{"id":182920,"date":"2022-03-15T08:00:41","date_gmt":"2022-03-15T12:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=182920"},"modified":"2022-08-28T15:22:24","modified_gmt":"2022-08-28T19:22:24","slug":"nursing-students-flynn-fellowship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2022\/03\/nursing-students-flynn-fellowship\/","title":{"rendered":"Junior Nursing Students Selected for Competitive Flynn Fellowship"},"content":{"rendered":"

Six members of the School of Nursing\u2019s Class of 2023, Catherine Cantelmo, Tarrese Folk, Charlotte Hamilton, Quyen Le, Shika Reji, and Alison Lopez Valdivia, have been selected to participate in the competitive Flynn Fellowship Program.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Tarrese Folk, one of the UConn students selected for the Flynn Fellowship. (Submitted photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The summer internship, a part of the national <\/span>Susan D. Flynn Oncology Nursing Development Program<\/span><\/a>, pairs college students with leading hospitals in the field of oncology. The interns, referred to as Flynn Fellows, complete an eight to 10 week clinical experience in oncology nursing. The program hopes to inspire oncology careers in college students and connect them with hospitals that are seeking the next generation of oncology nurses.<\/span><\/p>\n

UConn School of Nursing students applying for the competitive fellowship are only eligible to be placed in certain regional hospitals. Both Folk and Cantelmo will be working at UConn John Dempsey Hospital, Reji at Hartford Hospital, Hamilton at Yale New Haven’s Smilow Cancer Hospital Care Center in Greenwich, Le at Connecticut Children\u2019s, and Lopez Valdivia at Stamford Hospital.<\/span><\/p>\n

The students had similar reasons for applying for the fellowship: They all have experience with the health care system as a result of familial connections or clinical rotations on oncology floors, inspiring them to help others as a result.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI became interested in caring for people who suffer from cancer after the death of my father, who passed away from gastric cancer,\u201d Folk says. \u201cHaving the opportunity to directly make an impact on families and individuals through hands-on palliative care feels like a dream come true.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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Shika Reji, one of the UConn students selected for the Flynn Fellowship Program. (Submitted photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI have a family member who is a survivor of cancer, which originally peaked my interest in the subject,\u201d Cantelmo says. \u201cI was then inspired by the nurses that I saw this year during my clinical experiences and their amazing capacity to care for oncology patients in such critical conditions.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI observed the rewards of helping people in health care while bringing my grandparents to their doctors\u2019 appointments, which inspired my decision to pursue nursing,\u201d Reji says. \u201cThen, during my oncology clinical rotation, I discovered the power I had to bring a positive change to individuals with cancer. I truly enjoy helping others.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

“My dad was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2017 and was initially treated at Greenwich Hospital,” Hamilton says. “As a junior in high school who was already interested in a career in health care, witnessing the phenomenal care his nurses provided to both him and my family was truly inspiring to me. I am so grateful to them and that my dad remains in remission and healthy to this day.”<\/p>\n

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Flynn Fellows, Shika Reji (left), Catherine Cantelmo (second from right), and Charlotte Hamilton (far right) pose with their clinical training group. (Submitted photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“During my clinical rotations, I cared for oncology patients which sparked my interest in learning more about their struggles with the disease as I took care of them,” Lopez Valdivia says. “An important nursing intervention is to\u00a0 show emotional support to these patients as well as provide the best quality of care. I believe the most rewarding part of becoming a nurse is when your patients appreciate that you are taking care of them.”<\/p>\n

The Susan D. Flynn Oncology Nursing Development Program was established in 2014 by Fred Flynn after his wife, Susan, lost her battle with ovarian cancer. Since then, 202 nurses have completed the program, with 116 now working as oncology nurses.<\/span><\/p>\n

The application process for the program is intensive and rigorous. Host hospitals competitively select rising college seniors to intern at their location. Acceptance to the program is based on meticulous evaluations of an applicant\u2019s academic credentials, personal experience, and interest in oncology.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Charlotte Hamilton, one of the UConn students selected for the Flynn Fellowship Program. (Submitted photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By the end of the internship, Flynn Fellows are expected to have grown as both nurses and as caring individuals to improve the quality of care that cancer patients receive in the future.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI hope to educate communities who lack cancer knowledge and measures that can potentially decrease the chance of being diagnosed with the disease,\u201d Folk says. \u201cStatistically, African Americans have the highest percentage of being diagnosed with and dying of cancer, so as an African American female it has become my mission to provide care to minorities.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis opportunity will give me the chance to work with palliative care teams and hospice nurses, who provide essential care to patients with a very different goal than typical nursing,\u201d Cantelmo says. \u201cWhile we are taught mostly how to help to \u2018cure\u2019 our patients in class, these nurses work to reduce symptoms and pain in patients. This experience will help me learn the skills I will need to be a great nurse in the future.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

“I hope to spread the importance of social support while fighting cancer,” Lopez Valdivia says. “Patients spend a lot of time in the hospital and nurses are always there to support them and ensure that they are not alone.”<\/p>\n

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Alison Lopez Valdivia, one of the UConn students selected for the Flynn Fellowship Program. (Submitted photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In addition to the clinical experience, fellows must complete courses in cancer basics and end-of-life nursing. Students are also mentored by hospital staff as they work on a mandatory evidence-based practice research project throughout the internship.<\/span><\/p>\n

“I hope to become more comfortable with the complex and intricate level of care provided to oncology patients, gain more experience working in a multidisciplinary team and communicating with other health care professionals, and learn more about career options in oncology nursing,” Hamilton says.<\/p>\n

\u201cI sincerely believe that through this fellowship program,” Reji says, “I will be able to learn more theoretical knowledge and practical understanding in effectively assisting my patients in navigating their journey towards recovery and healing.”<\/span><\/p>\n

To learn more about the UConn School of Nursing, visit\u00a0<\/em>nursing.uconn.edu<\/em><\/a>\u00a0and follow the School on\u00a0<\/em>Facebook<\/em><\/a>,\u00a0<\/em>Instagram<\/em><\/a>,\u00a0<\/em>Twitter<\/em><\/a>, or\u00a0<\/em>LinkedIn<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated the number of UConn School of Nursing students who were selected to participate in the Flynn Fellowship Program this summer. The article was updated on April 4 to include other students also selected.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The summer internship is a part of the national Susan D. Flynn Oncology Nursing Development Program and places students at Connecticut hospitals, including UConn Health<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":156,"featured_media":183027,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1877,2231],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[2356],"class_list":["post-182920","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nur","category-health-well-being"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-21 09:05:12","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182920","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/156"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=182920"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182920\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":189597,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182920\/revisions\/189597"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/183027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=182920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=182920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=182920"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=182920"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=182920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}