Nursing DNP faculty and resident veterans help homeless vets
Nurse Anesthesiology faculty and residents - many of whom are veterans – help Tucson-area unhoused veterans through Veteran Village project.
Faculty and residents from the UArizona College of Nursing’s Nurse Anesthesiology DNP program pause from unloading food they brought to the Veteran Village and Reintegration Center. Most are veterans themselves.
Nov. 11 is the day we honor those who served their country with Veterans Day, a federal holiday. But the faculty and residents in the University of Arizona College of Nursing’s Nurse Anesthesiology Doctor of Nursing Practice program think veterans should be honored year-round. To them, any day can – and should – be Veterans Day.
UArizona College of Nursing faculty and veterans, Kristie Hoch, DNP, CRNA, MS, RRT, an associate clinical professor and program administrator for the nurse anesthesiology program, gives a high five to Jim Reed, DNP, MSNA, CRNA, an associate clinical professor, in celebration of the work they and other volunteers are accomplishing at Veteran Village.
Each year the nurse anesthesiology faculty and residents in the three cohorts of the full-time, three-year intensive DNP program decide which nonprofits to support when they gather in Tucson for clinical intensives. This year they chose the Veteran Village and Reintegration Center, part of the Veterans Rescue Mission. What was supposed to be a one-day volunteer event blossomed into something much more.
“We were going to just do one clean-up day, and we saw how much they needed,” said U.S. Army Reserve combat veteran Kristie Hoch, DNP, CRNA, MS, RRT, an associate clinical professor and program administrator for the nurse anesthesiology program. “During our debrief the next day, everyone said they wanted to do more to help fellow veterans, and they agreed to make this our community outreach for the rest of the year.”
Hoch said that it is important to her and the other faculty members that their nurse anesthesiology residents engage with the community to create leaders.
“We are in a professional role where engagement is integral to who we as nurses are,” she said. “One of the things I see as important in my role is to not only create strong providers, but to develop people into strong community leaders.”
A mission to help veterans
Nurse anesthesiology has been intertwined with the U.S. miliary for over 150 years. Those deep ties are evident in the UArizona program. Hoch, along with program faculty members, Jim Reed, DNP, MSNA, CRNA, an associate clinical professor, and Christopher Herring, DNP, CRNA, an assistant clinical professor, are veterans along with several of the current cohort of nurse anesthesiology residents in the program.
“This experience is different from my previous veterans advocacy and volunteer work as it is targeted towards those veterans in significant need of basic necessities,” said Reed, a U.S. Army combat veteran with 28 years of service. “I hope our residents get an appreciation that absolutely everything we enjoy in our country today we owe to our nation's veterans, going back to our country's founding. I hope they honor that now and in the future by using their time and talents to help those in need who have given of themselves to serve our nation and preserve our way of life.”
The Veteran Rescue Mission, which is a church, and Veteran Village and Reintegration Center, were established in 2017 and 2018 respectively by Pastor Jon McLane, a veteran himself. The organization’s mission is to locate homeless veterans to help them access benefits and reduce crime recidivism, homelessness and suicide. The Veteran Village offers shelter, a food pantry and clothing bank.
McLane said the volunteers have not only spruced up the property but have added much-needed resources that help connect their clients to vital services.
“The UArizona nurse anesthesiology program has been such a blessing to our staff, volunteers and residents at VRM,” said McLane.
Nurse anesthesia rooted in military
Several nurse anesthesiology residents in the program got their first introduction to this nursing specialty while serving in the military. They also noted that the UArizona program was particularly appealing to them because veterans lead it.
“When I learned that the faculty were veterans during my interview process, it really stood out to me and made me
(From left) Matt Saunders and Tim Ramos, both veterans and nurse anesthesiology residents, stuff backpacks with toiletries and gift cards to donate to the Veteran Village and Reintegration Center as part of a volunteer project in which the UArizona College of Nursing DNP specialty is participating.
want to be a part of the program,” said first-year resident Tim Ramos, a U.S. Army veteran. “Unfortunately, there
are a lot of homeless veterans and many who are dealing with mental health issues and high suicide rates. I can empathize with them and I’m fortunate to be in a position that I can give back to this community.”
The nurse anesthesiology faculty and residents first volunteered at the Veteran Village facility in June, spending a Saturday clearing out one of the old buildings on the property. It was that experience that prompted them to volunteer again in September. This time, they cleaned out the food pantry and restocked it with supplies they had collected and purchased, as well as purchased storage tubs to organize and clean up the clothing closet. They also packed several backpacks full of toiletries, gift cards and other personal items for the organization to hand out during their outreach to unhoused veterans in the community.
Matt Saunders, another first-year resident in the nurse anesthesiology program and a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, said that meeting veterans in June was impactful.
“Luckily, I have not experienced homelessness, but it is great to support an organization that is helping veterans in need,” he said. “There were veterans at the village that I spoke to that had been helped by the organization and hearing their stories was eye opening for me.”
Meaningful service
(From left) Chris Herring, DNP, CRNA, and Reed, both veterans and associate clinical professors in the UArizona College of Nursing, clear out an old trailer at the Veteran Village during one of the days the nurse anesthesiology program volunteered at the site.
While the faculty and residents of the nurse anesthesiology program have volunteered their time and money at a variety of organizations over the past six years, their work with the Veteran Village this year touched on something special for each of them because of their shared, lived experiences as veterans.
“There will never be a time in my life, as long as I am physically able, that I will not be supportive of veterans causes,” Reed said. “My military service included 14 deployments to war zones and will define who I am the rest of my life. It is the very least I can do to volunteer my time and talent to our veterans who may be in need.”
That resolve is a common thread, shared not only by the program faculty but the Village residents and staff.
“I appreciate the support given to the Veteran Village by the UArizona nurse anesthesiology program, and I look forward to spending more time with them in the future,” said McLane. “They are such amazing people for the work they do for our society as a whole – to see how they go above and beyond helping us is a clear sign of their amazing character as humans. Most of all, I want to thank them for their service.”
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