Black nurses and nursing students: you belong
University of Cincinnati alumna Deasa Dorsey wants Black nurses and nursing students across the Greater Cincinnati region and beyond to know they belong in the profession.
Dorsey, who graduated in 2010 with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing and teaches undergraduate courses at UC College of Nursing, remembers she could count on one hand the number of Black students in her class. Following George Floyd's murder in 2020, she was inspired to affect change in her professional community. She started the Black Nurse Network, a social, emotional and financial support organization for nurses and nursing students.
Like Dorsey, Beecher remembers feeling alone as a Black student in nursing school. “It’s a different experience that you go through as a minority,” she says. “It would have been nice to have a mentor when I was starting out.”
The Black Nurse Network has about a dozen students who will meet their mentors at the Sept. 24 event, including Aaliyah Dodson, a third-year student in UC's Bachelor of Science in Nursing program and president of AMBITION, a UC group for minority nursing students. Dodson has previously participated in the mentorship program and says it transformed her time management approach.
“One of my mentors helped me go through my schedule and plan out my entire day so I could better manage homework, class and extracurriculars,” she says. “It definitely helped a lot. After that, I wasn’t rushing or forgetting things.”
Beyond time management and homework help, Dodson says the Black Nurse Network and the mentorship program offer a much-needed safe and supportive space.
“You can just talk and not be afraid to speak up,” she says. “It’s comforting to know others have been through it and they understand.”
Looking ahead, the Black Nurse Network hopes to expand its membership base, accommodate more students in its mentorship program and expand into high schools to introduce young adults to the nursing profession.
For more information about the Black Nurse Network, visit the organization’s website, blacknursenetwork.wixsite.com/website. To receive more information about meetings and mentorship opportunities, email blacknursenetwork@gmail.com. To attend the Back-to-School event, register at punchbowl.com. (Seats are limited.)
Featured image at top: Karen Bankston, PhD, MSN, FACHE, FAAN, former associate dean of clinical practice, partnership and community engagement for UC College of Nursing, presents during a meeting of the Black Nurse Network. Photo/Submitted
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