An
accomplished
nurse and an
aspiring one
cross paths
to form their
own mutual
support
society
Like Nurse,
B y L e e
J e n k i n s
Nursing alumna
Barbara Reed and
her father, A.L.
Alford, have formed a
close-knit bond with
nursing senior Donté
Flanagan through
Emory's Adopt-aScholar Program.
The threesome
visited recently at
the nursing home
where Alford resides.
Autumn 2005
Like Student
A
t age 21, Emory nursing senior Donté
Flanagan, 04Ox, is ready to take on
the world. He is armed with a solid
résumé, a definitive career goal, and
an “adoptive” nursing mentor.
Flanagan has experience as a middle school
basketball coach as well as a camp counselor,
mentor, and tutor for three summers in his
hometown of Chattanooga. At Oxford College,
he served as vice president of the Freshman
Council, made the Dean’s List, and tutored
underprivileged children for an after-school
program and a church in town. During his
junior year at the School of Nursing and this
past summer, he worked as an extern in the
cardiac department at DeKalb Medical Center.
Although his portfolio could take Flanagan
far in his own right, his confidence and career
prospects are even stronger, thanks to Barbara
Reed, 57N, 79MN. Their paths crossed when
Reed “adopted” Flanagan through the Adopta-Scholar Program, which offers alumni a way
to honor their time at Emory with a named
scholarship for a student who needs financial
assistance with tuition. “It helps as a financial
gift and also helps give the student a key person to talk to for advice and any other help
they may need while attending nursing school,”
says Flanagan.
The two caregivers may be generations apart,
Emory Nursing
have different ethnic backgrounds, and focus on
opposite ends of the patient spectrum—Reed
is a geriatric nurse and Flanagan wants to be a
pediatric emergency room nurse—but they have
much in common. Both experienced similar
struggles with student loans, educational challenges, and well-meaning advisers who tried to
steer them away from nursing.
“Barbara has given me great advice and
motivation,” says Flanagan. “When I first started nursing school, a lot of what my teachers
covered was review for me because I already
had learned a lot in the clinical setting. She told
me to stay in there because I would learn many
extra things. She was right.” Reed also has
helped him relate more easily with his fellow
students, most of whom are women.
“Donté’s such a well-rounded person,” says
Reed. “I hope he will inspire other African
American men like himself to enter the nursing
profession.”
Staying the course
F
lanagan says he is confident about what he
can achieve in a compassionate, hands-on
profession like nursing, despite the advice of
high school peers and leaders who encouraged
him to pursue a high-profile profession like
medicine or law. His father told him to follow
his heart and not let anyone change his mind.
“I knew I didn’t want to follow the crowd—I
wanted to be different,” Flanagan remembers.
Reed might have taken a different career
path if she had listened to her high school
counselor. “He told me, ‘You don’t want to
be a nurse. You know that nurses are not nice
girls—they’re fast and loose,’ ” she says, looking back with amusement on his stereotypical
notion. At his suggestion, Reed attended Mercer
University for two years, but she still wanted to
be a nurse. This time, she turned to her father
for advice. “You should go to Emory and get
a four-year degree,” he advised his daughter.
“That’s more important for your career.”
Encouraged, Reed decided to continue her
education and in the meantime also got married. Although their parents offered to help pay
for their tuition, the couple took out student
loans to pay for their last two undergraduate
years at Emory. “We felt that since we had chosen to get married while we were still in school
that it was our responsibility to pay for our
education,” says Reed. Consequently, the young
couple learned the meaning of financial sacrifice. “That’s one reason why I wanted to give
Autumn 2005
back to my school and help someone else who
needs help with tuition,” she adds.
After graduation, Reed followed her passion,
serving as the head nurse on Emory University
Hospital’s obstetrics floor and then working
part time on a surgical unit after her two children were born. She completed Emory’s gerontological nurse practitioner program and the
master’s program in the late 1970s and served
as a clinical faculty member in the School of
Nursing throughout much of the 1980s and
1990s. Still, Reed’s heart belonged to patient
care. At Emory Hospital, she was a clinical specialist in surgical nursing from 1981 until 1988
and a clinical nurse specialist in pain management from 1988 until she retired in 1996.
Never one to sit still, Reed is a pain management consultant and one of four nursing
alumni who currently serve on the university’s
Board of Governors. During a committee meeting, Reed learned about the Adopt-a-Scholar
Program from its founder, Francine Cronin,
assistant vice president of annual giving at
Emory. Intrigued, Reed sought advice once
more from her 96-year-old father, A.L. Alford,
about helping finance a nursing scholarship.
Now that both are involved in the program,
Reed hopes to encourage other alumni to
participate too.
Through the Adopt-a-Scholar Program, Reed
and Alford provided a $2,500 annual scholarship for Flanagan during his junior and senior
years of nursing school. They also will provide
$2,500 scholarships for each of his two years of
graduate school. The $10,000 total will greatly
offset Flanagan’s student loans.
“We try to give students opportunities to
meet with their alumni mentors so that donors
can see exactly where their money is going
by seeing the students in action,” says Rachel
Donnelly, director of annual giving for Health
Sciences Development. “Students like the
unlimited access to alumni. They like to know
what mistakes their mentors made in their
careers and get their advice.”
Joann Hayes, 56N, 60MN, a retired public
health nurse with the Chatham County Health
Department in Savannah who recently joined
the program, will meet her adopted scholar
this fall. She created a scholarship to honor
her sisters, Virginia Cooper, 50N, and Elizabeth
Wilson, who both helped finance her nursing
education.
“I was very interested in the program after
hearing about it from Rachel,” says Hayes. “It
doesn’t matter if the scholarship helps a student
I knew
I didn’t want
to follow
the crowd.
I wanted to
be different.
—Donté
Flanagan, 04Ox
Emory Nursing
I hope [Donté] will inspire other
African American men like himself
to enter the nursing profession.
—Barbara Reed, 57N, 79MN
interested in public health, just as long as he or
she wants to be a nurse.”
Flanagan knows from his experience working with kids in the community that pediatric
nursing is his passion. After graduation, he plans
to work for a year and then complete Emory’s
graduate emergency nurse practitioner program,
specializing in pediatrics. He’d like to work in a
community clinic, most likely in the inner city,
where he can get to know his young patients
personally. Because nursing offers flexible hours
and opportunities in any city, Flanagan one
day hopes to live near the ocean, where he can
enjoy his scuba diving hobby.
Autumn 2005
Wherever Flanagan settles, he can always
count on Reed for advice and friendship.
They talk often and dine regularly at a local restaurant with Reed’s husband and Flanagan’s
girlfriend. “I am really impressed with Donté,”
Reed says. “When we met for the first time at
lunch, he had just worked all night at DeKalb
Medical Center. As we talked and got acquainted, he was congenial, articulate, and enthusiastic
about nursing, even though I knew he must be
really tired. I immediately liked him. I am also
proud of his accomplishments, and my dad and
I look forward to keeping up with his career as
he does great things in nursing.” EN
Lee Jenkins is an Atlanta freelance writer.
This article appeared in the Autumn 2005
issue of Emory Nursing.
Emory Nursing