Students share nursing knowledge with refugee children
Last spring, Angela Cho (CWR ’22) and Madeline Miltenberger (CWR ’22) entered the Thomas Jefferson International Newcomers Academy on Cleveland’s near west side, where more than a dozen children—all refugees and immigrants—eagerly awaited them.
These young students, who are members of The Refugee Response’s Youth Mentoring Program, attend the academy as they develop their English language skills. After hearing of the students’ interest in the nursing and medical fields, their program director reached out to Case Western Reserve University’s Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing to arrange a presentation that would give them a preview into the world of nursing from a student’s perspective.
Cho and Miltenberger designed a two-day presentation that covered everything from the role of nurses in society to using a stethoscope. Joyce J. Fitzpatrick, PhD, RN (MGT ‘92), a Distinguished University Professor and the Elizabeth Brooks Ford Professor of Nursing, joined for part of their presentation to talk about nurses throughout history—and to share with each student a copy of her book, Luminaries of the Past: Stories of Fifty Extraordinary Nurses.
“We wanted them to see that nurses don’t work solely in a hospital but can also make an impact on communities to improve the health of people,” said Cho and Miltenberger in an email to Forefront. “There is no one path of becoming a nurse—they come from different backgrounds, experiences and perspectives.”
—Lauren Marchaza