Many dedicated, hard-working individuals leave their imprint on a profession, but few are deserving enough to have both a scholarship and an award established in their honor. Belmont University School of Nursing alumna Patty Cornwell is one of the deserving ones.

Cornwell, a retired certified registered nurse anesthetist (CRNA), devoted her professional career to providing exceptional anesthesia care to patients for surgery, labor and delivery, and other healthcare needs, and she devoted her spare time to serving the nurse anesthesia profession she loved. After graduating from Belmont, she worked for several years as an intensive care nurse before entering the Middle Tennessee School of Nurse Anesthesia to become a nurse anesthetist. She joined the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists (AANA) in 1972 and the Tennessee Association of Nurse Anesthetists (TANA) in 1976.

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Savannah Ramsey, RN, and colleagues designed a series of interventions to reduce noise levels in the post-anesthesia care unit (PACU) at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt. One of those interventions is sound-dampening curtains around certain patient bays. (photo by Susan Urmy)

Belmont alumna, Savannah Ramsey, was recently featured in a Vanderbilt Medical Center story about changes she instigated in the post-anesthesia care unit at Monroe Carell Children’s Hospital.  Click here to read the entire story.

Credit: Shelby County Health Department

Author: Memphis Tourism News Release

Photo: Eric England

Belmont Alumna Wren Sherrill was recently featured on the cover of the Nashville Scene in a tribute to the Nashvillians of the Year: Health Care Workers. The article shares Vanderbilt’s healthcare workers and their fight to save lives in the midst of a global pandemic.

Sherrill graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing and has continued on to work as a part of Vanderbilt’s COVID-19 ICU staff. With challenging work and eye-opening experiences every day, Sherrill considers the ICU staff “the final fighters in this war.”

The article shares the words of another ICU worker Olivia Kirkpatrick who says to “give some grace to our leaders, and the scientists that are making recommendations.” Healthcare workers in Nashville and across the country are working diligently to protect their city and its residents.

The Nashville Scene covers more of Vanderbilt’s ICU staff and daily experiences in their 2020 Nashvillians of the Year: Health Care Workers.

Photo from Tennessee Tribune

Alumna and nurse practitioner Jessica Friley Ensley is currently featured in the Tennessee Tribune sharing her experience after receiving the second dose of the Pfizer vaccination against COVID-19 in the recent article entitled “Saluting One of Tennessee’s Essential Workers: Nurse Practitioner Shares Importance of Getting Vaccinated.”

In her feature article, Ensley shares the challenges and circumstances that come with being a healthcare worker. She currently works at the Nashville Centennial Hospital where she courageously sees and assists patients of all ethnicities and ages fighting the virus. She explained, “Black people are more likely to die from COVID, and it’s my hope that seeing a Black person getting vaccinated will encourage some trust in science and the medical community.”

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Ascension Medical Group named Erick Hernandez-Campos, MSN, FNP-BC, the winner of their national 2020 Community Commitments Advanced Practice Provider Award. Hernandez-Campos earned his Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) from Belmont and is currently working on his Doctorate of Nursing at Belmont.

Nursing Professor and Director of Graduate Nursing Linda G. Wofford, DNP, RN, CPNP, said, “Erick exemplifies the Core Values of Belmont Graduate Nursing – communication and collaboration; critical thinking and problem solving; commitment to learning; compassion and caring. Of course, while Erick is an accomplished clinician, we are pleased to be working together to provide Erick with a transformative and positive doctoral experience.”

Hernandez-Campos practices at the Family Medicine Respiratory Clinic in Antioch, Tennessee, and provided primary care prior to the COVID-19 outbreak. Hernandez-Campos has been seeing respiratory clinic patients and also making sure they receive appropriate follow-up. He has spent countless hours before his workday and after his workday calling patients to make sure they are doing well and coordinating care with primary care physicians.

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Brad Koss, a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA) and 2005 graduate of the Belmont University School of Nursing, was recently named the 2020-21 president-elect of the Tennessee Association of Nurse Anesthetists (TANA). Koss, who is the CRNA Manager of Education at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, will take office as the TANA president in October 2021.

“It is both humbling and an honor to have been elected by my peers to represent them as a leader in our profession and to help carry forth the tradition of serving to protect our practice and be a voice for more than 2,000 CRNAs across our great state,” said Koss, a resident of Franklin. “My hope as we make the turn to 2021 is that the new year will bring about renewed promise for us as a nation and as providers of anesthesia.”

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Nursing alumna Kristen Stirling (’06) MSN, APRN, FNP-BC founded Tennessee Telederm, PLLC, earlier this year. This is the first telehealth company of its kind in Tennessee, which focuses on diagnosis and treatment of skin conditions.

Prior to founding Tennessee Telederm, Stirling worked in dermatology at a large multi-specialty practice in Nashville for 13 years and the Burn Unit at Vanderbilt University Medical Center prior to that.

At the onset of COVID-19, Stirling began offering telehealth appointments to her patients. Telehealth proved to be a popular and effective means for treating many skin conditions. Tennessee Telederm grew as a natural result of these safe and convenient appointments.

Tennessee Telederm strives to give everyone across Tennessee access to high-quality dermatology care through online video appointments.