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Rehabmart.com $25,000 Scholarship Fund Winners

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Caitlin Walters

School: Oregon Health & Science University
Major: Bachelor of Science in Nursing

I began my journey towards becoming a nurse more than a decade ago, as a volunteer in Doernbecher Children's Hospital at Oregon Health & Science University. What started as a simple desire to serve others in my community, transformed into an indescribably profound sense that I had landed on the doorstep of my destiny. I was moved in a way that I had never been before by the virtues of nursing so vibrantly embodied there: compassion, integrity, dignity, courage, humility, autonomy, empathy, and fidelity. A passion was born within me.

This passion was later reignited, not so subtly, when I became a nurse to my mother in her final years and midwife in her final moments of life, as she battled early-onset Alzheimer's Disease and Lewy Body Dementia. Caring for her in my home through her passing at the unripe age of fifty-seven was one of the greatest treasures I have ever known. Her final gift to me was returning me to my calling as a nurse, and beckoning me onward. Amidst moments of the most encompassing grief and sorrow, sleepless nights and endless days, I found peace and purpose through nursing. I also grew to understand the vital importance of advocacy. Having the blessing of my mother to do so, I accepted an offer from the Alzheimer's Association to serve as a keynote speaker and shared her story. My husband and I later organized annual memorial concerts in her honor which have benefited the Oregon Chapter.

Inspired by these experiences, I felt myself entirely compelled into the profession of nursing. I re-entered school at the age of twenty-nine and changed my degree to nursing. As I made progress in completing prerequisite coursework, I began work as a full-time caregiver with a focus on patients and families entering the end of life in hospice, as well as those requiring complex care. I had the privilege of caring for patients with conditions such as end stage ALS, glioblastoma multiforme, severe stroke, congestive heart failure, and dementia. I found myself, once again, serving as a midwife through their passing. In 2014, I was honored to receive notification of my acceptance into Oregon Health & Science University's prestigious program for a Bachelor of Science in Nursing. I have also been very fortunate to be accepted into their Gerontological Nursing Honors Program which focuses specifically on advanced education in the care of older adults. I am now a senior, and will spend my last year caring for patients in the Acute Care setting at the Knight Cancer Institute's Adult Medical Surgical Oncology unit.

This pathway has been a tumultuous one at times due to my own health condition, Undifferentiated Connective Tissue Disease, which has become more progressive in recent years and has caused disabling symptoms. Some of these have included severe fatigue and weakness, frequent illness and infection related to immune suppressing medications, and daily, often intense chronic pain, among others. Beyond the great physical impact of this disease, I have also grown to understand the strong grip of its emotional and mental effects. Because I am young, and look well on the outside, I have encountered criticism and judgment on occasion from strangers when needing to use my disability placard in past years, a scooter, or a cane during flares in my condition. Though my dedication to fulfilling my academic and career aspirations has been challenging because of this, I feel my disability has given me greater depth of empathy and compassion for my patients, and a true understanding of their needs on a human level.

Recently, I have needed to take a leave from work while focusing on school to protect my health, and this has greatly impaired my family's ability to fund my education. As an older student who has been in school for more than four years, I have utilized all of my available student loans, and I am left with grossly insufficient funding for this upcoming academic year 2016-2017. Without finding support through scholarships such as yours, I will struggle immensely to continue the last leg of my journey to earn my degree. I was elected as the Breakthrough to Nursing Director for the Student Nurses Association at my university this year, and over the summer launched a new peer mentorship program for incoming students which is blossoming in amazing ways. It would be devastating to lose this opportunity to provide this guidance to students who are following in my footsteps.

My ultimate endeavor after graduation is to return to where this all started for me with an enlightened, expanded, educated perspective, serving my local community and the world as a nurse. I plan to become an oncology nurse with a focus on the care of older adults, eventually transitioning to hospice care. I hope to travel with organizations such as Nurse's Without Borders and the American Red Cross to areas where individuals and communities are experiencing trauma and disaster. Your scholarship award will allow me to do exactly that. It will reaffirm and sharpen my focus on my education, greatly reducing my financial burdens which would otherwise threaten it. It will strengthen my ability to practice self-care and attend to my health and wellness, as well as shelter and nurture my ambition for continued academic success.

Thank you for your time and energy in consideration of my application, and for being true leaders through action in funding education for individuals studying health sciences and experiencing disability!


Essay: Eye Gaze Assistive Communication Technology

I believe very much that one of the most positive and influential technologies which I have witnessed improving quality of life for patients and families, is assistive communication devices such as the Eyegaze. As a caregiver for one woman with advanced, bulbar onset ALS, as she lost her ability to speak, so much of her spirit and her dignity was restored and kept alive through learning to utilize this intuitive device. The Eyegaze tracks eye movement through laser technology, allowing users to control elements such as the keyboard and cursor of a computer screen type interface. This enables those with disabilities impairing speech and/or use of upper extremities to communicate through writing, selection of pre-recorded phrases, and other means. Even more remarkable, the Eyegaze is able to upload recordings of the patient's own voice prior to permanent loss, when possible, so that their personal tone, intonations, inflections, and phrases can be paired with symbols that the user can select and play. My patient with ALS had earned her Masters degree in Linguistics, and was tormented by her inability to speak. As a result of Eyegaze technology, however, she could still tell her daughter, "I love you with all of my breath and being." each time she visited, or tell her husband, "Thank you, my hubby, my rock, my prince!" Crucially, at the end of her life, Eyegaze also allowed her and her family and caregivers to have very important discussions surrounding her mortality and her wishes, that would otherwise been impossible. This device has modes and programs such as games that allow the user to learn relatively quickly and without great difficulty, making it very accessable and feasible for children and adults, even those experiencing mild cognitive deficits. In healthcare, I see a great deal of technology supporting quantity of life each day, and I have come to understand with time and experience that we must move towards greater valuing of quality of life. That is, after all, at the heart of what our patients and their families are asking of us. I have never before seen any device of equal power in creating such a special and desperately needed connection to what is meaningful in life. I hope that as a nurse one day soon I can contribute to development of similar technologies.