xt7wst7dst4j https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7wst7dst4j/data/mets.xml The Frontier Nursing Service, Inc. 1996 bulletins  English The Frontier Nursing Service, Inc. Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. Frontier Nursing Service Quarterly Bulletins Frontier Nursing Service, Vol. 71, No. 3, March - Winter 1996 text Frontier Nursing Service, Vol. 71, No. 3, March - Winter 1996 1996 2014 true xt7wst7dst4j section xt7wst7dst4j 9 FRONTIER NURSING SERVICE R 
Volume 71 Number 3 March — Winter 1996    
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” WINTER OF 1996
AT WENDOVER

 i
US ISSN 0016-2116  
Table of Contents  
1
Field Notes — Susie Hudgins 1  
Beyond the Mountains — Deanna Severance 5 I
Tidbits - Miscellaneous 8
Courier News — Dan Eldridge 10 p
A Typical Courier Day in the 1940's — Pat Pettit 13
Notes from the FSMFN - Elizabeth Parr 14 ’
Letter from a former Courier - Florence Rawleigh 17
Mary Breckinridge Healthcare Services - Lucille Knechtly 19
Only a Green Paper Tree — Anne McMillan 22
In Memoriam - Barb Gibson 24
In Honor Of - Barb Gibson 25
In Memoriam/In Honor Contribution Cards 26
Urgent Needs inside back cover
Cover: Winter 1996 at Wendover (Garden House)
Photo -Barb Gibson
 
Frontier Nursing Service Quarterly Bulletin
US ISSN 0016-2116
Published at the end of each quarter by the Frontier Nursing Service, Inc.
Wendover. Kentucky 41775 _»»
Subscription Price $ 5.00 a Year for Donors
Subscription Price $12.00 a Year for Institutions
Editor's Office, Wendover, Kentucky 41775
O
VOLUME 7l NUMBER 3 March Winter 1996
Second-class postage paid at Wendover, KY 41775 and at additional mailing offices.
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Frontier Nursing Service, Wendover, KY 41775.
Copyright Frontier Nursing Service, lnc.l996/All Rights Reserved

 i QUARTERLY BULLETIN 1
; Field Notes
gi Oh my! I gl1€SS my only  ij - V·¤i_r’·;. ·&      
5 comment on the weather will be  Q i 
x, that if the Dear Lord really want-   ylrh i f if     T   it  
" ed us fragile humans to survive ` I ‘
i at 19 degrees below, he should //. I
I have provided us with fur! This %
g moming even the furry beasties
E were not showing their noses and ¤—  
} the birds were flitting and darting
] about to stay warm. Other than
! the Big House freezing up, all is ._ p_ _
  well at Wendover. The temper- K  
I ature is on the rise and in about four weeks the daffodils will be
’ blooming, a thought that keeps us all from heading to more balmy
pastures, en masse!
2 The late Fall was filled with its usual busy time; a few
tours, two Level IIl's from the School came for their Monday night
feasts, and a few random visitors stayed the night.
I Thanksgiving loomed and the week before, the Wen-
dover staff had their annual dinner. Cassie produced a yummy
turkey with trimmings and everyone else brought a dish or two.
p Great fun was had by all and there was hardly a morsel left over.
5 I‘m glad we don't eat bones since Cassie's turkey soup is areal treat!
This year all the couriers were here Thanksgiving Day and
in order to satisfy my matemal side I invited them and Dr. Anne
Iv- to my home for dinner. Of course, we all ate too much and the time
j I passed too quickly. T'is one day though I didn't feel insulted by
i ` groans and moans as people left!
" The next "event" was the Sunday aftemoon Tree Decorat-
’ ing party and dinner. Once again the maintenance men found the
P PERFECT tree for the Big House living room and with great
. thought and care it was finally decorated. And once again, my
instant tree appeared on the mountainside all trimmed with lights.
I Wendover looked lovely for the holidays.
N

