When Natalie Newton was a dental student on the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, she worried about damaging her hearing as she and other students operated high-pitched handpieces (often referred to as drills) while they practiced fixing teeth.

Deborah Sherman | August 31, 2021

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has awarded the VA Patient Safety Center for Inquiry Suicide Prevention Collaborative (PSCI-SPC) and their community partners, including the University of Colorado College of Nursing, for implementing programs to reduce suicide among thousands of Colorado military veterans, their families and survivors.

Deborah Sherman | August 18, 2021

Three miles up and three miles down. Dr. Kathleen Flarity has skydived more than 2,500 times out of balloons, Russian helicopters and even two Boeing 727 airliners. She’s inspired her children to free fall. But perhaps the biggest thrill Flarity’s experiencing right now is getting selected to become a fellow at the American Academy of Nursing in October.

Deborah Sherman | August 05, 2021

A student at the University of Colorado College of Nursing has been awarded a scholarship from the American Psychiatric Nurses Association (APNA) to study and eventually treat an epidemic of mental illness and suicide in Colorado. Julie Bremer was one of 30 student scholars chosen nationwide by APNA.

Deborah Sherman | July 22, 2021

It was a promise between a mom and son that would prove to be much harder to keep than either could ever imagine. In the fall of 2017, Emily Barr made a deal with her son Maren (who goes by Michael), that’d they’d graduate together in the spring of 2021 and celebrate with a party.

Deborah Sherman | July 09, 2021

While on duty in Syria in 2017, insurgents routinely shot at U.S. Air Force nurse Damon Toczylowski and other military troops as they transported patients to safety in helicopters or fixed-wing airplanes. Now, years later as a first-year student at the University of Colorado College of Nursing, he remembers the chaos, the stress, the fear - and wants to help other military veterans.

Deborah Sherman | June 30, 2021

Across the country, more than 30,000 soldiers fight an internal battle against the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that turns their cells into factories that seize other cells and weaken their immune systems. If the veterans aren’t treated quickly, it can lead to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), for which there is no cure.

Deborah Sherman | June 28, 2021

When John was in the hospital last month getting ready to have open heart surgery, he felt exhausted. It wasn’t just from his damaged heart. John couldn’t get enough sleep. As soon as he dozed off in the evenings, at least three medical professionals woke him up to take blood, deliver medicine and ask questions. John wondered why they couldn’t all come at once and let him get some rest. As it turns out, he’s not alone in that idea.

Deborah Sherman | May 20, 2021

When Omarah Macias was in middle school, kids made fun of the way she spoke. She had learned most of her English and Spanish from her father, who had moved from Ecuador to New York when he was 14 without knowing the language. So, her voice had a unique sound with a Spanish and Bronx, New York accent.

Deborah Sherman | May 15, 2021

Parents usually sit in the audience rooting on their sons and daughters as they walk the graduation stage and accept their diplomas. But this May, Julia Plotke will be right next to her daughter Abigael during the University of Colorado College of Nursing commencement ceremony and also graduate.

Deborah Sherman | May 09, 2021

When Joe went to the hospital with congestive heart failure, a nurse didn’t just ask him how he was. She also asked him who he was. Joe says that personal connection helped him cope with his mortality and terminal diagnosis.

Deborah Sherman | March 29, 2021

Seventeen years before Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. inspired masses in Washington with his speech, “I Have a Dream,” a young Black woman nicknamed Zippy in Denver was already living her dream. In 1946, ‘Zippy’ Zipporah Parks Hammond became the first Black woman to graduate with a bachelor of science degree from the University of Colorado School of Nursing.

Deborah Sherman | February 10, 2021

Three doctors, three different treatment plans. X-rays. MRIs. Referrals to new doctors and new examinations. Despite months of medical appointments, it will still be at least six more weeks until Alexis Koutlas knows the extent of her 83-year-old mom’s arthritis in her neck and how to treat it. And that, Alexis says, is not O.K.

Deborah Sherman | December 11, 2020

While COVID-19 has hit many of us hard, Nurse Jeanne Burnkrant who works with people at the end of their lives, lost eight patients in April alone. She grieved. She missed them. But Jeanne never once questioned what she does or why she does it.

Deborah Sherman | December 08, 2020

Sometimes you have to find your own way. When Michael Morgan graduated high school, he knew he didn’t want to follow in his parents’ footsteps. His mom is a dental hygienist, and his dad has spent 30 years in a cardiac catheterization lab.

Deborah Sherman | December 04, 2020