Stories from the February 2007 Issue / page 2

At a Glance: Nursing

As a followup to our fall issue focus on healthcare careers, we devote space to UW-Green Bay's Professional Program in Nursing.

UW-Green Bay's nursing program graduates more than 40 seniors per year and rates among the largest and most popular majors — yet many of its students have never set foot on campus.

That's because, as a BSN completion program (also known as an "RN-to-BSN") Green Bay is a leader in distance learning. With courses both on campus and online, says Derryl Block, professor and chairperson, the program serves three geographically distinct populations: local RNs studying on campus; Wisconsin nurses enrolled in BSN@home, a UW System consortium; and out-of-state students, coast-to-coast, enrolled in BSN-LINC.

Students are already nurses (working RNs with associate degrees) who enroll for the upper-level courses and advancement opportunities a bachelor's degree provides. "The need for baccalaureate prepared nurses has never been higher," Block says.

The reputation of the online program, in particular, is growing at broadband speed. "I give a lot of credit to the folks at UW-Green Bay and to the program," says Margaret Swan-Shulman '03, whose BSN led to a master's in forensic nursing and a job as Massachusetts medical examiner.

Educator Christine Bottkol, coordinator of nursing for Gulf Coast Community College in Panama City, Fla., is a fan, too, often referring students to the program. A former Bellin student who took classes at UW-Green Bay, Bottkol agrees with Block about the need. She saw it firsthand when she helped lead Gulf Coast's nursing response team after Hurricane Katrina.

"Wherever we are, we're a community of nurses," she says of that experience and her willingness to tout Green Bay's offerings. "We don't stand alone, we stand together."



Newly posted: The following items are additions to the content published in the February 2007 print edition of Inside UW-Green Bay.

Mother-daughter team competes BSNs together

It's difficult to decipher who inspired whom, maybe a little bit of both, but mother Rosie Herek and daughter Rose (Herek) James got through UW-Green Bay's nursing program together.

"My mom originally wanted to get her BSN but didn't finish," said Rose. "When I wanted to, she said she would like to join also. It was good because we were able to support each other and help each other through the program."

They ended up graduating a semester apart — Rosie in Dec. 2004 and Rose in May 2005. Both work for St. Vincent Hospital — Rosie in the short-stay and outpatient area, and Rose in the "float pool."

"I'm glad we did it," says Rose. "It opens a lot of doors. Right now I've got small kids at home, but in the future I'm always looking for other opportunities, and eventually I want to go on for my master's degree."

Current students say

"The UW-Green Bay BSN online program is working out great for me. I previously was enrolled in (another program) but didn't get the one-on-one I felt I needed — I hadn't been a student in many years — and didn't feel comfortable without some assistance. The staff, professors, on-line assistance, registration, and financial aid people have all been extremely helpful."
— NASA nurse Joyce Clark, R.N., Houston

"I may take additional certifications, I'm particularly interested in hospice and adolescent psych...Correctional nursing is a wide-open field that places pretty significant demands on your assessment skills and people skills. The demand is pretty incredible, and the pay and benefits, at least in Minnesota, are very decent."
— Steven Hansmann, RN Senior, Minnesota Department of Corrections

"The families entrusted me with the care of their loved ones and they and the patients were so grateful... When we arrived at Kuwait, I was greeted by the son of the elderly man, a distinguished gentlemen who said, 'Welcome to Kuwait. Thank you for bringing my father, we are greatly indebted to you.'
— Flight nurse Todd Schmadl, R.N., Wisconsin, recalling a recent trip for Travel Care International, describing his passion for the profession.

Military wife's transient life? No problem

Christine Fontinel was searching for a nursing completion program that could provide solid footing. She and her family lived in five different states in four years. After struggling to complete a traditional associate's degree — "We would move mid-semester, and not all credits would transfer" — Fontinel found her grounding in UW-Green Bay's online RN-to-BSN program.

"When I started in 2001, I was in Cleveland, but later that year moved to Maine," she said. "In 2002 we moved to Boston and by 2004 to San Antonio. During the moves, I would take my laptop along to wherever we were staying, a friend's house or a hotel, and get online and do my homework. I never had to stop my degree progression."

The mother of young children, with another on the way, she was pleased there wasn't a requirement to spend time on campus mid-semester like some other online programs.

"To leave the kids for two, maybe three weeks? I don't think I could do it," says Fontinel, who has since recommended the program to "many friends."

She currently works as a pediatric intensive care nurse and a school nurse at a military base in Texas, and has applied to a pediatric nurse practitioner master's program.

High-flying healthcare Jon Hagen '04 is a graduate of the bachelor's degree-completion program in nursing at UW-Green Bay. He is a full-time flight nurse on ThedaStar, a helicopter based at Theda Clark Medical Center, Neenah. He is also the part-time chief deputy coroner for Outagamie County.

Cynthia Aerts '83 is a Registered Nurse III with the float team at Sarasota (Fla.) Memorial Hospital. She earned her master's in critical care nursing at the Medical College of Wisconsin.

Cynthia Buckles '85 works as an RNC in neonatal intensive care for St. Vincent Hospital, Green Bay.

Patty Martens '85 is an RN for Unity Hospice, Green Bay.

Barbara Connelly '86 works in private rehabilitation with work-related injury consultation as a nurse case manager for a private company, Bass & Babb, Green Bay.

Anita Biese '88 is a clinical nurse specialist for St. Vincent Hospital Home Health Care, Green Bay. She attended grad school in Chicago at Rush University.

Donna Tilot '90 is an RN for cardiac pulmonary rehab at St. Mary's Hospital, Green Bay.

Victoria Behnke '91 is a certified diabetes educator (RN, CDE) at St. Mary's Hospital, Green Bay.

Jody Boes '98 is vice president, patient care, at Door County Memorial Hospital, Sturgeon Bay.

Suzanne Behrens '01 is an ICU charge nurse at Aurora BayCare Medical Center, Green Bay.

Catherine Heimbecher '04 is administrator of the Heart & Vascular Center at Tallahassee (Fla.) Memorial HealthCare.

Beverly (Banks) Kannowski '04 is a clinical instructor with Alpena (Mich.) Community College.

Jennifer Schwahn '05 is a nursing program adviser for UW-Green Bay. She lives in Reedsville.