Printer Friendly2008-2009 Awardees
Georgia P. Ameia Yen-Patton
In fall 2006 Ms. Yen-Patton entered the UMass Lowell Nursing Health Promotion Program. As a Ph.D. candidate in 2009, she completed a pilot study on the development of the Nurse-Caregiver Reciprocity Scale (N-CRS) for long-term care. Preliminary findings were presented in a poster at the Eastern Nursing Research Society Annual Scientific Meetings in March 2009.
In 1988, Ms. Yen-Patton documented and published in the Journal of Cellular Physiology the effects of electromagnetic fields on endothelial cells and angiogenesis, as a Master of Science student in Nursing at UMass Lowell.
Ameia has practiced for 22 years as a gerontological nurse practitioner as a clinician, educator, mentor, lecturer in acute hospital, long-term care, home care and academic settings. In 1999, Ameia developed and chaired the first Interdisciplinary Geriatric Team at Charlton Memorial Hospital of the Southcoast Hospital Group.
In 2006, she produced three DVDs--Positive Interactions, Caring for the Person with AD, Malnutrition and Dehydration in the Elderly-- published by AJN, Gerontological Society of America and Trinity Health Force Learning.
Lauri A. Welch FNP-BC, Ph.D. candidate
Lauri Welch is a family nurse practitioner who received her Bachelor’s degree in nursing from the University of Lowell in 1988 and a Master's degree in Family and Community Health Nursing from the University of Massachusetts Lowell in 1993.
Lauri currently works in a private gastroenterology practice in North Chelmsford, MA. In this capacity Lauri has provided specialty gastroenterology care to adult clients and manages the treatment of patients with chronic hepatitis C, in addition to many other acute and chronic GI problems. Prior to her current position, Lauri practiced in collaboration with several internal medicine physicians in a private group practice in Lowell, MA, for 12 years, providing primary care, and consulted for a large group of internal medicine and specialty care physicians providing management of short-term rehabilitation patients.
Lauri is currently in the dissertation phase of her Ph.D. in Health Promotion at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. Her research interests include nurse practitioner practice, nurse practitioner prescribing, and cost-related medication adherence. Her concern for those who do not have the means to afford their medication and the role medication cost plays in non-adherence stemmed from her experience with patients in primary care. Lauri has combined her concern for patients with financial barriers to medication adherence and desire to further the evidence in support of nurse practitioner practice into her dissertation research titled “Out-of-Pocket Costs and Nurse Practitioner Prescribing: A National Survey.” Through this research Lauri seeks to add to the evidence-based, theory-guided research generated by nurse practitioners to support the of role nurse practitioners as high-level health-care providers.
In addition to Lauri’s professional and academic interests, Lauri has volunteered with the Chelmsford Youth Soccer program for the past 10 years as a coach to young female athletes. She enjoys participating in many activities including running, playing golf and gardening with her husband and two teenage daughters.
Professional Organizations:
American Academy of Nurse Practitioners
Sigma Theta Tau- Eta Omega chapter
Merrimack Valley Nurse Practitioner Group
Massachusetts Coalition of Nurse Practitioners
Research:
2007 (Unpublished) Out-of-Pocket Medication Costs and Nurse Practitioner Prescribing: A Pilot Study
Awards:
Sigma Theta Tau, Eta Omega Chapter -Research Award 2009
University of Massachusetts Lowell Graduate Student Association 2009 Graduate
Research Grant Award
Nurses Educational Funds, Inc., 2009-2010 Lucy C. Perry Fund and Edith M. Pritchard Fund Award