This fall and winter,
four new members of our primary medical care staff
(photo above) have participated in Spanish language immersion training in Antigua, Guatemala in preparation to join Esperanza's clinical team. Most (over 85 percent) of Esperanza's patients are Latino, and the majority speak Spanish as their first, or only, language. Since Esperanza's earliest days, the health center has remained committed to hiring bilingual care providers and to providing Spanish language training to new providers.
Originally from Minnesota,
Jenise Ropp, DNP, CRNP
(photo, far R)
earned her Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree from Bemidji State University, and in 2019 received her Doctorate of Nursing Practice degree from the University of Mary in Bismarck, ND; she is a member of the Sigma Theta Tau international nursing honor society. While pursuing her DNP degree, Jenise was a registered nurse in the medical/surgical, emergency and labor/delivery departments of a critical-access hosptial in rural Minnesota. She was drawn to Esperanza after hearing about the health center's Christ-centered, holistic approach to patient care.
A graduate of Wheaton College,
Sara Buxton, CRNP, MSN
(2nd from R)
earned her Master of Science in Nursing degree at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and is also a member of Sigma Theta Tau.
Prior to purusing her nursing degree, Sara served with P
az y Esperanza, a Christian human rights NGO in Peru. She
completed a
one year nurse practitioner program at Cahaba Medical Care in Birmingham, AL before joining Esperanza.
Both Jenise and Sara began work as family nurse practitioners
at Esperanza earlier this month.
Steven Wood, CRNP, MSN
(2nd from L)
is a graduate of Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Child Development and then his Master of Science in Nursing degree in 2019. Most recently, he completed a family nursing preceptorship with Priority Primary Care in Russellville, KY. Steven will join our staff as a family nurse practitioner in February after completion of his language training.
Sara and her husband,
Jonathan Buxton, RN
(far L)
were married in the summer of 2019; Jonathan will join Esperanza in March as a care team nurse after he completes his language training. He earned both his Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree and Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications from the University of Alabama, and most recently served as an ER nurse at Princeton Medical Center in Birmingham, AL.
Welcome/Bienvenidos to our newest primary medical team members!
