DeLana Gardner
Frontier School of Midwife
2013 Family Nurse Practitioner

My name is DeLana Gardner; I’m 36 years old, and a returning student. I am married with four teenage children. My husband is a displaced worker who worked for Mitek Corporation. When the company lost its main contract with circuit city two years ago they laid off over 50% of their laborers and my husband being one. With the down turn of the economy he has been unable to find work and has returned to school as a full time student. This has left me as sole provider for our family.  My children are very active in school and participate in extracurricular activities that must be paid out of pocket since many school districts have lost valuable funding. I have a daughter that will be attending ASU starting in July. I am currently paying fees for her registration, housing, food and living expenses to be incurred for this summer. Unfortunately, I do not have a savings account to draw funds from in order to help offset some of these cost.

I am currently seeking out scholarship funds to help offset the cost of books and tuition. I am currently enrolled at Frontier School of Midwifery and Family Nursing in attempts to obtain a Masters in Science and Nursing with an emphasis on Family Nurse Practitioner. Obtaining my degree would allow me to open a family care practice. My desire is to serve a clientele that otherwise would not be able to have access to low cost quality health care.  I feel I would be an excellent candidate for this scholarship because it would not go to waste. My extraneous background in nursing is a huge contributory to the wellbeing and success in this masters program to prepare me for a nurse practitioner. I have cared for many patients and families from all different settings. From long term care to the intensive care units in hospitals to the teenage girls I work with in the South Phoenix community promoting abstinence and promoting awareness of who they are in God. I volunteer in a free clinic for anyone that does not have insurance and can prove a financial need for free health care.

I believe in giving what God has given to me. My gifts are not for me, but to give to others in need. Nursing is not just a job and it’s not just a career but it’s my calling, my ministry. God has blessed me in every area of nursing that I have gone into, and as a result I have been able to spill all of those blessings over onto others. Whether it’s in a happy setting, or whether it’s in a time of ushering someone out of this lifetime. I have actually had patients tell me they thought they had already died and gone to heaven because they heard angels singing however, when they would come out of their coma and would hear me singing they realized it was me. I just want to continue to be a blessing through nursing to others and this scholarship can help me to continue my education so I can further do what God has called me to do.