Evans said he credits his college advisor, Dr. Amy Morris, professor of biology and chair of the department at Ď㽶ĘÓƵ, for helping him create an academic plan to meet his career goal.

“She told me about the 3+1 accelerated nursing program and introduced me to Amy Landgren, the Creighton recruiter,” said Evans. “The two of them encouraged me to look into the program and I’m glad they did.”

After 12 months of intense academic and clinical course work, Evans will graduate in December with a bachelor of arts degree in health systems from Ď㽶ĘÓƵ and a bachelor of science in nursing degree from Creighton University’s College of Nursing.  The 3+1 nursing program is a partnership between Ď㽶ĘÓƵ, Creighton University College of Nursing and Mary Lanning Healthcare.

Evans said he plans to work in a large hospital setting for a couple of years to gain experience before he returns to establish a career “somewhere in the [sand]hills” of Nebraska.

Evans was recently awarded a Lunstra Memorial Scholarship, which is administered by the Mary Lanning HealthCare Foundation.

Sharon Hayek, who chairs the selection committee for the scholarship, recognized Evan’s excellent academic record and his ambition to accomplish so much in just three-and-a-half years.

“Excellent nurses are and will continue to be in great demand, especially those with outstanding academic and clinical training performance, like Josey. We were so pleased to learn he wants to practice in rural Nebraska,” Hayek said.

Dr. Donald Lunstra and sons, Christopher and Dustin, established the Vickie Hughes Lunstra Memorial Scholarship Fund in October 2009 to provide financial assistance to nursing students in honor of Lunstra’s wife and the boys’ mother.

With help from the Mary Lanning HealthCare Foundation, Lunstra created the scholarship, which stipulates applicants be considered based on their outgoing personality (similar to his late wife’s), financial need and intent to practice nursing at Mary Lanning Healthcare or in Nebraska.

A version of this story originally appeared in a Mary Lanning HealthCare Foundation newsletter and .

The pre-nursing major from Colorado Springs, Colorado, got to encounter real-life situations in Haiti that she wouldn’t experience in a typical classroom setting. For example, when a man came to the clinic with a large gash on his chin from a motorcycle accident, Johnson was present for every step of his treatment. She took his vitals and shadowed the physician that gave him stitches.

“Being able to see what the physicians do first hand helped me learn skills I will use every day in the future,” she said.

Johnson’s internship also involved helping set up a medical clinic. Her role was to check vitals, spend time with patients and shadow physicians. Her internship consisted of two groups, one group who worked primarily in the clinic and one who worked in schools with children. When she had downtime, Johnson spent time in the schools reading to kids.

A family member who knew of Johnson’s love of nursing introduced her to the organization in 2017. Haiti was her second trip with Bless Back Worldwide, a national nonprofit organization seeking to bring healthcare, business and education to Haiti and Nicaragua. Its goal is to create a long-lasting impact in underdeveloped communities. Johnson went to Nicaragua with the organization before she started her freshman year of college.

Johnson had been craving to help people since her trip to Nicaragua and brought up the idea of going to Haiti to her advisor, Dr. John Kuehn, professor of biology. He helped her prepare for the trip and ensure she would receive college credit for the internship.

“Without Dr. Kuehn, I don’t think I would have been able to do my internship,” she said.

By Courtney Hanson, a sophomore from Brookings, South Dakota, majoring in communication studies and philosophy.

“Day in and day out, I witnessed the unfailing compassion, nurturing and comfort that the nurses were able to provide him,” said Savage. “I saw the tremendous impact that they had on his life, and the joy they were able to bring him in his dying days.”

During her time at Ď㽶ĘÓƵ, Savage had an undeclared major until her sophomore year, when she worked with her advisor to find out which major would be best to prepare her for nursing school.

“As I researched nursing schools, I realized that I could still get my degree from Ď㽶ĘÓƵ and then move into a one year Accelerated Nursing Program,” said Savage.

After evaluating the courses required for entering nursing school, as well as majors that utilized credits she already completed, it was decided a Biopsychology degree was the perfect fit.

“I was anxious to get into nursing school and wanted to complete my Ď㽶ĘÓƵ degree as quickly as I could,” Savage said. “My advisor told me it would be very difficult, but helped me to work out every detail to be sure all of my course requirements would be met. With full summer class loads, a lot of hard work and a little bit of scheduling luck, I was able to complete my Ď㽶ĘÓƵ degree in three years.”

After completing her degree at Ď㽶ĘÓƵ, Savage continued her education at campus. On such a small campus, Savage was able to get the attention she needed in order to enjoy learning about nursing and get frequent one-on-one time with professors to discuss patient’s cares, disease processes and medications.

From there, Savage spent over four years as a labor and delivery nurse at Mary Lanning Healthcare but switched over to Mary Lanning family care clinic.

Savage is now working as a Clinic Nurse Mentor for Mary Lanning Family Practice Clinics, directing patient care, she is in charge of orientation of new clinic nurses, she evaluates nurse process improvement and maintains process consistency throughout four family practice clinics.

“Today I am very happy with exactly where I’m at,” said Savage. “I have a challenging and rewarding job.  I’m a busy wife and mother of three amazing boys. And I still am able to enjoy playing volleyball and softball in my spare time. I love that I can have a meaningful career that fits my lifestyle in this moment. The career possibilities with a nursing degree are endless. It’s exciting to know that I can still choose to grow in so many different directions.”