Episode 2-How a Nursing Student Advocated for Social Justice

Thanks for listening to the Transform Nursing Podcast! I am Nikki Akparewa, the Creative Director of Transform Nursing and your host.  In my podcasts real nurses, have real conversations that cause real results.  I would like to introduce you to a very creative and uncompromising nurse, Kendall Sharkey, who learned all about advocating for the underprivileged.  Kendall is from outside of Philadelphia.  She went to the University of Delaware for Animal Sciences where she graduated in 2012. She moved down to South Carolina shortly after school for horses and for a pre-med program. Kendall realized she didn't want to be a doctor and so applied to nursing schools and got into Johns Hopkins School of Nursing. 

She is one of 5 kids and is Irish Catholic. Kendall is a vegetarian and animal lover. She has a love for horse back riding, teaching and learning, health and fitness.  Strikingly, Kendall love's human behavior and hate's it when vulnerable populations are taken advantage of, abused, or neglected.

On episode 2 of the Transform Nursing Podcast, we discuss

• How a nursing student learned about the importance of social justice
• How nursing school prepares (or doesn't) for dealing with systemic health inequities
• How nurses can use privilege to advocate for social justice
• What nurses need to know about health policy

Check out Kendall's story about how she connected a struggling student to resources in the Baltimore City Public School System after learning he was getting little help from his school.

http://foxbaltimore.com/news/maryland-moments/heavenly-ham-a-pig-named-haagen-dazs-connects-local-kids-to-tutoring

Takeaways from this Episode:

• Use non-traditional approaches to focus on seeing the opportunity for achievement in all patients.
• Be informed about the cultural needs of your patients.
• Know what health policy is and how to get involved. 

If you have any questions from the show please email me at: [email protected].  

My website is: www.transformnursing.com

And my course, the Nurses Influential Leadership Lab can be found at: https://transformnursing.com/trainings/

I absolutely love learning about fresh topics so please share those with me and if you email me your testimonial or response I will share it on the next show. 

If you like something I've said in the show (or don't like it) please let me know.  I am all about engaging in conversation with you.