The Fuld Leadership Program
Fuld Fellowships
Colleen Burke
Biographical Sketch
Reflections on the Fuld Fellowship
Making Bigger Beds, Nursing Magazine
Biographical Sketch
Colleen Burke is a first semester graduate student in the Acute Care Pediatric Nurse Practitioner program. She graduated from the Emory BSN program in May 2005. She was new to the South prior to coming to Emory from Southbury, CT. She received her BS degree from University of Connecticut in Exercise Physiology and Nutrition knowing that she wanted to pursue a career in health care. After graduation she worked at Duracell as a Health Fitness and Wellness specialist and was involved in a community outreach group called DuraCares that reached out to those in need on a local level including Habitat for Humanity, Red Cross blood drives, March of Dimes Walkathon, Relay for Life and holiday food drives. She left Duracell to come to Emory in 2003. She has worked in the Women and Children’s Center in the Emory School of Public Health where she was involved in a grant proposal development and the pilot study on health behaviors changes in African American women and physical activity at Grady Memorial Hospital. She is currently working at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston in the Post Anastesia Care Unit (PACU) and Day Surgery floors as a Registered Nurse. Her aspirations are to work as a pediatric nurse practitioner in an international setting focusing on health promotion and disease prevention of children and their families.
Reflections on the Fuld Fellowship
Throughout the BSN programs at Emory I have had the chance to be involved in a number of activities and work with a variety of populations allowing me to grow as a leader, nurse and individual. The Fuld Fellowship has played a large part in my personal growth as a result of the opportunities made available and the remarkable individuals I have met along the way.
In mid January of 2004 and 2005, the Lillian Carter Center for International Nursing organized an exchange with four nursing students from Yonsei University in Seoul, Korea. They spent several weeks emerged in American health care and culture. Volunteering my time to tour the city and discussing highlights of Emory Nursing with the students from Yonsei was extremely rewarding for all of us. We learned from one another of the many differences and similarities within our health care systems. One of the most important tools in working with under served populations is having knowledge of cultural diversity. This experience provided unique insight for expanding my own nursing practice.
Over the past two years I have been part of several campus-wide programs. As part of Emory’s World AIDS Day program, the Nursing school has been responsible for raising money for AID Atlanta through ribbon and T-shirt sales, increased awareness to students through a film festival and information tables on campus. The Vaccination Dinner Club (VDC) is an organization on the Emory campus involving members of the CDC, local universities and the Carter Center who meet monthly to network and dialogue regarding latest advancements in vaccine research. It has proven an opportunity to meet interesting scholars and sit in on lectures led by the experts in vaccine science.
Emory has made it possible to experience nursing and leadership on an international level. The Hubert Fellowship has been designed to encourage and inspire student nurses who are interested in international faith-based healthcare through provision of international experiences and mentorship. I was fortunate to travel to Eluethera Island in the Bahamas over spring break in March as a Hubert Fellow. Even in a small community with limited resources and access to healthcare, the people have an impeccable bond within their community.
For two weeks in June, a group of Emory students had the opportunity to work with and learn from the migrant farm workers in rural South Georgia. We spent these few weeks performing physical assessments on migrant workers and their children, discussing issues about migrant and community health and learning about a new culture and way of life. I saw within this vulnerable population an amazing group of individuals with strong family values and work ethics.
I was an active member of the Emory Student Nursing Association (ESNA) and was Vice-President of the Emory International Student Nursing Association (EISNA) for the 2004-2005 term. My roles included being the liaison between the EISNA and the Lillian Carter Center for International Nursing (LCCIN), increasing the awareness to students and faculty regarding local health promotional activities such as run/walks benefiting community and health-related organizations, and organizing fundraising for the EISNA. My passion for preventative childhood health led me to become involved in the Childhood Obesity initiative for Health Students Taking Action Together (HSTAT). HSTAT is a organization of health professional students engaged in education, activism, and service. I became the HSTAT representative for the Obesity Action Network (OAN), a local collaboration of health care professionals dedicated to reducing the incidence of childhood obesity in Georgia.
In January 2005, I was fortunate to be part of a research course studying the healthcare system in Cuba. For 10 days we had the chance to visit Cuba and experience first-hand a system focused on health promotion and disease prevention. The trip served as an opportunity to enhance our understanding of country’s unique community and public health programs and well as opened our eyes to new rich culture.
In Spring 2005, I volunteered some of my time working along side faculty member Elizabeth Downes at the International School in Avondale, GA. In collaboration with the school’s health committee we brainstormed ideas and implemented some programs on improving the health and wellness of the elementary students and faculty. This included calculating the children’s BMI’s, implementing good hand washing techniques (especially important with the flu vaccine shortage) and working to increase the faculty and students overall health promotion knowledge.
As I enter the graduate program, I look forward to working together with the Fuld Fellows to address the needs of our community. I plan to continue my work with HSTAT, the International school, EISNA, OAN and participate in the Vaccine dinner club. I have also become involved in the Graduate council, Sigma Theta Tau Nursing Honor Society and the Emory Alumni Association.
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