The Power of Perseverance
The Servant Leader
University (FNU), where she completed her DNP (Class 32) in March 2020. “I had been a nurse practitioner for just a couple of years, and I always tried to precept a student or two each year,” said Dr. White. “My first experience with Frontier was with an FNP student (Danielle Ireland, APRN, FNP-C, PMHNP-BC, Class 176). I precepted her for several months and was really impressed. She was a top-notch student. She seemed very prepared to be in the clinical setting. She was so prepared each day and seemed to have a great grasp and background knowledge of acute and chronic conditions that we saw in the clinic.” Curious as to the source of Ireland’s impressive training, Dr. White asked about
Family is dear to Dr. White, who is pictured here with her youngest grandson, Legend.
Aristotle once said, “He who cannot be a good follower cannot be a good leader.” There is no question that Dr. Crystal White, DNP, MSN, FNP-C, is a leader. She guides graduate nursing students as an Assistant Professor of Nursing at Saint Mary-of-theWoods College in rural western Indiana. She cares for patients as a Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) at Horizon Health’s Urgent Care Clinic in Paris, Illinois, a small town with a population of about 8,200. She also organizes and participates in mission trips along with her husband, Rev. Chris White. Leadership is part of Dr. White’s daily routine. Yet she credits being led – by a student no less – to attend Frontier Nursing
“Having Dr. White as a preceptor at the end of my FNP clinical rotation was a blessing. It was during this time that I knew I made the right decision to be a nurse practitioner.” –Danielle Ireland, APRN, FNP-C, PMHNP-BC
Frontier, her program there, and the overall experience as a Frontier student. Even though she wasn’t ready to go back to school at that time, Dr. White always remembered Ireland and her experiences at FNU.
10 Frontier Nursing University • Quarterly Bulletin
“She was just a fantastic student,” Dr. White said. “She ended up graduating and came to work for the same organization where I was working, and she continues to practice with that organization (Horizon Health Care’s Chrisman Clinic in Chrisman, Illinois) to this day. She is a huge asset to the organization and her patients.” “Having Dr. White as a preceptor at the end of my FNP clinical rotation was a blessing,” Ireland said. “It was during this time that I knew I made the right decision to be a nurse practitioner. She showed compassion and competence to her patients. She is a strong advocate for the nurse practitioner profession. I admire Dr. White for her hard work and dedication over the last few years as she has earned her DNP degree and has gone above and beyond to advance her career in the education field and inspire others in so many ways.” While it was Ireland who helped point Dr. White to FNU, it was her worldly experience that drove her to continue her education after 20 years as an RN working in labor and delivery. She received her MSN/FNP and BSN from Indiana Wesleyan University in 2012 and 2009, respectively, nearly a decade before pursuing her DNP at Frontier. “I had taken a mission trip to Ghana in West Africa,” said Dr. White, who became an RN in 1992. “The demand on nurses there is much different than here. They want you to basically function as a provider, even though you’re an RN. In some of those remote areas, they just don’t have access to a physician. That was kind of a catalyst that touched my heart. I didn’t want to go and do that kind of work unprepared in my education – not
