Deena Collins Memorial Scholarship

My name is Emma Kreutner, and I am from Valentine, Nebraska. I live in the north-central portion of Cherry County, with my town being the biggest in the county with under 3,000 people. I currently work as a night CNA at our local assisted and independent living faculty and plan on working in a rural area as a nurse. From a young age, I have had a special pull towards medicine and the medical field. This stemmed from seeing my father work as a Medication Aide at the assisted and independent faculty I work in now. This inspired me to start my journey in Healthcare, and this began when I was in the sixth grade. During my first year of middle school, my grandparents moved to Valentine and required round-the-clock care and I would walk to their apartment after school. I would take care of both of them on my own until 1630 when my mom would get off of work. This showed me that I had a unique calling in life, which was Healthcare. As time passed, so did my grandparents but my calling did not. I was able to become a board-certified nursing aide during my junior year of high school. The next few months were spent applying and interviewing for my first official job in the field. I was given a job as a night CNA at the same assisted and independent living home that my dad worked out. I was beyond excited to work and start my career in rural healthcare. As my senior year began, so did my college search. I have chosen to go to South Dakota State University and major in Nursing. I have decided to focus my studies in more rural healthcare and rural nursing because there is a significant underservice in rural communities for local nurses. In my town, we are the central hospital for Cherry County and I have seen firsthand the lack of local nurses. Any time I am in the hospital there is a significant deficiency in local nurses in comparison to the traveling ones I see. By choosing to go into rural medicine, you must have a vast knowledge of numerous different areas of medicine. This fact often deters those from going into rural medicine, and the lack of popular shops and stores to use. Being from a rural area, I have learned more about medicine than I ever imagined I would. By being from a small town, I can use that small-town knowledge in other areas to help increase the number of local rural nurses.

My name is Dayanara Rodriguez, and I am currently a Senior at Scottsbluff High School. Throughout my educational career. I have always enjoyed school and have had a knack of learning new things, especially on the topics that interest me. I like to work hard and strive to do my best in all my work in hopes that I would be able to succeed and continue my education to the collegiate level to obtain my BSN. My curiosity and yearning to learn more about the human body and all of its inner functionings has pushed me to want an education past high school to continue learning topics that interest me and I have a passion about. Specifically, the main topic that interests me the most and I have always wanted to pursue a career in is labor and infants. The whole idea of giving birth and taking care of the tiny infants has always intrigued me and I have always wanted to have a career where I can take care of them and make sure they are healthy. By obtaining my BSN and working in the Labor and Delivery or NICU Unit, I hope to help many new and returning mothers with their infants and with the process of giving birth to their new babies. From helping them feel as comfortable as they can, to taking the best care of their baby. In my career I hope to help many moms throughout the process, despite their possible stress or fear they may have of bringing a new baby home. I would also like to help all the moms in my community. By interning and job shadowing at my local hospital, I was able to see how it is really like to work as a nurse in my local hospital in the Birth and Infant Care Center. This made me want to come back and help the Birth and Infant Care Center at my local hospital, to care for all of the moms in my local community through their birthing process. While also shadowing I have also noticed that my local hospital lacked nurses that knew Spanish. When entering my career, I hope to progress and be more confident in my Spanish speaking skills so that I am able to communicate with patients if needed that only speak Spanish. I often saw that this was a common barrier that many nurses faced within my local hospital, and that would often delay the care or the communication the patient needed. As a future nurse, I plan on studying more about Spanish in healthcare to help speak to patients that only speak Spanish, and also to help make them feel comfortable and understood in an environment that can seem scary to many new moms or even patients in general.

In the middle of a frigid February night, I found myself ankle-deep in a creek, gripping the calving chain of a heifer in labor. It was calving season, and my dad and I were doing everything we could to assist this exhausted mother in delivering her first calf. As she pushed and I pulled, the crisp, cold air filled our lungs. Despite the discomfort, I knew that ensuring the safety of both mother and baby was paramount. Growing up on a beef cattle ranch in Kansas, I witnessed the challenges faced by my family and community in accessing quality healthcare. All of my mother’s pregnancies were high-risk with pre-eclampsia with significant edema and sepsis with chorioamnionitis; due to the lack of OB care in the area, she had to travel hours for every appointment, costing her time, increasing family burden, and causing unfamiliarity with the provider and birthplace of her children. The scarcity of specialty care, financial difficulties, and limited local healthcare services acted as barriers to continuous care in my community, leading to detrimental repercussions for patients. Witnessing the outcomes of these patients fueled my determination to become an obstetrician and provide high-risk OB care to patients who otherwise would not receive this until the time of delivery. Throughout my medical education, I pursued experiences that allowed me to serve rural communities and gain insights into their unique healthcare challenges. From volunteering at JayDoc, a free medical student-run clinic, to working in a rural clinic through STORM, an elective summer clinical experience that focuses on rural medicine, I have sought opportunities to address the immediate needs of these communities and develop a comprehensive understanding of their healthcare landscape. During my OBGYN clerkship, my passion for women's health and high-risk pregnancy care continued to develop. Guiding patients through difficult labor to safe deliveries, mastering the technical aspects of gynecologic surgery, and educating women on fundamental aspects of their health provided immense satisfaction. It continues to be evident that the practice I envision for my future will help address the disparities in access to care for rural women. I am eager to contribute to the field of obstetrics and gynecology, bridging the gap in access to quality care for underserved populations. Through compassionate and comprehensive care, I aim to make a lasting impact on the lives of women and their families, empowering them to navigate the transformative journey of pregnancy and ensuring the delivery of safe and healthy babies. The memory of that night, watching the heifer’s final push and subsequent birth of a healthy calf, has etched in my mind a constant reminder of the privilege it is to be entrusted with the care of both mother and baby. I am ready to embrace the challenges and rewards that lie ahead in my pursuit of becoming a skilled and compassionate OBGYN serving in rural, underserved areas.