In America it seems like there’s an urgent care or clinic on every street corner of larger cities and even in rural parts of the country there are hospitals and clinics within miles. It’s difficult to imagine a five-hour trip to receive care. For Seifu Tulu who grew up in a rural part of Ethiopia, that was the norm. The closest hospital was a five-hour trip – three hours walking, and two hours by driving.
“It’s hard and challenging to access healthcare, and people suffer a lot,” he says. “My dad has asthma, and if he has a severe asthma attack...there’s no hope for him.”
Facing this reality, Tulu and his older brother pursued nursing careers. “I decided when I finished eighth grade that I needed to have a healthcare career,” he says.
“You see so much satisfaction helping people in Ethiopia because there’s not a lot of access to healthcare,” he says. “People are so excited about it, and you’re able to help people.”
He was teaching at a university in Ethiopia before coming to the US but said it sometimes was difficult because there wasn’t enough equipment or areas to teach. It inspired him to come to the US to learn how nursing is taught here.
“I thought I should reach out to different countries to see if they were able to help us,” he says. “I told myself if I got the opportunity to come to the US, I’d be able to help not only my university but my country, too.”
That opportunity came in 2015 and he eventually enrolled in the PhD (Doctor of Philosophy) program at the University of Colorado College of Nursing at Anschutz Medical Campus. His focus is on Bio-behavioral Sciences.
“As a nurse and being in a caring environment, I kept thinking to myself why people do things one way and not the other, so that’s why I was interested in the program,” he says. “I wanted to learn as much as I could and gain more knowledge to grow my career.”
Ready to Help Around the World
Tulu says earning a PhD had its challenges but is grateful to his professors for steering him in the right direction. He struggled the first few months of the program since it was so different than education in Ethiopia.
CU Nursing student Seifu Tulu, (center) with his wife and daughters. |
“You learn a lot, and you’re allowed to take different paths when it comes to research,” he says. “The program opened my eyes to different views and perspectives and is helping me learn nursing differently.”
His advice for students is to talk with an adviser to get a feel for what the courses and education will be like.
“Doing that helped prepare me and set expectations for the program,” he says. “It will help so you’re not surprised on your first day of class, and you can hear about what happens at the beginning, middle, and end of the program.”
Tulu hopes to get a job with the Centers for Disease Control after graduation and wants to focus on non-communicable diseases.
“Those diseases are growing very fast in developing countries, and I will be so happy if I can help those countries with the knowledge I gained at CU Nursing,” he says.
