their baby arrives, transportation difficulties and being hours from home and their support systems. These mothers are at extremely high risk for PPD yet there is a huge gap in support for mothers experiencing PPD in rural communities. One of my goals is to assist in supporting these mothers after discharge. I have also traveled to underserved countries that lack accessible, safe healthcare. A goal of mine as a nurse practitioner is to volunteer my time to educate and aid those in need. I am confident this one-year clinical experience will help me gain insight on how I can best serve these communities. Overtime, I have learned that one of my favorite parts of being a NICU nurse is educating parents and giving them the confidence to care for their child at home. I am passionate about providing more education to families both prenatally and postnatally. Additionally, I am excited to learn from the people of the Chiricahua Community in return. During this experience, I look forward to working to improve prenatal care for women in and around the Chiricahua Community. I can’t wait to start working and learning with you all!
Kendra Unamba
Clinical Site: MHC Healthcare (MHC)
Embarking on a journey in healthcare, my passion for providing care to underserved communities has been deeply rooted in a combination of personal experiences and professional aspirations. Growing up in a lower-income home, I became acutely aware of the disparities in healthcare access and quality. This early exposure ignited a desire to contribute to the well-being of individuals facing similar challenges. My interest in serving underserved communities is not just a career choice but a personal calling. Witnessing the struggles of my family, neighbors, and community members in accessing quality healthcare has been a driving force. This fuels my commitment to making a tangible difference in the lives of those facing barriers to healthcare.
Growing up in a lower-income home has molded my perspective and fueled my determination to address healthcare disparities. My experiences navigating the challenges of obtaining healthcare in such an environment have given me insight into the resilience of underserved communities and the urgent need for compassionate, accessible healthcare. Professionally, I have sought opportunities to immerse myself in diverse healthcare settings, from rural hospital to urban hospitals. These experiences have equipped me with understanding of the unique needs and challenges faced by underserved populations. The intersections of my personal and professional background have created a deep empathy and commitment to advocating for healthcare equity.
The upcoming one-year clinical immersive training experience represents a pivotal moment in my journey toward impactful healthcare service. My goal is to enhance my clinical skills and cultural competence to provide tailored care that addresses the specific needs of underserved populations. I aspire to collaborate with local communities during this training, actively involving them in the decision-making process. Additionally, I plan to establish networks with local stakeholders to create lasting partnerships that extend beyond the one-year timeframe. In essence, this training is not just a professional milestone but a crucial step in realizing my vision of healthcare accessibility, driven by a sense of responsibility rooted in my upbringing and passion for serving the underserved.
Madison Hestad
Clinical Site: United Community Health Center (UCHC)
I obtained a Bachelor of Science from Arizona State University in Psychology before attending the University of Arizona’s Masters to the Entry to the Profession of Nursing program to become a registered nurse. As a new graduate nurse, I worked as a cardiac-surgical nurse and an intensive-observation COVID-19 nurse. I was then accepted as the first student in the University of Arizona’s dual degree Doctor of Pharmacy and Doctor of Nursing Practice program. Throughout my experience as a registered nurse and a healthcare student, I have always prioritized opportunities to care for marginalized, rural, and underserved health communities. I have always been passionate in women’s health, especially in low resource communities to offer opportunities for reproductive autonomy.
Throughout my nursing career, I transitioned to working in psychiatric nursing while in my doctoral program. Through this experience, I cared for individuals across the state who were experiencing mental health crises. Often, patients had to travel from rural cities to Tucson for appropriate treatment. This displayed to me the needs of our rural communities, stirring in me a desire to offer my time and expertise to individuals living in rural cities or towns.
My goals for this clinical training experience are to establish a care practice that is sensitive to the needs of rural communities to promote health and wellness among individuals without access to the degree of care available to urban setting. I hope to create relationships with patients that seek to enhance each patients’ individual health goals in a manner that is in congruence with living in a rural environment. I will take this next year as an honor to serve individuals who are often in the most need of care by working in rural communities.