 2 FRONTIER NURSING SERVICE I
The second week of December was filled with activities.
We started on Monday with a Level III dinner, Tuesday a reception  
for Dave Southem on his pending retirement, then Wednesday the ’ r
Wendover staff Christmas dinner and present exchange. Last, but  
not least, on Friday FNS gave all the staff a great Christmas dinner  
at the hospital.  
All was quiet until right after Christmas when Amy
Behrens and Kristin Erickson, former couriers, arrived along with
much snow. It was wonderful to see them again and hear all about
their adventures since they were here in 1991. Then Bill and Sue
Moody arrived from Maryland. They are both teachers at the ¥
Sandy Springs Friends School, and are planning to bring ten of
their students for the school's intercession period in March. They  
were able to see what FNS is all about and to decide where help will  
be needed. All sorts of plans were made; now we just await.  
For now we just look forward to Spring. Soon we will start  
the rewiring of the Garden House, a massive project since three  
separate services are to be put in to carry us well into the 21st l
century (we hope)! i
I want to take this chance to thank some very special Q
people. First, Julie McGee of the Louisville Committee, accom- j
plished her goal of raising the funds for a new freezer for the Big
House. To her and to all her many friends - "THANK YOU" in the
biggest way possible. The new freezer has been ordered and
should be here before the end of February.
My second great big "THANK YOU" goes to the Louis-
ville Committee. They have raised funds for over 20 dining chairs
for the Dog Trot. Six new ones have been made by a local g_
craftsman and are in use, six more are on order.
On Saturday evening February 17, our courier coordina-
tor Dan Eldridge hosted a pot luck dinner in honor of Mrs. .
Breckinridge's birthday. As we sat by the fire before dinner we
went around the room introducing ourselves and spoke of our
connection to the FNS. Those who knew Mrs. Breckinridge
reminisced about what she meant to them and their families. What
a wonderful evening! Dinner was a culinary delight for anyone I
with an appetite. Every sort of cuisine was evident and by the end

 QUARTERLY BULLETIN 3
i of the evening it was obvious it had been enjoyed. Among those
j attending were: Lucille Knechtly (Thumper); Jean Campbell;
ia Sherman Wooton; Barb Baird; Ruth and Jahugh Morgan; Goldie
g and Mart Davidson; Erma Wenger; Lillian Hayes and her grand-
  daughter; Mary Breckinridge Hospital Pharmacist Georgia Sutton
  and her husband; Mack Mosley and wife; and Alabam Morgan.
—Susie Hudgins
At the dinner, Goldie Davidson shared with us some of her
. memories of Mrs. Breckinridge:
i . . . Mrs. Breckinridge always wore neat cotton dresses
  with a crisp white apron. She mostly wore a blue dress with nude
  colored cotton hose and flat slippers. She was always smiling. Mrs.
  Breckinridge was more than just a nurse. She was special to
  everyone because she cared so much for the welfare of her friends
  in the community. On cold days if she saw someone out in the
l weather she would have an overcoat and scarf to give them. Her
j concem was always for the people, she helped so many and made
g a difference in people's lives.
i . . . It was hard times for many people during the days that
Mrs. Breckinridge lived. Sometimes the cow would go dry and my
family would be out of milk. Mrs. Breckinridge had extra milk for
people that ran out and needed to feed their babies. Lee Morgan
would milk twice a day and leave a jar in the bam so I would know
where to pick it up.
. . . I remember many times when I would go with Mrs.
Breckinridge to feed her chickens. She would take me by the hand
3 to go with her. She always saved the egg shells from the eggs she
gathered and baked them in the oven until they were brown and
_ crisp, then crushed them real fine to feed the chickens. She would
always have cookies and hot chocolate waiting for me in the
kitchen after we gathered the eggs and that was really something
to look forward to.
. . . I would always go to Wendover to take sewing classes
I and I started when I was nine years old. Mrs. Duval started the girls
in sewing classes that went to Hurricane School. Every Friday at

