o F cus on Die v rsity, Equity, and Inclusion
Dr. Rachel Sherman Takes to the Street to Heal Her Community shift, she would organize and attend daily social justice protests. The protests began in June 2020 in response to an incident in a local restaurant. The restaurant owner refused service to a Black customer wearing an “I Can’t Breathe” t-shirt. In addition to a boycott of the restaurant, daily protests were held, with Sherman serving as a leader and organizer. She used social media to inform the community about the demonstrations and their importance in bringing about change.
A portion of the Frontier Nursing University mission statement includes the phrase “to prepare competent, entrepreneurial, ethical, and compassionate leaders in primary care to serve all individuals.” While that refers to a typical healthcare setting and caring for one’s patients, it also conveys a different, even deeper message -- a message about being an ethical and compassionate leader in one’s community and ensuring equitable care for all people. That’s a daunting task that no one can do alone, but it takes a leader to inspire and organize the goodwill and intent of others who share the same idea of “serving all individuals.” So it was, in the tumultuous spring and summer of 2020, that Dr. Rachel Sherman, DNP, APRN, FNP-BC, Class 36, came to help heal a community by serving on the front lines of both the predominant battles facing the country. She worked 10- to 12-hour shifts at Prince George’s Hospital in Prince George’s County, Maryland, the hospital with the highest number of COVID-positive patients in the state. After long days where she might lose half a dozen COVID-19 patients in a single 4 Frontier Nursing University • Quarterly Bulletin
“Initially, the goal was to be out there every day,” Sherman said. “We set a time to protest daily from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. I had a co-organizer, and then we formed a coalition with other groups in the area. For the first week, we were out there every day.”
As if the long work shifts and protests weren’t enough, Sherman also has two children who were homeschooling during the pandemic and was a student herself, working toward her DNP at Frontier. Organizing and prioritizing each of those significant parts of her life was seemingly impossible.
“I remember thinking, ‘How in the world am I going to implement my DNP project and do daily protests?’” -- Dr. Rachel Sherman
“I remember thinking, ‘How in the world am I going to implement my DNP project and do daily protests?’” she said. “We had an organizers’ meeting and came up with a schedule. I had Tuesdays and Saturdays and, because the days were longer and hotter, we changed the hours from 3 to 9 to 5 to 9 so we weren’t there in the dead of the heat. If it weren’t for my co-organizers, it really would have been a struggle. So we had this schedule, and then we had weekend events to blast the daily boycott. If it wasn’t for both my team on my project side and my team on the protest side, there’s no way I would have been able to keep that up.” While the daily protests ended after about five months, the work continues and includes what Sherman describes as occasional “pop-up protests.” “The protest is still ongoing,” Sherman said. “While we are not outside of the restaurant daily, we are using our social media platform to continue our demonstration.”