Olivia Johnson
Clinical Site: Chiricahua Community Health Center (CCHCI)
In my previous work as a nurse at the county hospital, I cared for a diverse population of patients, primarily those from underserved and rural areas. The lack of access to healthcare in these underserved and rural areas directly impacted the worsening health states I saw in these patients and the emergent care they required. With increased severity and chronicity of conditions, outcomes were only sometimes optimal. These patient experiences further developed my passion and interest in caring for underserved and rural populations as a future provider. My first goal is to become competent in caring for a diverse, underserved population with various acute and chronic health needs. While I have cared for patients of this population in the acute hospital setting as a nurse, the outpatient setting is entirely different. I have also never cared for this population in the provider role. The training and experience this immersive clinical training experience will provide me will be invaluable to my success as a future provider. A second goal of mine is to learn how providers in the community partners work with available and obtained resources to provide care for patients in these rural and underserved areas. I am incredibly grateful to participate in this program and look forward to this year!
Quinn Stokes
Clinical Site: Arizona Maternity and Women's Clinic
My name is Quinn and I am an experienced Labor and Delivery Registered Nurse currently working in a high risk obstetric unit and a third year doctoral student with a passion for promoting obstetric care and gynecological health across the lifespan. By the end of my DNP program, I hope to complete a process improvement project that improves the quality of care received by women in underserved communities. I hope to make obstetric and gynecologic care more accessible to women in these communities, working to address the maternal morbidity and mortality crisis in the United States. Additionally, I would like to learn more about trauma-informed care in the birth setting and eventually develop a course for all healthcare workers in women's health regarding trauma-informed care. Third, I aim to develop my own practice in an underserved community in Phoenix that works to make midwifery care and doula services accessible to lower income families to ensure that income doesn't impact a patient's right to have support and advocacy during their pregnancy and postpartum. I look forward to exploring all of the opportunities provided to me at the University of Arizona!
Raelynn Benally
Clinical Site: Desert Senita Health Center
Growing up on the Navajo Nation, the Indian Health Services was the only healthcare system that I knew. I never knew how limited the Indian Health Care system was until I became a Registered Nurse. During my years as a Registered Nurse, I have witnessed the many barriers and obstacles to healthcare that a patient may encounter. Since becoming a Registered Nurse, it has been my goal to always "learn more and do more" for the patients who I serve, specifically those who come from the Navajo Nation and surrounding areas. Every patient comes from a unique background and requires care to fit his or needs. Having a basic understanding of the patient’s social, economic, and cultural background allows caregivers, like myself, to tailor care to fit the patient’s specific needs. It's very unfortunate to see how the lack of resources affects our people throughout the Navajo Nation. Many people throughout the Navajo Nation and surrounding areas do not have access to quality healthcare, transportation, running water, or electricity. Consequently, many people may not seek the care they need. People throughout the Navajo Nation are also living with the long-term health effects of uranium mining exposure. This means that more and more people are being diagnosed with cancers and lung disorders. Hospitals in rural communities are not equipped to care for these complex patients. To better serve the people within underserved communities, specifically the Navajo Nation, it's extremely important for caregivers to be knowledgeable and understand the Dine (Navajo) way of life. It's important to have a basic understanding of the Navajo language and cultural practices. The people in rural communities don't seek healthcare on a regular basis and unfortunately only come to the hospital when they are very sick. Implementing patient-centered care means getting to know your patients, determining what their needs are, finding ways to eliminate barriers to care, serving as his or her advocate, and providing the education that he or she may need, to ensure that he or she receives the best care possible. I am always finding ways to increase my knowledge on rural populations, in order to better serve my patients and the community.
Rebecca Foley
Clinical Site: MHC Healthcare (MHC)
A unique aspect of working in rural health and with underserved communities is that the provider is often working with a new and unfamiliar culture. While this experience may be new for many providers, I have been fortunate to be exposed to non-Western environments from a young age. When I was eight years old, my family moved to East Africa for three years, where my parents served as teachers in an American international school in Kenya. Some of my earliest memories are of playing with my Kenyan friends, children from many other countries, and learning how to speak Kiswahili. In college, I decided to get a degree in international studies, spending a year in the Middle East as part of a Middle Eastern study emphasis. It was during my study abroad experiences during this time that led me to become interested in refugees and refugee health. When I later returned to school for my Masters of Public Health in Baltimore, I chose to specialize in disaster management and refugee health. Baltimore is a home city for the International Rescue Committee (IRC), a nonprofit organization with a mission to help refugees and asylum seekers. I had several friends active in IRC and befriended several asylum seekers and refugees that were resettled in Baltimore. It was sobering to hear their stories and see them try to pick up the pieces of their lives in a new and unfamiliar place. After these experiences, I have an understanding and empathy for individuals living and working in a culture different from their own.