 l
   
J
4 pm we would have class. I learned many things about sewing and  
those classes really were a blessing for me. I still sew for people l
today and enjoy it. ‘
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Goldie Davidson and her friends at sewing class  
E
. . . Christmas was a time to remember when Mrs.  
Breckinridge was at Wendover. Cecil Morgan would pull the sled l
with a little mule named Blue. Jahugh or Lee Morgan would be i
Santa. This was so exciting for us. They would deliver fruit cake
and all kinds of canned food for the whole family to enjoy on i
Christmas. Everyone said Mrs. Breckinridge was an angel that
was sent to our community to watch over us.
. . . I’ll never forget this angel. I remember seeing her on
her horse wearing her blue uniform that consisted of a blue cap and I
knee high boots with grey wool socks that she pulled over the top _.
of her boots. I remember seeing her riding in the cold with her feet
frozen to the stirnips and my dad helped her dismount by breaking
her shoes loose from the frozen stirrups.  ‘
. . . Wendover was such a happy place when she was there.
The flowers were always beautiful and I remember going by and _
seeing the light on in her room while she was sitting in her bed
reading. Z
I feel that Mrs. Breckinridge is in Heaven looking out for
us today as she did when she was here with us.

 QUARTERLY BULLETIN 5
  Beyond the Mountains
  "Be thr0ugh my lips t0 unawakened earth the trumpet 0f a
  prophecy! O, Wind, H Winter comes, can Spring be far behind? "
  Percy Bysshe Shelley 1792-1822 Ode t0 the West Wind.
l
i As I sit down this winter evening to type my quarterly
note, it is snowing. This snow is wet, soft, and is melting quickly.
After the floods in the west, and the blizzards in the central and
eastem country, I await the arrival of Spring. I know it's coming.
A hardy bird continued to sing even as the snow was falling.
i NPR visits FNS
[ October 25, Art Silverman, Noah Adams and Michael
{ Sullivan from "All Things Considered" National Public Radio
  visited the FNS. Many of you heard the program. Mr. Silverman
  sent us a copy. If you were unable to hear the program and would
l like to borrow the tape, just let Barb Gibson know!
i Development of an F NP Program
i December 7 and 8, Jean Steel, Associate Professor and
Coordinator of Primary Care at the University of Connecticut
School of Nursing, traveled to Wendover to consult with Board
members Ken Tuggle, Bill Hall, Dr. Anne Wasson and me
regarding the issues surrounding instituting a family nurse practi-
tioner program based on the successful CNEP model of distance
‘ learning. I will share more with you as plans develop.
December Board of Governors Meeting
The Board of Govemors held their winter meeting in
' Lexington December 15 and 16. The high points of the meeting
V were l) the approval of a new computer for the Development
 , Office at Wendover 2) a new powerbook computer for myself.
Barb Gibson needed my old one to take minutes of meetings and
conference calls and 3) the approval of the Capital Accumulation
I Plan. FNS funds the plan at 3% for employees.

 6 FRONTIER NURSING SERVICE
FNS - Recipient of Keeneland Grant
December 19, Dr. Anne Wasson and Courier Coordinator
Dan Eldridge traveled to Lexington to the Keeneland Association. "
Again this year, as in years past, the FNS was a recipient of the
Keeneland generosity. We received funding to purchase an infant
stabilette. This is an open crib used when babies are bom to `
increase their body temperature.
  ,i-       ·‘_V  
  l   9*3 I
9*_ 1    i e, t I
·--» . .:<.. 2   I
Dr. Anne at the Keeneland Association ‘
Dave Southern resigns
December 31 was Dave Southem's last day as Mary
Breckinridge Healthcare President. You may remember that Dave 1
married Sherry Combs, a Pharmacist, in the summer of 1994.
Dave and Sherry recently purchased a large drug store in Hazard, _
Kentucky and Dave has decided to help Sherry run the business.
He is greatly miss, but we wish both of them the best!
Ray Branaman came to work for the FNS as Business ·
Office Manager in 1991 and has been Vice-President of Mary
Breckinridge Healthcare since 1992. He has been named Presi-
dent.
Before joining MBHC Mr. Branaman worked for several p
large health care organizations including Amerihealth Manage-
ment Company, Comprehensive Addiction Program, Baptist  ~

