USF Nursing Alumni Make a Difference in the Community
Thursday, July 10, 2008
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Posted by: Leanna Baylis
Tampa, FL – University of South Florida College of Nursing alumni are making a major difference to healthcare in the greater Tampa Bay community. Graduates of the USF College of Nursing become prominent leaders in the field through completion of cutting edge programs. USF alumni are today’s leading educators, researchers and clinicians in Tampa Bay.
Christine Bouchard is the nursing program director at South University in downtown Tampa. She graduated from the USF College of Nursing and College of Public Health with a dual masters degree in occupational health and nursing and is currently a College of Nursing PhD student. Her recent article, “Literacy and Hazard Communication: Ensuring Workers Understand the Information They Receive” published in the January issue of the American Association of Occupational Health Nurses Journal increases awareness of the magnitude of the literacy issue among health care professionals. Bouchard said that because 1 out of every 5 people in this country read at a fifth grade level or less it is imperative that nurses and other occupational health professionals provide employees with hazard communication training that they can understand, retain, and apply at the worksite.
Bouchard benefits the community not only through health research, but also by reaching out through church and charity organizations. Currently she volunteers in the Health Ministry at her church and has recently started volunteering with the American Heart Association’s Go Red For Women Campaign. Bouchard said, “I feel that I represent both South University, the University of South Florida, both as an alumnus and current doctoral student in the College of Nursing, and as a community member.”
Dr. Mavra Kear is a USF College of Nursing PhD graduate and currently the Nursing Department Chair and an Associate Professor at Florida Southern College. She says her degree enabled her to continue her career as a nurse educator. To Kear, nursing can mean many things. Kear says that sometimes it means a formal information session on promoting health and other times it is an informal conversation about issues affecting health care. Either way, Kear feels strongly about nursing. She said, “A nurse is always a nurse, ministering to family, friends, neighbors, and coworkers in day to day interactions.”
College of Nursing Dean at St. Petersburg College, Dr. Jean Wortock received both her MSN and PhD in nursing from USF and is committed to promoting health for the citizens of Florida. She was recently appointed by Florida Governor Charlie Christ to review the Florida Department of Health, and was previously appointed by Governor Jeb Bush to the Florida Center for Nursing to help examine the direction that the nursing field is taking in the state of Florida.
Working with Wortock is fellow USF College of Nursing graduate Gail Burt, Program Director of the AS in Nursing Program at St. Petersburg College. Burt received her MSN in nursing from USF completing the Clinical Nurse Specialist and Nursing Educator track at the same time. She has had an opportunity to be involved in the National League for Nursing where she served on the Educational Summit Planning Committee, as a committee member of the Constituent Organization Advisory Council (COAC), and is currently serving as the committee chair of COAC. Burt believes that her education at USF College of Nursing has helped her become a leader. She said, “The faculty serve as role models of leadership."
Wortock and Burt are positively impacting the community by increasing the amount of students receiving nursing education. Burt said, “I have been able to work to improve the nursing curriculum and forge partnerships with the Health Care Agencies in Pinellas County to expand the program from serving 300 students to serving about 600 students.” She says she has worked with more nursing students then she can count, and is proud that these graduates are working in Pinellas County and are caring for those who need nursing care.
Assistant Administrator at the Citrus County Health Department, Dr. Teresa Goodman earned her BSN, MSN and PhD from the University of South Florida College of Nursing. Serving as a public health leader, Goodman says she has a responsibility to promote and protect the health of the citizens of this county and state, and as a nursing leader she strives to advance the nursing profession. “My nursing education has given me the opportunity and abilities to become both a nursing and public health leader”, said Goodman.
Prior to her position at the health department, Goodman was able to serve the community as a Public Health Pediatric Nurse Practitioner, providing primary pediatric health care services to children in a public health clinic and implementing an asthma education program for public school elementary children.
The public benefits from having an experienced nurse in the health department. Goodman has implemented many beneficial programs and continues to assess community needs, and strives to meet those needs. Goodman created a walking club for middle school children and developed the Body Mass Index (BMI) screening and referral program for all county public school children. Goodman is currently working on a community Preconception Care Program to improve the knowledge, attitudes and behaviors of the men and women living in Citrus County related to preconception health. Goodman said, “As a USF graduate, I had the foundation to grow into a leadership role.”
USF experiences high success in the production of nursing leaders, and attracts graduate level students who are interested in a serious higher education and innovative curriculum. The USF College of Nursing has programs for all degree levels and interests from freshman undergraduate to PhD graduate level students. Masters and doctoral graduates often become nursing faculty and in turn educate more nurses to fill the national clinical shortage.
- USF Health -
USF Health is a partnership of the University of South Florida’s colleges of medicine, nursing, and public health; the schools of basic biomedical sciences and physical therapy & rehabilitation sciences; and the USF Physicians Group. It is a partnership dedicated to the promise of creating a new model of health and health care. One of the nation's top 63 public research universities as designated by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, USF received more than $310 million in research contracts and grants last year. It is ranked by the National Science Foundation as one of the nation's fastest growing universities for federal research and development expenditures.
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