Waypoint Podcast Episode 8: OKDHS Child Welfare Nursing Program offers expertise and guidance for complex medical conditions
Waypoint PodcastShow Notes
In our eighth episode, we learn about the Child Welfare Nursing program through a conversation with registered nurses and foster and adoptive mothers, Susan Oliver and Shelly Lee. This program supports child welfare workers by giving insight into complex medical conditions throughout the investigatory process to help staff make the best safety decisions possible. Nurses also support both biological and foster families with training and education related to the medical needs of children, increasing family stability and better long-term outcomes for the children involved.
Susan Oliver is a Registered Nurse and mother to eight children. She has worked for OKDHS for the last eleven years, and, since the recording of this podcast, was named the Nursing Programs Administrator. While working for OKDHS, Susan worked on a collaborative project with Johns Hopkins University that integrated trauma-informed practices into outpatient medical clinics. In her spare time, Susan volunteers at Special Care, a child care program that serves children who are medically-fragile or who have disabilities.
Shelly Lee is a Health Care Management Nurse III for Child Welfare Services, and assisted in developing the very program we’re discussing today, which integrated Registered Nurses into Child Welfare. She was the first nurse hired as part of the program. She has been a nurse for 22 years and has six children with her husband of 21 years. Her family began fostering through a kinship placement in 2012, and quickly found that this was their calling.
We hope you’ll continue to join us on this podcast where we’ll explore topics that affect and uplift Oklahomans. Don't forget to like this episode and subscribe, so you'll know when each new episode drops! To learn more about how you can support your community through fostering, visit OKFosters.org.
More from Waypoint Podcast
Welcome back to Waypoint, an Oklahoma Human Services podcast intended to help you chart your course, by informing, educating and enhancing collaboration in service to Oklahomans.
In our tenth episode, we’re talking with Adult and Family Services employees, Cari Crittenden and Amber Margarit, about SNAP Education and Training (SNAP E&T) or “OK SNAP Works,” farmer’s markets programs and SNAP as a whole. These programs are critical pieces of the social safety net and help families lift themselves out of poverty. This discussion will teach us the basics of OK SNAP Works and the SNAP program as a whole, including how to apply for or access services. We’ll also talk about how SNAP customers can get more out of their SNAP dollar through the Double-Up Oklahoma program by using their benefits at participating farmer’s markets, grocers or mobile markets.
In our ninth episode, we’re talking with OKDHS Child Care Director, Brittany Lee to learn about the importance of early childhood education through quality, licensed child care. Through this discussion, we learn how Child Care Services focuses on safety and quality for every child and the critical part child care programs play in the lives of Oklahoma’s children and families. Brittany also discusses some exciting initiatives coming later this year for child care programs across the state!
In our seventh episode, we continue our conversation with Dr. Deborah Shropshire, OKDHS’ Child Welfare Services (CWS) Director, and Patrick Klein, who retired as the OKDHS Adult and Family Services (AFS) Director after 31 years with OKDHS.
In our sixth episode, we are speaking with Dr. Deborah Shropshire, OKDHS’ Child Welfare Services (CWS) Director, and Patrick Klein, who recently retired as the OKDHS Adult and Family Services (AFS) Director after 31 years with OKDHS. Our conversation with Dr. Deb and Patrick will continue with the future release of our seventh Waypoint episode, so stay tuned for even more.