 QUARTERLY BULLETIN 7
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  "{ » Q »·R< L G   /T·;» (  ~    ¢,’    
  Ray Branaman
` Regional Health Services and Coral Gables Hospital.
  We expect that Mr. Branaman will continue the excellent
` progress on health care for the Leslie County area that we have
‘ seen under Dave Southem‘s leadership.
 ` F SMFN Strategic Planning Committee meets
January 4, the Executive Strategic Planning Committee of
the Frontier School of Midwifery and Family Nursing met with
nine members of the CNEP administrative team in Lexington to
share with them exciting policy and new program ideas coming
out of the Board's strategic planning. -Deanna Severance
 , Visit our Web Site
http://www.baref00t.com/fns

 8 FRONTIER NURSING SERVICE p
Tidbits ‘
Dr. Philip Lee, Assistant Secretary of Health, has ap- t
pointed Ruth Watson Lubic, CNM, EdD as an Expert Consultant
in the Office of Public Health and Science, U. S. Department of
Health and Human Services. Dr. Lubic is nationally and intema— I
tionally known for her work in promulgating Nurse—Midwifery
and free-standing birth centers. She served as General Director of ;
the Matemity Center Association for 25 years where she helped ‘
develop innovative pattems in the delivery of matemal and child _
health, and now serves as Director of Clinical Projects. Dr. Lubic i
is a 1993 recipient of a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship and i
holds five honorary doctorates. She received her B.S., M.A., and  
EdD from Teachers College, Columbia University, and her Cer-  
tificate in Nurse—Midwifery from the Matemity Center Associa-  
tion/State University of New York Downstate Medical Center §
Program. }
As Expert Consultant, Dr. Lubic will consult on matters of  
midwifery, nursing, and matemal and child health, including  
issues of early discharge. She will explore altemative models for  
delivering maternity services to under and unserved populations.
She will also speak on Childbearing Centers and the empower- I
ment of families and communities involved with them.  
—Maternity Center Association {
21st National Primary Care Nurse Practitioner i
Symposium »
PATHWAYS TO HEALTH i
Nurse Practitioners, Partnerships, Power and Politics ‘ .
August 1-4, 1996
Keystone Resort, Keystone, Colorado h
Contact: University of Colorado School of Nursing j
303-270-7436

 QUARTERLY BULLETH\I 9
‘ Dear Deanna,
. I want to thank you and all who supplied the $2500.00
scholarship I received for Case Westem Reserve University. It
was a complete surprise. I liken it to the Publisher's Clearing
‘ House van pulling up to my house.
I am thirty four years old, married and am raising seven
1 beautiful children ( I have given birth to each one). For the past one
Y year, I have been working part time at Douglas Community
Hospital. I tried all sorts of ways to get into the women`s center and
g here I am.
Q For thirteen years, I dreamed of becoming a midwife. It
j wasn‘t until eight years ago that I took the first steps toward
  realizing my dream, by enrolling in nursing school. I just keep on
; plugging along.
  I often sit back and reflect on things that have facilitated
  getting me where I am today. Your gift is one of those facilitators.
  Thank you once again, for your generous gift.
  ·Louro Roberts, Class 14 CNEP student
Dear Miss Powell,
I As a Kentuckian and a former member of the Philadelphia
i Committee of FNS, I am always interested in it's news. The Fall
{ issue of the Quarterly Bulletin just came and I was especially
interested and fascinated to read of the marvelous grant by the
Jacob G. Schmidlapp Trust to the FNS.
I Jacob Schmidlapp was my god-father and a close friend of
» my grandfather. It was he who introduced my father and mother on
[ the Taft trip to Orient in 1905. They became engaged on the trip
and did Alice Roosevelt and Nicholas Longworth.
k · Mr. Schmidlapp was a wonderful man, and alas we have
. been completely out of touch with the family since his death when
. I was twelve years old. I admire your photograph receiving the
check and I can't refrain from sharing with you this remembrance
of a gentleman who meant so much to my family.
-Olive Sherley Young

