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Nursing Alumni Blog

I have wanted to be a nurse for as long as I can remember.

10/30/2021

1 Comment

 
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Mary Donovick, MSN, APN, AGPCNP-BC

I had wanted to be a nurse for as long as I can remember, my mother is an amazing nurse and was my inspiration to enter the field. I graduated from Felician University (then College) in 2010 with my BSN, at that time I never could have imagined the kinds of doors the amazing education I received at Felician would open for me.

I started my career in nursing on a busy stepdown telemetry floor which was an amazing place to work and learn. I have had the opportunity to work many unique places since then, including a Chest Pain Unit In NC,  the ICU float pool at University of North Carolina (UNC) hospital in Chapel Hill, NC, as the Population Care Coordinator for a Patient Centered Medical Home or PCMH in NJ, and as the Quality Nurse Manager at the New Jersey Innovation Institute, an NJIT organization that was grant-funded by CMS.

In 2014 I decided to pursue my Master Degree and become an APN. I graduated from The George Washington University, with honors, in 2017 with an MSN in Adult-Gerontology Primary Care.

I have now been in my dream job for 2 years as the Geriatric and Palliative Care Nurse Practitioner, right back at the very first hospital I started in as a brand new nurse. I am so fortunate to work with such an amazing population, I am very passionate about chronic disease education and management and often have the opportunity to teach large audiences about varying health topics. There is never a boring day.

Recently, the world has changed for us all and palliative care has become my main focus as COVID-19 has affected so many. I never anticipated that I would have to call a dozen families a day to deliver often grave news, but that is currently the position I find myself in.

I am grateful for the amazing medical, nursing, respiratory, CNA, EMS, environmental services and all the other team members that I work with. Together we fight through this and continue to serve the patients we love.

​It was the foundation that I received at Felician that taught me to be the nurse I am today, and the values instilled in me there that allow me to do so with compassion and faith.

1 Comment

Because of Felician, I will be well prepared.

9/8/2021

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Rick Graziano, BSN
​Veteran Army Medic

I really want to go out and start making a difference as a Felician nurse and begin to make a difference in peoples' lives as soon as possible. Especially during times like this, because it's a testament to your character and knowledge during a crisis. Because of Felician I will be well prepared.

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Confidence, knowledge and leadership skills.

8/20/2021

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Victoria Addo-Donkor, RN, BSN

My desire of being a nurse was inspired by my late mother of blessed memory. I graduated from Felician University in 2019 with my BSN. Although l have worked in the health field as a CNA, LPN, RN, the BSN education I received from this noble University has adequately helped me in utilizing my skills learned to provide optimal care to the geriatric population in the long term facility that l have worked in for 5 years.

I am fortunate to work with amazing doctors and other medical professional to bring healing at this crucial time when the world needs us nurses most.
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Words cannot express my appreciation to Felician University for the confidence, knowledge and leadership skills acquired  to help in this unprecedented time of COVID-19 pandemic.

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Working through a pandemic within 4 months.

7/8/2021

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Ashley Pereia, BSN, RN

As a recent Felician graduate, I never thought I would be working through a pandemic within 4 months as a nurse in Morristown Medical Center. I was forced to rely on my skills and knowledge that I gained throughout my years at Felician and I can truly say I am ready to continue being a part of the fighting team against COVID-19.

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Nursing has been hectic...

6/2/2021

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Tommy LaCoppola, BSN

To say that nursing has been hectic lately is an understatement, but I'm thankful to Felician for preparing me to take on this challenge and make the world a little better each day.

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Felician prepared me to help those in need.

5/17/2021

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John-Paul Codelia, BSN 

Kick-starting my nursing career with a pandemic isn't something I imagined would happen, but Felician prepared me to help those in need and make a real difference in how we emerge on the other side of this.

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I was welcomed warmly and with so many smiles.

