ON THE BLUFF DREAM TEAMS
The Perfect Fit THE BALA TWELVE shoe comes in several colors. One is sleek and blue with silver accents and a teal stripe across the side, another one is magenta with yellow laces and a gold stripe. They look like the kind of trendy, colorful shoe you might see an athlete wearing for a race or a basketball game. But these shoes were not intended for sports. They were designed for a specific line of work, a job that often requires an individual to tackle twelve-hour shifts (thus the “12” in BALA Twelve), lift heavy things, clean up spills, and move swiftly from place to place. These shoes, with their waterproof exterior and high-traction soles, were made intentionally for the lifestyle and demands of a nurse. This past fall semester, a team of University of Portland innovation students partnered with Portland-based BALA footwear company to offer new ideas on ways that its shoes might also support nursing students—the nurses of the future. Innovation students paired with an innovative shoe company? It was a perfect fit. The student innovation team—seniors Raphaelle LeBlanc and Elizabeth Diaz-Gunning and junior Julia Hanly— worked closely with BALA and with UP’s nursing community throughout the semester, holding research sessions and workshops in an effort to better understand nursing students’ needs. On December 8, the student team presented their final project to their classmates, professor and director of the innovation minor Salvador Orara, two BALA employees, and other UP community members. They proposed a series of ideas that they felt BALA might want to explore, such as new scrubs or an app where nurses have space to check in and write about their mood during their
BOB KERNS
UP’s Innovation Minor, the School of Nursing, and BALA footwear partner up
Innovation team (left to right), Elizabeth Diaz-Gunning, Julia Hanly, and Raphaelle LeBlanc
shifts. But, ultimately, the student team learned that nurses don’t need an abundance of shoes and scrubs on the market. As nursing major Julia Hanly put it during the presentation: “We don’t want more, we want better.” The COVID-19 pandemic has opened a window through which the world can see what nurses endure. Reports of stress and burnout remain high, and these fears and doubts extend to UP’s nursing students and nursing faculty—two groups that play a large role in the formation of the nursing community of the future. The student innovation team’s hope is that BALA will expand the ways it serves those who provide one of the most necessary services around. And for the students starting nursing school, or finishing it, the hope is that there will soon be a workplace for them that is
neither daunting nor dwindling, but one that is exciting and welcoming, and one that promises nurses who spend 12-hour shifts helping their patients will be helped too, from the feet on up. MURPHY BRADSHAW was Portland magazine’s fall editorial intern.
WINTER 2022
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