My journey is personal, but my work is for everyone.

Shealynn

Blackfeet Tribe of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation of Montana

Nurse Researcher, UCLA Nursing PhD Program, Eugene V. Cota-Robles Fellow

The pandemic motivated me in ways I never thought were possible. Growing up I was just a kid on the rez, adopted by my grandparents who raised me. Before COVID I was working as an LPN, but my experiences during the pandemic inspired me to want so much more for my family, my children, my community and for all Indigenous peoples. In addition to losing one of my beloved parents to COVID, as a healthcare worker I experienced first-hand the devastation COVID caused in Native communities, including not only the huge gaps in reservation-based healthcare infrastructure but also the lack of health-related research specific to Indigenous peoples – research that could have saved lives.

It’s hard for me to talk about all the losses in our communities and the impact COVID continues to have on our people, but those feelings are also what drive and motivate me. I was able to complete my bachelor’s degree and am now working on my Nursing PhD at UCLA as a Eugene V. Cota-Robles Fellow. My ultimate goal is to use my education to lay the groundwork for the founding of research centers centered in our Indigenous ethical standards to improve the health disparities within Native communities nationwide.

When I envision what the future could look like for my children, my children’s children, my nieces, my nephews, and future generations of Indigenous peoples, I think we are capable of everything. We have such brilliant youth within our communities, but we lack resources. Currently there is an emergence of Indigenous scholars in environmental sciences, business, the arts, media, and now health – including me. For that I thank you. I am fulfilling dreams I didn’t think were possible, all because of you.