 10 FRONTIER NURSING SERVICE
Courier News
The Global Warming Research Center here at Wendover ·
has been struggling recently with its most recent data. After two
monster blizzards, repeated blasts of evil "Canadian" air, and the
Middle Fork of the Kentucky River constantly challenging its i
banks, we have all become somewhat delirious about the weather.
We have also come to the consensus that the local groundhogs had .
better see their shadows or the bounty on their heads will be Q
tripled. Even with numerous cases of SAD (Seasonal Affected 4
Disorder), the Courier Program has continued to struggle through  
the repeated onslaughts of Mother Nature. l
Past Couriers (PC's) have been very thoughtful to remem— g
ber us during this dreary time of the year. We have greatly  
appreciated hearing from the following:  
Cari Michaels ('88, Coordinator '90) recently received  
her Masters Degree in Public Health Education from the Univer-  
sity of North Carolina. She is now planning to move back to  
Minneapolis and start a new life for herself there.  
Kathy Croft ('90) recently sent us a much appreciated  
card. She was in Comoros Island with the Peace Corps until a little  
coup made her think that a tour of Africa was in order. She played  
with the monkeys in Uganda, spoke some Swahili off the coast of  
Tanzania and was planning to wait for Santa Claus in Kenya. We  
hope that her travels are safe and free of any more coups. 2
Kristin Erickson ('9l) and Amy Behrens ('9 1) both came
to visit shortly after Christmas. They seemed to run around visiting
all their old haunts and catching up with friends. Amy is presently lv.,
teaching in a school outside of Baltimore and Kristin is exploring ‘
the wide world of organic horticulture.
Terri Crimmons ('93) sent us a thoughtful Christmas card I I
with all sorts of interesting tidbits. She joined Teach for America V
and is presently teaching English and Drama to the eighth grade in '
McAllen, Texas. She claims that "Texans are almost as friendly as Q
Kentuckians" (unlikely, but possible) and that the weather is `
beautiful. We are reluctantly forced to concur with the latter.

 QUARTERLY BULLETIN l 1
Rosie Perea ('94) has recently caught the Blue Grass bug
and has proceeded to drive the rest of her family a little crazy with
· our beloved banjo twang. We are expecting her presence as a Blue
Grass groupie at the annual Osborne Brother’s Blue Grass Festival
this fall.
` Danielle Stanta ('95) dropped us a note saying that she
. had been accepted to medical school in Erie, Pennsylvania. Appar-
ently this is one of her top picks so we are all terribly pleased for
  her and wish her all the very best. Her local fan club is still anxious
J for her retum.
1 Kate Layman ('95) sent us a nice card with all the details
g of her present life. She spent some time in Costa Rica and is now
, at Florida State University helping migrant workers with their
  English. She is also enjoying all that living in the state capital
  affords.
  The Current Gaggle
   ’· ` 
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" Karen, jenny, Lucy and Bhavin
i Bhavin Metha, 23, continues his stay with us here at
Wendover. He has been spending a great deal of time with the
radiologists, home health nurses and a local dentist. He has also
been learning some new "life skills". Bhavin‘s most recent merit
badge has been in fire laying after being stranded here alone during
the Great Blizzard of '96. The smoke damage was minimal and
T Bhavin has added "flue" to his vocabulary.

 12 FRONTIER NURSING SERVICE
Lucy Harris, 18, arrived undaunted from Concord,
Massachusetts, in the aftermath of the Blizzard of '96. Since then,
Lucy has been showing us what a good set of snow tires can really ,
do by running around the county in her little Volvo, immersing
herself in the life of a Courier. She is presently spending time with
Cindy Morgan, working in the Kate Ireland Women’s Center, *
helping at the Stinnett Elementary School and doing just about j'
anything else that time will allow. 2
Jenny Cox, 22, has joined us from Durham, North Caro- A
lina, where she recently graduated from the University of North  
Carolina, Chapel Hill. She has been applying to midwifery schools g
and came looking for some first hand experience in midwifery.  
She has been spending a great deal of time with Marina (CNM) and  
. . . l
has been exploring the other options that the program provides. ,
Karen Thomisee, 21, completes our North Carolina trio.  
She recently arrived from Asheville and has been quick to fit in  
around Wendover. Her main goal is to gain some exposure to  
women's health issues. She has also expressed interest in almost l
every aspect of FNS and the local community. [
-Dan Eldridge  
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In the middle ofour "blizzards ", we had a beautifulsunshiny day ·
and this is where Dan was found writing his "Courier Notes".

