YPCNP - Meet the YPNCs

Katelyn Warner is a senior at the College of Nursing. Like many who pursue a career in nursing, she was initially interested in the field because she wanted to learn the skills needed to help others. She wanted a career that would give her the opportunity to make a difference in someone’s life. Her pediatric experience includes previous work as a teaching assistant for children with autism and current work as a nursing assistant for the Pediatric Specialty Clinic and Pediatric Hematology/Oncology and Bone Marrow Transplant unit at UIHC. She pursued membership in the Young Pediatric Nurse Clinician Program in order to broaden her work with the pediatric population and learn more about their unique care. Following graduation, Katelyn hopes to work as a nurse at the Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. She would eventually like to return to school to earn her Pediatric Doctorate of Nursing Practice.

Mindy Gravel is currently a senior at the College of Nursing, and will graduate in May of 2013. She currently works in the Surgical Inpatient Center at Mercy Medical Center in Cedar Rapids as a patient care tech. In addition to being a Young Pediatric Nurse Clinician, Mindy has been involved with Dance Marathon, Progressive Nursing Day Board, volunteering in the Nursing Simulation Lab, and tutoring. Her interest in the nursing profession was initiated when her younger sister spent four months in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. Her family was immersed in the medical culture and surrounded by the nurturing and comforting nurses. By pursuing pediatric or neonatal nursing, Mindy hopes to give the same comfort and care to the families and children facing similar tribulations. By being in the YPNCP, Mindy is able to gain experience with the pediatric patient population and build a larger knowledge base about their care.  After graduation, Mindy hopes to work in pediatric or neonatal intensive care in the Iowa City or Cedar Rapids area. In a few years, after gaining clinical experience, Mindy plans to go to graduate school to earn a Doctorate in Nursing Practice in Pediatrics.

Amalia Gedney is a senior nursing student in the BSN program at the University of Iowa. She is originally from Stevens Point, WI but chose to attend the University of Iowa because of their outstanding nursing program. Although Amalia is interested in family practice, she has found a significant calling to psychiatric nursing in the pediatric and adolescent populations. Currently, Amalia is working on the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Unit at The UIHC, where she continues to learn a great amount about the population and the roles of practitioners on the floor. Amalia aspires to become both a Family Practice Nurse Practitioner and a Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner with the hopes of being able to incorporate psychiatric care into the family system, as well as in the primary care setting.

Katelyn Baumann is a senior in the nursing program at the University of Iowa. She decided she wanted to be a nurse her Junior year of high school when she attended the National Youth Leadership Forum on Medicine in Chicago and spent time shadowing in the Trauma Center at Stroger Hospital. Through her experiences there it was the care that the nurses provided to their patients during these critical times, the relationships they developed with them and their role as an advocate that made her want to be a nurse. She wants to work in pediatrics because she has always been drawn to children and finds them very rewarding to work with. As a member of the young pediatric nurse clinician program Katelyn participates in different health promotion programs geared towards children as well as shadowing experiences at the hospital. She currently works as a Student nurse tech at Mercy hospital in Iowa City, floating among the different floors. Her summer was spent working at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, as a part of the summer III student nurse extern program. After graduation Katelyn hopes to work as an RN on a pediatric floor and return to grad school to become a pediatric nurse practitioner.

Jordyn Heiter is a senior at the University of Iowa College of Nursing. She was born and raised in Iowa and has been a Hawkeye fan for a very long time! Jordyn is the President of the University of Iowa Association of Nursing Students, volunteers with several organizations in the University of Iowa area, and is on the 2012 Homceoming Court. Her desired areas of interest would be to either work with pediatric oncology patients or with neonatal intensive care patients in a hospital setting. She would eventually like to go back on to become a pediatric or neonatal nurse practitioner after working for 1-2 years. She would like to stay in the Iowa area because this is where her family and fiancé are living.

Vanessa Kimm is the new director of the Young Pediatric Nurse Clinician Program. She is an Iowa grad and earned both her BSN and MSN from the University of Iowa College of Nursing. She also completed the University of Iowa Pediatric Nurse Practitioner Program. In addition to being on the College of Nursing Faculty, she also practices as a PNP at Medical Assoiciates Pediatrics in Dubuque, Iowa. Vanessa lives in Swisher with her husband Josh and their four children.

Victoria Walstrum is a junior at the University of Iowa’s College of Nursing.  She is originally from Lake Zurich, Illinois and chose to come to Iowa because it has the perfect balance of Big Ten opportunities and a smaller, tight knit academic feel within the College of Nursing.  If you asked her mom, she would tell you that Victoria has wanted to be a health care provider since she was four years old.  Upon going to college, she decided that nursing was the health care field in which she could make the biggest impact on people’s lives because they have some of the most patient contact of any health care provider.  Aside from Young Peds, Victoria has become active on campus by being a member of Alpha Delta Pi, STAR, OnIowa!, Dance Marathon, Sigma Theta Tau, and working at a before and after school program.  She loves working with children because they always know how to put a smile on her face.  Her ultimate nursing career goal is to be a pediatric nurse practitioner at a primary care clinic (preferably somewhere closer to the ocean).

Nichole Brauer is a junior in the nursing program at the University of Iowa and will graduate in December of 2013. Nichole is currently a part of the Progressive Nursing Day Board and the Community Service Committee for Sigma Theta Tau International. She also works at UIHC as a nursing assistant on a medical-surgical floor and loves being immersed in the health care environment. Her passion truly lies in pediatric nursing and sees her future career there. Nichole ultimately pursued the Young Pediatric Nurse Clinician Program to help broaden her understanding of the pediatric population and learn about the specialized care that the children require.  After graduation, she hopes to be operating as a professional labor and delivery nurse or a pediatric nurse. Within a few years of receiving her bachelor’s degree in Nursing, she plans to move forward with her master’s degree as Pediatric Nurse Practitioner.