Cambridge Publishing's 2009 Professional of the Year Beatriz von Ohlen Gives Exclusive Interview

    BROWNSVILLE, TX, July 29, 2010 /24-7PressRelease/ --During a recent community assessment, nursing veteran Beatriz von Ohlen found that 90 percent of her community in Brownsville, Texas could not afford health insurance; 75 percent had no insurance at all. In response to this shocking data, Ms. von Ohlen has worked tirelessly to open a nurse managed clinic to better treat underserved populations in her community. This is the steadfast commitment with which Ms. von Ohlen has approached her 34 years in nursing, 24 years as a nurse practitioner and eight in nursing education. And it has not gone unnoticed—named Cambridge Publishing's 2009 Professional of the Year in Higher Education, Ms. von Ohlen has demonstrated professional excellence in her many functions, while rising to the challenges regarding public coverage and dwindling funding for healthcare education. In a revealing interview with Cambridge Who's Who , Ms. von Ohlen discussed her journey into teaching and how it has been affected by the political climate.

"I'm an assistant medical technical instructor at The University of Texas at Brownsville," she started. "I teach in [its] associate degree nursing program...mainly [focusing on] first year health assessment and clinical skills. And then I teach second year students in the obstetric departments and in critical care." Of course, Ms. von Ohlen didn't start her career in teaching. After earning an associate degree in nursing in Sugar Grove, Illinois, she went on to become a nurse practitioner at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. This is an achievement that she continues to cite as a turning point in her career, as it has allowed her to not only care for women in all phases of life, but to also enter the teaching profession.

Receiving a bachelor's degree and, later, a master's in nursing administration from The University of Texas at Brownsville, Ms. von Ohlen now prides herself on her ability to guide students into the clinical arena. "I enjoy the students—they keep me young," she laughed. "And I enjoy [seeing] them progress from their first year - when they're scared to do anything - to their last semester, when they're doing just about everything and...feel more comfortable."

She continued, "My philosophy as a teacher is to teach students the caring [aspect] of nursing, and remind them to treat the patient - no matter who it is - as if [he or she] were your own mother or father. Then you're going to give them the caring that they need and you're going to be able to really work with the patients and their families without any problems." Moreover, Ms. von Ohlen is careful to assert her belief that nursing professionals should pursue the healthcare specialty in which they feel most comfortable. Adding unnecessary stress to an already fast-paced environment, she noted, is antithetical to the provision of excellent healthcare.

"Always remember that the person [for whom] you're caring is a family member of someone and a family member of a community. And you want them to remember you for your best nursing care," she shared.

With diminishing resources, the healthcare industry has admittedly met some obstacles in rendering the "best" care to the American public. In fact, Ms. von Ohlen believes that the greatest problem facing her professional peers is a fiscal one. "The most significant issue...is the increasing number of nursing applicants, the lack of faculty to teach students and the lack of space [in which] to teach," she said. "The way to solve this problem is to have more funding so we can grow, so we can hire more staff and so we can bring in more students. Funding is hard to get, especially now."

Though she is hopeful that the Obama stimulus will provide the healthcare industry with the boost it needs, Ms. von Ohlen is not waiting around to find out. With the help of a grant provided by the John F. Kennedy Foundation, she has begun establishing a nurse managed clinic for local community and parish members. This clinic will focus on preventative care, health education and wellness programs, as well as provide follow up examinations to hospital discharges. This, she hopes, will help mitigate the funding and transportation-related problems of her patients as they pertain to health access.

"I've never really looked at things as difficult; I see them as opportunities." This is the driving motto by which Ms. von Ohlen has tackled the many challenges in nursing care. Distinguished by her unwavering perseverance, she will seek to continue striving to provide the uninsured and underinsured with the care that they need while imparting her decades of knowledge unto future generations of caregivers.

About Cambridge Who's Who
With over 400,000 members representing every major industry, Cambridge Who's Who is a powerful networking resource that enables professionals to outshine their competition, in part through effective branding and marketing. Cambridge Who's Who employs similar public relations techniques to those utilized by Fortune 500 companies and makes them cost-effective for members who seek to take advantage of its career enhancement and business advancement services. Cambridge is pleased to welcome its new Executive Director of Global Branding and Networking, Donald Trump Jr., who is eager to share his extensive experience in this arena with members.

Cambridge Who's Who membership provides individuals with a valuable third party endorsement of their accomplishments and gives them the tools needed to brand themselves and their businesses effectively. In addition to publishing biographies in print and electronic form, it offers an online networking platform where members can establish new professional relationships.

Headquartered in Long Island's premier office building, RXR Plaza, the Cambridge Who's Who staff spans more than 10 departments and comprises a team of nearly 200 highly skilled and dedicated employees. Together they work to provide members with the recognition and exposure needed to further their careers, expand their businesses and network effectively in an economy where referrals are more important than ever.

For more information, please visit http://www.cambridgeregistry.com.

# # #