 QUARTERLY BULLETIN 13
A Typical Courier Day in 1940's
I This is an excerpt from Volume 20, Number 3, 1945 Quarterly
Bulletin of letters written from Courier Pat Pettit to her mother.
i . . . Here it is Sunday moming, on which day we can do
more or less as we please, and am I glad! Yesterday we got up at
seven, breakfast at seven—thirty and then the fun began. We started
grooming the horses, which is just about like grooming bears,
5 furry, wooly coats a mile long. Seemed as if as soon as we'd get one
. done someone would take another one out and bring it in caked
I with mud. They have great long tails that drag in the mud and
bushy fetlocks. It is really something. All of them went in and out
I three or four times. The ones that didn't were tumed out in a mud
I lot a few times to keep our hand in. We also cleaned tack, i.e.
  soapin g the saddles and scraping the girths; also washed out a few
l saddle blankets which are a foot thick. The horses themselves are
  an odd species of combination: plantation walking, gaited and
  mountain bred horses. Very sturdy and sure-footed and shuffling.
I We had a gargantuan lunch at twelve and then Nevelle and
{ I went out with two of the nurses. We forded the river, went about
Q a mile up the road, tied the horses and proceeded to claw our way
  up a mountain. We were visiting two families who had pneumo-
  nia. In one cabin the mother and baby had both been sick. She
} looked very young and pathetic. The nurses bathed both the
woman and the baby, while we took out the blankets and tried to
Q get some of the bread, beans and cracker crumbs out of them. The
i_ sheets were made of flour sacks. When we got back we rubbed the
horses down and got tea. Then fed and watered horses till supper
{ time.
  This moming we could sleep as late as we wanted to and
then get our own breakfast. So I've finished breakfast and am now
z sitting looking out over the river. The most incredible thing is the
mud; there is no dry land at all. Everything, at least here at
Wendover, is mud. Of course my footwear is all wrong. My
. moccasins are fine but not in mud. My own boots are of course are
i ridiculous and the hiking boots an abomination. -Pat Pettit

 14 FRONTIER NURSING SERVICE
Notes from the School
Student Advising at a Distance ’
-by Elizabeth Parr, Student Advisor
This March, we will meet "'I p
and orient the l5th class of the
Community-Based Nurse-Midwifery __ _
Education Program in Hyden. Mid-     ~··A — 
wifery Bound is an exciting time for I if i s  
. .   ·w*iTv»‘·
the faculty as well as the incoming \ r  v
students. As Student Advisors, Phy- I _   "
llis Long and I attend each Midwif-   i iii   ‘ iw 
ery Bound in tums, in order to meet and bond with the students
with whom we will work closely over the next year or so. During
the Midwifery Bound weekend, each student has an individual-
ized session with her Advisor. This time is used to get to know one
another and to identify any immediate needs. As Advisors, we are
eager to soak up as much information as we can about each of the
students, since it will be one of the few opportunities we have to
meet with them face to face. And yet, by the time they are ready to
start Level 4 and clinical, we will know many of them very
intimately.
Advising students in CNEP is a very unique experience.
We are responsible for advising students in the preclinical portion Q
ofthe program (Levels l and 2), as they master the basic theoretical  
and clinical courses required as a foundation before they start to  
apply this knowledge to the women they care for in clinical. Along it
with the advising issues common to students everywhere, such as  
academic performance, issues with curriculum and/or faculty, and i
personal problems affecting their studies, we find ourselves deal- E
ing with many issues that are unique to a distance leaming f
program. For example, we are commonly in the position of giving  
advice about how to stay motivated when there is no classroom to {
report to, how to handle family and friends who don't understand {
they're really in school, or how to get needed information from i
faculty when there is no office down the hall in which to meet.  

