Sandra Good
I was the first person in my family to attend college, much less graduate school. 
image Sandra GoodI come from a small northern Appalachian community in western Pennsylvania. I chose to go to the University of Rochester because I had heard of its fine reputation and the exceptional quality of its nursing program.
I wasn't disappointed. Of all my nursing education, the University of Rochester was my favorite. It was extremely helpful, professionally and personally. I never expected when I entered that I would end up doing community based participatory research, but that's what I'm doing now. The School of Nursing helped make that possible. It showed us how much we could become.
There are so many good things to say about the University of Rochester School of Nursing and what it gives you. The quality of the teaching, and the example of the teachers, was just exemplary. Dean Loretta Ford was for me a tremendous inspiration. She knew each one of us by name and talked to each of us. I don't think I have ever seen a faculty more approachable, encouraging or supportive. Teachers came to our social gatherings. They made themselves available at home. They listened to us.
They took our input and put it into action. It did wonders for our self-confidence.
In terms of nursing skills, I don't think you can get a higher quality education for the price of tuition anywhere in the country. When I attended, the learning process was comprehensive and thorough. You learned your profession and you learned it well.
But the surprise was that learning was not hard at all – it was enjoyable. The instructors did everything they could to make the subject interesting. To open our eyes to its importance and the impact it could make. To open our eyes to the impact we could make. We were enthusiastic because they were enthusiastic. We wanted to do the best possible nursing because they cared so much about helping us reach that level, being able to give others the very best care we could. They constantly found ways to stretch our maximum potential.
Overall, I learned a sustained commitment to quality in my work – every kind and facet of work, whether medical or ministry. I was inspired to do my very best, and to continue to take advantage of opportunities to learn and grow throughout my career. They really instilled a love of learning and a desire for lifelong learning into all of us.
It's true that we didn't spend all our time in the library. Rochester is a pleasant place and there are things to do. I lived in an apartment complex for graduates and didn't have a car at the time; but I still found time to listen to the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and walk the lovely campus.
But the center of my experience was the School and all the many personal and professional possibilities it opened up. The University of Rochester School of Nursing has a very special place in my heart. They gave me such a boost of self-confidence. When I first arrived I would never have thought of myself as being entrepreneurial, as being a scientist, as a scholar making contributions. But the School makes you aware of so many options, and gives you such encouragement. It holds so high a faith in you and your potential that you come to share that faith. Some of the things I'm doing right now are a direct development of that encouragement. They constantly helped me to grow and develop as a nurse. But just as important, they helped me grow as a person. Definitely! I would recommend the University of Rochester School of Nursing to anyone.
I received my Masters in Science degree at the School of Nursing . Upon graduation, I was asked to stay on as faculty. It was tempting. But I had already done some volunteer work in the Appalachian Mountains in Southeastern Kentucky and moved there right after I got my Masters. The School meant a lot to me, but I knew where I was needed, and what I wanted to do.
When I returned to Kentucky , I became part of a nondenominational mission center. I helped foster and provide home health care, community health services, Sunday School,4-H, farming and after-school activities for children. It was there that I met and married my husband. I worked there for thirteen years, teaching Sunday School, assisting a midwife with home deliveries and working to raise the level of health in the community. In the course of that service, I became interested in full time ministerial studies. I started to study the Deaconess program in our denomination, the Church of the Nazarene. After my husband and I were married, we were ordained as Ministers in the Church.
We were both interested in missions to other communities and in time the Church asked us to move to Hazard, Kentucky , and form a Church there. There was no Church of the Nazarene here at that time, so we came and set up a compassionate ministry.
Our ministry has two parts. The first involves a baby pantry for young families who have pregnancies or who are raising a child up to three years of age. We're the baby care center for the entire county. We provide diapers, formula, clothes, cribs, and other items for children in need. I established a health program as well in Hazard, which employs community health advisors to visit families with pregnancies and children up to the age of three.
