Kimberly Avera graduated with honors from Calvin College in May of 2006. She will begin graduate study at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia in the fall of 2008. Kim wrote the following Purpose Statement as a part of her application to the International Health MSN/MPH program at Emory. Kim speaks eloquently of how the various components of her Calvin education influenced her vocational direction and prepared her for this next step in her educational career.
Purpose Statement
“We have to sustain our passion for social justice…It’s not as if there’s not enough in the world to go around to make sure that everybody has the medications they need or no one dies of hunger; that’s not true from what economists say, there is enough. So what has to be sustained is passion for equity—and most of the people I know in Haiti and Rwanda already have a passion for equity—it’s here [in the U.S.] we need to sustain passion for social justice.”
“Public Health and Social Justice” Paul Farmer, January Series Lecture, January 9, 2006
After attending a speech that anthropologist, social justice advocate, and Harvard Medical School professor, Dr. Paul Farmer, gave as part of the January Series—the annual lecture and cultural arts symposium at Calvin College (Grand Rapids, MI)—I realized my passion for global healthcare practice and advocacy. Farmer spoke of the need for social justice advocates and healthcare workers to work here and abroad to fight for the just allocation of resources to those in need. He pointed out that those in poverty already see their need for resources so it is important that those with access to resources be aware of and address the needs of others. This lecture came as I was about to embark on the final semester of my undergraduate career; a time when I was considering the options offered by my nursing degree and the possibilities of pursuing something out of the norm that would allow me to work with different cultures - especially those that are typically overlooked. After hearing Dr. Farmer, I was able to verbalize my desire to work in the global arena to help fight disease and improve health by both providing secondary and tertiary health protection to populations and teaching health promotion and protection strategies to communities at large in ways that make sense to them. This work naturally necessitates researching what populations already know, how they learn best, what they relate to, and the etiologies of diseases faced –all of which interest me.
My Desire...
...is to come to Emory University next fall as part of the International Health MSN/MPH program in order to learn how to best gear my nursing abilities toward global communities in need. I believe that Emory’s unique program—its weaving of public health and global health courses together with an international nursing curriculum—as well as its proximity to the CDC, CARE headquarters, and The Carter Center in Atlanta make it the best place for my graduate studies.
Looking Back...
...I realize that the education I received prior to January 2006 helped me come to the place where I could truly appreciate the depth of what Dr. Farmer was advocating. At Calvin College, the nursing program is satiated with community-based and community-focused nursing theory and practice. This takes place through community-based courses at the beginning of the program, community-focused courses at the end of the program, and also through an overarching focus on community-based nursing throughout each classroom and clinical course. For example, during my obstetrics rotation, I was doing clinicals at the local hospital as well as at a neighborhood pregnancy clinic. During my pediatric rotation, I was teaching fifth-graders about asthma control as well as working in acute care at the children’s hospital. Through this lens, I learned to think in the broader sense about the relationship between health promotion and primary, secondary, and tertiary health protection among individuals, families, and communities. Prior to entering the nursing program, I was influenced by a course I took during the January term of my freshman year called “The Problem of Illiteracy”. This course opened my eyes to injustices among school children in urban communities in the United States and sparked a passion for giving a voice to the voiceless and hope to the hopeless. Being a part of the honors program at the college, I learned to further develop my love for research throughout different areas of my liberal arts and nursing education by participating in various research projects, sharing my findings in differing presentation formats, and writing a final honors thesis. Having a worldview that incorporates a focus on communities, a passion for social justice, and a love of research would contribute not only to Emory University but also to the global communities where I hope to work in the future.
Since Graduating...
...in May 2006, I have been working as a pediatric nurse on a general pediatrics medical/surgical floor. I have loved working with children birth to 17 years of age, gaining a technical skill set, becoming comfortable with prioritizing and managing the healthcare of four to six patients at a time, and collaborating with various members of the healthcare team. Having learned Spanish in middle and high school, I very much enjoy being able to assist the Spanish-speaking clients. To better equip myself to serve these families, I took “Spanish for Healthcare Professionals, Part I” at Greenville Technical College this fall and I plan to take the second part in the spring. In addition to working full-time, I have partnered with respiratory therapists from work as well as other healthcare workers in the community to bring the Healthy Hoops Program to Greenville, South Carolina. This is an innovative community-based program that teaches children and their families how to control asthma and lead healthy lives. We have had three successful events since our kickoff last fall, and I have been recently asked to serve on the planning committee for future events.
Since I decided to become a nurse, I have always anticipated going to graduate school. My work experience has been invaluable to me and I believe that the clinical experience I have gained will make me a better graduate student next fall than I would have been a year and a half ago. I feel that I am ready at this point to go back to school and prepare myself for a new direction in my career. I see myself using my nursing, organizational, and creative skills to work more with research, health promotion, and primary health protection rather than working predominately with secondary and tertiary health protection as I am now. I want to more clearly see individuals in the context of their communities and also to look at whole communities as the client.
Learning Worldviews...
Learning about how other people view the world has always been important to me. Growing up outside of Washington, D.C., I was exposed to people of numerous cultures—many of whom were my friends and classmates. I have a general love for traveling and meeting people of other cultures. In light of this, I am excited about an upcoming trip to the Dominican Republic to do medical work for a week in February. Additionally, my family just celebrated Thanksgiving in a wonderful and enlightening way by hosting international students from India and China who are involved in graduate studies at Clemson University. Discussions of cultural similarities and differences as well as current social and political issues in their countries were highlights of my holiday.
American author Frederick Buechner said, “The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet” (Wishful Thinking: A Seeker’s ABC, 1993). When I came to Emory last month to speak with Lynn Sibley and Angela Rozo about this program, I found my heart racing and my mind buzzing the whole time. Hearing them describe the program and what graduates are doing now— working on epidemiology at the CDC, teaching hygiene principles in Kenya, developing disaster plans in South Africa —I became even more excited about the broad opportunities to fight disease and promote health around the world. I feel this is what I have been called to. Right now, I foresee myself coming out of the program well equipped to work in some region of Spanish-speaking Latin America on preventing food and waterborne disease resulting from poor sanitation. I expect that learning and experiences will fine-tune this dream and will give wings to my goal of contributing to the improvement of health and wellbeing among Spanish-speaking populations.
"I am Excited About the Challenge"
I am interested in the International Health MSN/MPH dual degree program because I have a passion for helping people, learning from and about other cultures, traveling, thinking creatively, teaching and learning, and researching. Public health in the United States interests me, but those in other countries are facing different issues, such as rampant AIDS and tuberculosis, without the access to healthcare or the access to a knowledge base that exists here. I am excited about the challenge of learning about these places, the issues that they face, and ways to partner to improve their health. I sincerely appreciate your consideration.