 QUARTERLY BULLETIN 15
Overall, the two biggest issues we deal with are ensuring
adequate and timely progress through the program and avoiding
I the problems that come with the isolation inherent in a distance
leaming program.
Because of the nature of a self paced distance leaming
` program, it is very hard for the students to fully understand at the
outset what will be involved in their progress through the program.
So, the very first assignment that the students complete after
Midwifery Bound is what we call the CNEP Plan. Each student
submits to her Advisor a written narrative that discusses her own
strengths and weaknesses coming into the program and evaluates
how she will fit the demands of the program into her daily life.
Then she lays out a time line for progress through the program,
attempting to define for herself how much time she will be in each
course and level, depending on her own circumstances. For
example, a seasoned Labor & Delivery nurse may breeze through
her Intrapartum course, but want more time for the unfamiliar
territory of the Well Woman Gynecology course; another student
who knows she will have increased work demands on her at a
certain time of year (for example, those who are in teaching
positions) will set up her time line to reflect that. In other words,
the CNEP Plan is designed to respect the individual circumstances
of the adult learner, and plan accordingly. It helps to set a
framework within which the student can work, enables her Advi-
I sor to give specific feedback on how realistic her expectations are,
  and helps to identify the areas in which she may need some extra
  suppon.
pl, In order to help students make adequate progress through
l the coursework, we check in regularly to see if they are on their
i original time line, and if not, make a plan with them to address
E whatever issues are preventing progress. Our recommendations
} may range from simple tips like advising they keep the phone off
g the hook during study hours, or to arrange additional child care to
} free up more time, to a detailed written Learning Plan generated by
i the student and evaluated by the Advisor.
E Based on our assessment at Midwifery Bound and the
[ individualized CNEP Plan, we contact students on a regular basis,

 16 FRONTIER NURSING SERVICE
depending on each student’s needs. Some may request or require
frequent contact, even weekly, while others need only a phone call
to check in every few months or so. Our contact is done primarily .
by phone, but we frequently communicate with our students by
way of the Banyan Tree, our electronic bulletin board system. We
also try to attend as many regional gatherings as possible where
our students come together — for example, Phyllis and I recently
traveled to Case Westem Reserve University, where many of our
students attended the "Inquiry" sessions for a Masters in Nursing.
A large part of our purpose in checking in with students is
to help reduce the feeling of isolation that is frequently a part of
being in CNEP. We often make calls just to say "hello", and the
student's response is overwhemingly grateful. We also make
efforts to connect students with one another, and encourage their
participation in events that bring CNEP folks together, such as
regional case days, chapter meetings, ACNM and NACC conven-
tions, and so on.
There are some students who require extra attention - for
example, a student who experiences academic difficulty may
receive extensive counselling from her Advisor, as would a
student who is having diffuculty staying focused and progressing
through the coursework at an adequate pace. Not uncommonly, a
student may experience a personal crisis that affects her ability to
focus on CNEP, and may result in being counseled by her Advisor
to take a leave of absence until her issues are resolved. We work
very closely with the Academic Director, J erri Hobdy, in identify-
ing those students who require extra attention in one way or
another.
CNEP is a rigorous and high quality program, and our
graduates are beautifully prepared to care for the mothers and
babies in their home communities. It is a privilege to be a part of .
their joumey to becoming midwives.

 QUARTERLY BULLETIN 17
Letter from a former Courier
‘ Virginia (Ginny) Branham came to the Frontier Nursing
Service as a Courier in 1955 and returned several times to help
out in the courier program. While at FNS in 1964, Ginny took ill
and died at the St. Joseph Hospital in Lexington, Kentucky. Ginny
was expecially remembered at FNS for her assistance with the
design of St. Christopher's Chapel on Hospital Hill and after a
tragic accident where two children were drowned Ginny gave
swimming lessons to local children.
Florence Rawleigh, Former Courierand friend 0fGinny 's
shared a letter with us that she received from Ginny during her
time at FNS. The following are some excerpts from the letter.
( F lorence’s nickname was "Booker").
. . . Booker, yes, I love and adore it here. I am still here
which speaks for itself.
. . . Mrs. Breckinridge - it's a privilege to know her as you
so well know. This winter she celebrated her 75th birthday. She
had told Dad she was going to smoke a pipe when she was 75 so
he sent her a lovely comcob. Shore eno