My Masters' was in acute pediatrics, so my work with children was a logical outgrowth of both my studies and my ministry. But at an early point in my effort to help babies with health problems, I realized I had gone from acute pediatrics to public health without formal training in the latter. I decided to take two years of post-Masters study in public health through the University of Kentucky , also a very fine school, to bolster my current work here in the Maternal Infant Outreach Worker Program. I became very impassioned about health promotion and disease prevention research. I worked in the Kentucky Cancer Program for four years and later became Community Liaison for the University of Kentucky Prevention Research Center. Doing community research, and helping shape the policy that directs it, has become an important part of my role, along with directing the health program and sharing ministry with my husband.
I learned at school to be alert to possibilities and there are certainly many exciting possibilities in both research and policy development in the future. I can see myself taking more part in both. My interest in public health came from clearly seeing how important a part social and political factors play in the health life of a community. We definitely need to direct more advocacy to state and national legislators, and I may well be doing more traveling and advocacy for that reason.
I serve on a number of organizations now. Just this past week, I was named Director of the Southeast Region for the Centers for Disease Control's National Community Committee and serve on its Policy Committee. It's important to inform and connect with legislators who can shape better public health care.
But I love being where I am, and doing exactly what I'm doing now. The ministry and the research that I'm doing right here is wonderfully satisfying. People come to the Appalachians , and people go. But to me this is my home –this is where I belong. I've found I can continue to grow professionally here, and still contribute to the profession and the region and to public policy. I'm glad I can do that. I'm happy here.
I do admit that I would like to see the School of Nursing again. I would love to attend a reunion. One of the wonderful things about the University of Rochester School of Nursing is that the ties you make there last. I still keep in touch with some students. Of course, if you do research as I'm doing now, you can't leave the process. But I read the beautiful newsletter that comes out and follow what's been happening. I know it's grown and improved in so many ways. I'll have to start read the web site regularly now -- especially since I'm on it!
I remind myself of the School of Nursing motto frequently – ‘Meliora': Let's Make It Better. Yes, that's exactly what we're here to do. Make things better for our patients, and our community, and our world. The University of Rochester educated me and encouraged me and helped show me the way. I recommend it without reservation to anyone interested in a future in nursing. I know from experience that it can help make that future bright!
Sandra Lee Blaney Good has been an Associate Director of the Lend-A-Hand Center Home Health Agency; an Americorps/VISTA Volunteer under the Maternal Infant Health Outreach Worker Program, Center for Health Services, of Vanderbilt University; and Director of the Kathryn Harris MIHOW in Hazard, Kentucky. She was Southeast Regional Cancer Control Specialist for the Kentucky Cancer Program. Sandra is currently Community Liaison for the University of Kentucky Prevention Research Center and serves on the PRC National Policy Committee.
She is a member of the American Public Health Association, the Kentucky Rural Health Association, the CDC National Community Committee, the Appalachian Cancer Control Network Community Advisory Board, the University of Kentucky Prevention Research Center Community Advisory Board , and is Co-Chair of the Kentucky Alcohol and Substance Abuse Program (Perry County Chapter).
Her honors include a Student Fellowship Grant in Biomedical Ethics from the University of Pittsburgh, the Americorps/VISTA Volunteer of Distinction Award, the East Kentucky Leadership Certificate (awarded by Governor Paul E. Patton), and the Kentucky Public Health Leadership Institute Certificate from the University of Kentucky College of Public Health. In 1995, she received the National Daily Points of Light Award for Community Service from the Points of Light Foundation of Washington, and was named a Daily Point of Light, a national volunteer recognition endorsed by Presidents Clinton and Bush, for her dedication and commitment to health care and service to low-income families.
She and her husband, Gaylan, also opened and maintain a Baby Pantry that provides nearly two hundred and seventy-five low-income families with clothes, diapers, baby food, cribs, and other items for child development, in Hazard, Kentucky, her home.
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