4/28/2021

3 Comments

 
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Danielle Di Piazza Dolan, RN, MSN, NP-C, AE-C​
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​For the past 19 years of my nursing career, there is not a day that goes by that I do not think about what my education at Felician provided for me as a nurse and nurse practitioner. I am so happy to be a part of this page and join others in appreciating what Felician has done for me in my nursing career.
 
I attended Felician months after obtaining my Bachelor’s degree in psychology from another school, later realizing I wanted to be a nurse. Both my mother and grandmother were nurses, so I thought I would initially choose a different path, but I was wrong, I did want to be a nurse. Walking into their offices in 1998 I was nervous as I had just graduated from a previous program for an entirely different major.
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I was welcomed warmly and with so many smiles, I remember them today, 20+ years later. I will never forget their nursing lab and clinicals, the instructors were hands on, and more importantly, they really cared. It was an intimidating world, but the class sizes were small and intimate. Something I really appreciated after attending a school where I was basically a social security number.
 
I graduated with my BSN in Spring of 2001, just prior to 9/11 starting my first job in pediatric oncology at Hackensack University Medical Center, floating to the PICU, NICU and the general peds floor working nights! Peds Onc was not exactly what a 20 something year old fresh out of nursing school would normally consider, however, I was more prepared and ready than I ever thought I would be, thanks to my prior clinicals and real world nurse training.
 
After working several years in oncology and ICU, I attended the University of Maryland post marriage and move south entering into an accelerated 18 month family nurse practitioner program.
Academically, I again felt prepared through my time at Felician years prior.
 
I have spent the past 19 years working in the world of Oncology, hospitalist medicine and infectious disease. Most of my clinical time has been spent rounding in several hospitals and nursing homes across the DC and NJ areas. Most recently and currently, I joined the Medical Affairs world of Astra Zeneca. I am now a Clinical Science Liaison for their respiratory division for New Jersey.
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I am also a speaker for their educational programs and have had the opportunity to present at national, state and local nursing conferences as well as to former colleagues, students and faculty.
I still think of my time at Felician and cannot believe it has been 20 years since I felt so warmly welcomed, that feeling of smiling acceptance into their program will always be close to my heart.

3 Comments

A critical skill that Felician taught me.

3/23/2021

1 Comment

 
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Elizabeth McDowell, MSN, FNP-BC, RN, CFRN, CEN

Felician has made me the nurse I am today because it has taught me to be prepared not with only my skills as a nurse but with the confidence and knowledge it takes to be a nurse, especially in these trying times.  While in school, as hard as things may have seemed I am thankful today for the education that Felician had given me.


For example, I never thought I would need to actually know how to use IV drip by gravity but, with the current situation and lack of IV pumps, this is a critical skill that Felician had taught me.

My education as a nursing student at Felician has been limitless in my career and i appreciate the four years I had spent there. I could not be more appreciative. 

1 Comment

How to do the most with nothing.

2/25/2021

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Jamie Bohn, RN
Health & Safety Supervisor, The Dr. Oz Show

When I graduated from my nursing program in 2018, I never thought this would be my future with barely two years in the field. I'm an Emergency Room Nurse in Newark, NJ.

​Felician taught me how to do the most with nothing, a great skill to have during this pandemic.

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To lose myself in the service of others.

1/19/2021

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Ariana Rizvani, BSN

I never imagined I would be spending my first year of nursing battling in the frontlines of a pandemic, but these terrible circumstances continuously remind me why I chose a career in nursing; to lose myself in the service of others. The ability to see my patients go home to their families has made all the hardships we face as healthcare workers bearable.  

Being a nurse is an absolute honor and I am so proud to be in this profession!

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​Felician University engages over 2,300 undergraduate, graduate, and adult students through programs in arts & sciences, business, nursing, and education. Universal Franciscan values of social justice, compassion, and respect for human dignity serve as an inclusive foundation for transforming the lives of tomorrow's leaders. Felician University's education is ranked 3rd best return on investment for private colleges in New Jersey 2018 by the PayScale.com College ROI Report and is ranked #1 safest college campus in the state by niche.com.
  • Home
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