Kelly Connelly ’94
Connelly is the founder and CEO of Advantage Nursing
Care, a leading private duty nursing provider in Massachusetts. “Advantage
Nursing Care was developed to meet the increasing demand for quality nursing
care in the private sector, for both domestic and international patients,”
Connelly says. “For more than 15 years I have worked with embassies in
Washington, D.C., to ensure that when international patients come to Boston for
treatment there are cost-effective outcomes. My company now employs more than
175 nurses who service patients in hospitals, homes, hotels or wherever the
home setting may be throughout Massachusetts.”
Shannon DaCunha ’02
DaCunha has been climbing the clinical recognition ladder
at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and was recently recognized as an
advanced clinician. She received her master’s degree from the University of
Massachusetts Boston in May 2010 and is working as a clinical faculty member
for UMass Boston’s nursing fundamentals courses. “While a student at Salve I
had the privilege of serving as president of the Student Nurse Organization,”
DaCunha said. “My classmates and I had amazing learning experiences working
with different patient populations and were fortunate to learn more about our
professional roles by traveling to several nursing conferences.”
Jeannie-Mae Durfee ’84
Durfee is the nurse clinical leader for the University of
Massachusetts Dartmouth’s Health Services Office. She entered college health
after 25 years in multiple settings, primarily in acute care. “Being a
professional nurse working in college health requires knowing and implementing
preventative health care, coordinating complex medical issues, providing
emergency care, managing and administering health programs and supervising
people,” Durfee says. “College health is more than paperwork and immunizations.
The student population is multifaceted and present with a multitude of health
issues because their ages range across the adult lifespan.”
Patrick Ferguson ’10
Ferguson is a registered nurse in the surgical intensive
care unit (SICU) at the Hospital of Saint Raphael in New Haven, Conn., caring
for critically ill, unstable patients arriving from the operating room. “The key
to progressing successfully in this field is to be proactive in your
education,” Ferguson says. “I started to work in the SICU as a student nurse
the summer between my junior and senior year. Being on the unit every day, I gained
confidence and learned information that helped me during my senior year to
prepare to work as a new graduate in a critical care setting.”
Paul Lovely ’05
Lovely works in the medical/surgical intensive care unit
at Boston’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, caring for a variety of
critically ill patient populations. He became certified in critical care
nursing in 2007 and has served as a preceptor to many new graduates and experienced
nurses new to the intensive care environment. “Working in the ICU can be very challenging, but also very rewarding,”
Lovely says. “It requires you to be able to think critically on your feet and
perform many roles. Being a strong patient advocate is an important role
because many of our patients are very sick and unable to communicate.”
Audrey Smith ’09
Smith works on a 20-bed orthopedic unit at New
Hampshire’s Concord Hospital, assisting patients recovering from knee or hip
replacements. “Salve’s nursing program not only gave me knowledge and hands-on
experience in the nursing field, but more importantly a passion for the
profession of nursing and a desire to always go the extra mile for my
patients,” Smith says. “I remember how much the Salve nursing faculty helped me
every step of the way in my education. Gratitude for their efforts combined
with Salve’s core value of lifelong learning has led me to go back to school
and earn a master’s in nursing education.”
Jaclyn Standish ’06 and Casandra Standish ’09
Both Standish sisters work at the Hospital of Saint
Raphael in New Haven, Conn., Jaclyn in the cardio-thoracic intensive care unit
and Casandra in the surgical intensive care unit. Jaclyn is enrolled in the
hospital’s anesthesia program and will graduate in October 2011, while Casandra
is applying to the program’s Class of 2013. “Salve’s program prepared us to
work as student nurse techs on a cardiac step-down unit while we were still in
school,” Jaclyn says. “We were both highly recommended for positions in the ICU
because of the knowledge, attitude and skills that we gained at Salve Regina.”
Paul Sweitzer ’09
Sweitzer began his career
in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) of New Hampshire’s Dartmouth
Hitchcock Medical Center and currently works in the PICU at Children’s Hospital
of the King’s Daughters in Norfolk, Va. “I would not have been this successful
in my professional career had it not been for the opportunities and support I
experienced while attending Salve,” Sweitzer says. “The knowledge that was
shared and the hands-on clinical time I received helped to build the skills and
confidence that are necessary in this profession. My professors were always
supportive and available to assist me while I pursued my educational and career
goals.”