One of my personal goals that is aligned with IMPACT is that of serving under-served communities. With my MPH degree, I love working with communities and empowering them to achieve personal and community health goals. I have had a long-time interest in serving refugee and asylum communities, which connects with IMPACT's focus on rural health sub-specialty of border health. I also speak Spanish and am interested in serving in a rural bilingual clinic after graduation. Another personal goal that is aligned with IMPACT is that of gaining a diverse clinical experience during my clinical rotations. I am looking forward to gaining valuable clinical experiences with rural and under-served populations and becoming competent in working with these populations. A final personal goal aligned with IMPACT is that of having a DNP project that would not only fulfill graduation requirements but also have a positive impact on the community. I am hopeful that through IMPACT my DNP project can further support excellent primary care standards for NPs working in rural settings.
Ryan Bartz
Clinical Site: MHC Healthcare (MHC)
I am interested in helping people establish a better foundational mindset so that they can function with better health within their community. Among other conditions, poor mental health and substance use disorders continue to affect significant portions of the rural and underserved population in Southern Arizona and so I would find work there both intellectually stimulating and quite rewarding. In general, I see great need in those communities and opportunities to help people thrive, as opposed to simply survive.
Shortly after I was born in the 1980s, the American military relocated our family to Jakarta, Indonesia, for a 6-year medical research stint and so, my earliest memories reflect life there. What I saw daily were people living an impoverished life, many who lacked basic resources or means of travel for any substantial distance to receive any type of medical care or help in general. At that point in time, Indonesia was classified as “developing world”, although, by way of global trade, has since improved its economic status. In addition to his contribution to medical research, I remember seeing my father providing inoculations in clinics there and hearing stories of the care he provided to the people in the surrounding rural villages. Even though I was young during this experience, the impression it left on me clearly reflected the idea that significant barriers exist for some parts of the world with regards to maintaining good health and that those barriers can be overcome if resources are invested, and people care enough to help.
As an adult in the 2000s, for 13 years in Tucson, AZ, I provided care and transportation to the sick and injured by way of working as an EMT for a private ambulance company. In addition to responding to emergency calls through contracts with local fire stations, this work included interfacility and non-emergent transports to and from vast desert areas in Southern Arizona. I was also able to provide treatment and transport to people living in some of the more rural areas throughout indigenous land surrounding Tucson as well. However, most of the underserved community I was fortunate enough to help was more local, often unhoused and afflicted with poor mental health and substance use disorders. I say “fortunate” because during those times I welcomed the idea of removing someone from unfortunate situations and getting them closer to help.
I remember the first time I was taught how to use a BVM. I was being proctored one-on-one by a medical student who saw me nervously providing less than adequate respirations to the mannequin, then without irritation or hesitation, and without embarrassing me, took over and told me, “Let’s learn this right, because one day you might have to use one of these on me.” Now, more than 25 years later, I’m looking forward to spending some direct time with professionals so I can learn how to correctly choose the right care plan or the right medication, or how to point them in the right direction for other resources.
Tiffany Lynch
Clinical Site: Chiricahua Community Health Center (CCHCI)
I grew up on the Navajo Nation in northeastern Arizona. Most of my family still reside on the reservation where access to quality healthcare is often challenging due to its rurality. Many members of the community, including members of my own family, suffer from various chronic illnesses at disproportionate rates compared to other ethnic groups. Because of this, my intention has always been to contribute – in any way – to the improvement of health outcomes for underserved populations, particularly within the Indigenous community.
While my personal experiences and those of my family offered valuable insights, I initially overlooked the intricate reality of delivering healthcare to the Indigenous population. Much of my nursing career was spent in an urban hospital, where I provided care to individuals from diverse backgrounds, benefiting from more easily accessible resources—a stark contrast to my later work in a tribal health clinic. This experience made apparent the obstacles and difficulties in delivering primary care to an underserved population but also highlighted the resilience and strength within the Indigenous community, emphasizing the significance of advancing their overall health status.
Over the next year, my primary goals are to enhance my clinical skills and cultural competence to better serve rural and underserved populations. I would also like to learn more about how to address the unique healthcare gaps specific to our Southern Arizona communities. Ultimately, my objective is to contribute meaningfully to the improvement of health outcomes in the communities I serve during this immersive clinical training experience.