UPbeat

News for and about University of Portland faculty and staff.

School of Nursing

New to The Bluff: Gary Laustsen, FT Visiting Faculty, School of Nursing & Health Innovations 

The School of Nursing & Health Innovations would like to welcome Gary Laustsen as a FT Visiting Faculty for Spring semester 2023. Laustsen’s work on Family Health Care Nursing: Theory, Practice, and Research was recently named Best of 2022 by the American Journal of Nursing’s Best Book of the Year Award in the Environmental Health category. Laustsen’s chapter comprehensively addresses key concepts like environmental health risks, disasters, environmental justice, and the built environment. Diverse case studies illustrate the impact of environmental exposures on family health. Congratulations and welcome! 

School of Nursing and Health Innovations Received a Community Partner Award

On October 16 the UP School of Nursing & Health Innovations was honored with a Community Partner Award at the SHARE Harry Potter & the Cauldron of Soup Soup’s On! competition at Ilani. “Your students help to enhance our programs; they bring expertise and awareness. Their presence helps the team address health issues on the streets, in encampments and with people in permanent supportive housing.  We hope that they will carry their experiences on through their careers and have a deeper understanding of what it means to experience homelessness and how harm reduction is used.”  SONHI wishes to thank our faculty Joan Caley and Linda Smith for their exceptional work with Share. 

Calling All Babies!

The School of Nursing is looking for baby models to spend an hour with our Family Nurse Practitioner students who are learning about baby development and milestones. This will take place on Saturday, May 21, 10:00 a.m.–11:00 a.m. We are especially interested in babies from newborn to 9 months of age who were born within approximately 3 weeks of their due date (not excessively premature). Parents will be asked questions about their infant’s development, and the babies will be examined and have some games played with them. The students will then have to guess the age of your baby. It’s always a fun hour! COVID precautions will be strictly enforced to ensure the safety of everyone—especially the infants. Please email Michaela Cribb at cribb@up.edu with any questions or to participate. Thank you!

School of Nursing Opportunity for Pregnant Volunteers

The School of Nursing is in need of pregnant volunteers for a DNP class on Sunday, March 21 from 2-3 p.m. Volunteer subjects will be interviewed by the students, who will also measure your abdomen, listen for fetal heart tones, and ask questions. Compensation of $50 will be provided. If you or someone you know might be interested and willing to participate, please contact Amber Vermeesch, nursing, at vermeesc@up.edu.

Free Zoom Presentation: “Nurses Out Front: The Future of Nurse-Driven Health Reform,” Dec. 11

School of Nursing dean Casey Shillam will serve as a panelist for the 2020 Oregon Health Forum’s “Nurses Out Front: The Future of Nurse-Driven Health Reform,” a Zoom event on Friday, December 11, at 10 a.m. In this first-ever all-nurse panel ever hosted by the OHF, Shillam will be sharing about the work the School of Nursing is doing on diversity, equity, and inclusion, and will be discussing both local and national policy changes needed to create a diverse nursing workforce reflecting the demographics of our population.

All faculty and staff are invited to attend for free by registering at this link and using the password NURSE2020.

From the event website: “Nurses possess unique health reform priorities forged by front-line experiences and patient and community engagement but they have not always been full partners in health care reform decision-making. This event explores nurses’ top health reform priorities — including addressing systemic inequities — and considers how they will continue to shape state and federal health policy.”

Weekly Webinar for Health Care Providers

The School of Nursing is hosting a weekly webinar for health care providers on the front lines. Each week, we focus on a different self-care topic, method, or conversation. Attendees are directed to watch the 30-minute self-care video on the School of Nursing page before attending. The Health Care Self Care series is an offering from the Schools of Nursing’s Initiative for Vital Practice, whose mission is to explore and implement effective prevention and treatment for burnout and compassion fatigue. If you or anyone you know could benefit from the series, please use the signup form here to join our initiation list. The webinars are every Thursday at 3 p.m. via Zoom.

Please see the video using this link. A signup form can be found using this link.

Big Change for Maureen Briare: Welcome (Back) to Nursing

Maureen Briare will be returning to her nursing career by joining the School of Nursing faculty as an instructor for fall 2020. Maureen states, “I am beyond excited for the privilege of being able to accompany students on their journey of self-discovery, synthesis of skills and information, and especially their growth as caring, loving, human beings who will serve in the world of health care, and the professionalism that it requires.” Maureen has a vision to create a course in which “prescriptive’ music for anxiety, mindfulness, emotional health, compassionate listening and caring for self are all explored in depth and she hopes that this focus will serve the hearts and minds of our stellar students. Father Jim Gallagher, Director of Campus Ministry, shares “We have been blessed with the many years of Maureen guiding our liturgical music and more. Her gifted direction of the Chapel Choir will be missed, yet we look forward to seeing how she continues to be a blessing to our UP community in this new role.”

Trauma Informed Care Event, Feb. 24: That’s Today!

The School of Nursing will present a Trauma Informed Care event on Monday, February 24 (today!) from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., in the Bauccio Commons. Mandy Davis from Portland State University, who serves as director of Trauma Informed Oregon, will speak on understanding how trauma impacts individuals and families. All are welcome to attend. Please RSVP using this link.

For more information contact Anaraquel Aguilera, nursing, at x8141 or aguilera@up.edu.

School of Nursing Opportunity for Pregnant Females

The School of Nursing is in need of pregnant females for a prenatal simulation class on Saturday, February 22, from 3:15 to 5:15 p.m. Volunteer subjects must be willing to be interviewed by graduate family nurse practitioner students, as well as being measured for fundal height and checked for fetal heart tones.  Compensation will be provided. If you or someone you know might be interested and willing to participate please contact Patricia Cox, nursing, at coxp@up.edu as soon as possible.

“The Undertaking,” Pomerleau Concert Series, Feb. 5

“The Undertaking,” part of the Rev. Claude Pomerleau Memorial Concert Series, will take place on Wednesday, February 5, at 7 p.m., in Hunt Center Recital Hall. A reception will follow.

An aging mother’s health teeters on the brink. Her adult daughter scrambles to find footing as her role shifts from child to authority figure. Death pounds at the door and they both wonder, “Could someone this ticked off actually be dying?” Through an interdisciplinary blend of music, movement, and theatrical storytelling, “The Undertaking” uses actor/dancers to portray the end-of-life care of an elder using Dmitri Shostakovich’s Piano Trio No. 2, played live by local music ensemble Northwest Piano Trio.

Featuring UP alumna Hannah Hillebrand ’05 and music faculty member Susan McDaniel, and directed by UP faculty/alumna Jessica Wallenfels, this performance is free to the UP community. Co-sponsored by the Garaventa Center, the Beckman Humor Project, the Fr. Claude Pomerleau Memorial Concert Series, the School of Nursing, and the Performing and Fine Arts Department. For ADA accommodations or more information contact Wallenfels at wallenfe@up.edu.