Alumni | Health Education and Human Sciences | NewsAugust 12, 2024

UAFS Grads, Baptist Health Nurses Named 100 Greatest

Written By: Ian Silvester

Each year, for nearly 40 years, nurses from Louisiana, Oklahoma, North Carolina, Texas, and Arkansas have been nominated for their compassion, dedication to quality care, and impact on the future of nursing. However, only 100 nurses are named on the Great 100 Nurses list at a time.

This year, Baptist Health was honored by 16 nurses making the list. Nine nurses work at Baptist Health-Fort Smith, and six are proud University of Arkansas – Fort Smith alums.

Cody Newton, ’16, and Nicole Dake, ’20, are two of the nurses who made the Great 100 list. Both shared that they were shocked and humbled to know their peers had named them.

“To be in the same category as these nurses is a huge privilege,” said Newton.

“I’m proud to be part of the group,” seconded Dake. “(The nurses) are all impacting things in different ways.”

Newton came to UAFS as a first-generation transfer student from California. No one else in his family had worked in healthcare before completing his bachelor’s degree in nursing. As an emergency room nurse and clinical coordinator, he was drawn to the fast-paced nature of the ER, saying it’s the “immediate stabilization” of a patient that is rewarding.

As he reflected on his education, he said seeing ER nurses as “rock stars saving lives” during clinical and “incredible instructors that made you want to be like them” solidified his decision to help others.

“I always tell myself that I get to be the best part of somebody’s worst day, and I can make a big difference,” he said.

For Dake, coming to UAFS was a sort of homecoming. The Mansfield, Arkansas, native had previously earned a bachelor’s degree from Bethel University in Tennessee in pre-professional health and planned to become a physician assistant. Life had other plans for her.

“I came back home to Mansfield and kind of drug my feet for a little bit. I still wanted to pursue some sort of medical degree but didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do,” Dake recalled. “Then UAFS opened their accelerated nursing program.”

Dake spent the next 18 months doing four 12-hour clinical shifts and one day in the classroom. She admitted the program was challenging, but with so much hands-on learning in the hospital with other nurses, “coming out, I was a lot more comfortable and ready.”

She was nearing the end of her program when the COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc worldwide. Coming from a small community whose main hospital was in Fort Smith, Dake said she felt a sense of duty to continue on her path of nursing, knowing she could directly impact the health of someone she knew or was related to.

“Right before, I was in critical care – the ICU and ER – as COVID was ramping up. We started seeing those patients coming in, but we didn’t know how bad it was at that point,” she said.

As the severity of the virus became known, Dake and the other nursing students were sent home and told to complete the program online, but she said it wasn’t long before they returned to the front lines.

“We were very eager to get started and start taking care of these people. (COVID) didn’t deter any of us from starting. I think every single one of us is still in the nursing field, even though we jumped in at a time when it got really scary.”

As an emergency department manager, Dake ensures that the nurses on her staff are equipped with everything they need to help patients. She also makes hiring decisions and says UAFS continues to produce nurses like herself, Newton, and the four other UAFS grads on the Great 100 Nurses list who are committed to patient care.

Newton and Dake say they are proud to serve the community they call home and give back to where they started.

Along with Newton and Dake, Baptist Health-Fort Smith confirmed Kristina Risenhoover and Arielle Stevenson, ER nurses, Sherri Rogers, a medical-surgical nurse, and Janet Smithson, a shift supervisor, as UAFS graduates. To see the complete Great 100 Nurses from Arkansas, visit https://g100nurses.org/arkansas/.

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