Meriah Ward, DNP, FNP-BC, PMHNP-BC shares her lived experience as an autistic nurse practitioner

“Growing up, I felt very out of place,” Ward explained to host Sophia Thomas, DNP, APRN, FNP-BC, PPCNP-BC, FAANP, FNAP, FAAN, on the latest episode of NP Pulse: The Voice of the Nurse Practitioner^® entitled “Neurodivergence: An Autistic NP’s Lived Experience.” Ward recalls they would “often get in trouble for speaking during class,” and “got into conflict with other students because there was a big social gap — and we know that’s a huge component, as one of the diagnostic criteria for autism. When I struggled with those social connections, I would get very frustrated, and I would find myself arguing with other students...and I would get put in in-school suspension (ISS).” In ISS, Ward was able to “finish all my work within the first day of my suspension, and then I would spend the rest of the time just reading books, and it was the best time that I ever had in school.”

“I only got diagnosed because I had gotten pregnant with my daughter, and I just didn’t feel connected to my body, to her, and I was really worried something was wrong with me,” they tell Thomas. “I had her, and then spent a year trying to find a good fit to get diagnosed.” Ward connected with a psychologist (“she was wonderful”) and went through the assessment process, which Ward recalls “was about two whole days’ worth of diagnostic procedures.” At first, Ward suspected they might have PTSD or autism, and then learned that they in fact had both. Later, Ward was able to combine this new knowledge with their training as an NP, and created a presentation entitled “Neurodivergence in Clinical Practice: Perspectives from an Autistic NP,” which they recently gave to other NPs at the 2024 AANP National Conference.

Read more at:

An Autistic Nurse Practitioner Speaks on Neurodivergence

Cheers!

Donna

Jessica Eastes, cardiac nurse, with "half a heart" undergoes risky transplant

 

Jessica Eastes at Texas Children's Hospital

People Magazine reported this story by Wendy Grossman Kantor, on March 12, 2025. 

"Born blue due to lack of oxygen — "I looked like a Smurf," she tells PEOPLE — she was diagnosed with a congenital heart defect when she was a few days old. By the time she was 7, she'd had eight open-heart surgeries."

"Eastes was shocked to learn in fall 2021 from her doctors at the University of Kansas Medical Center that she was experiencing heart failure and would likely need a heart transplant. The medication she was taking had helped for years, but she was having more issues requiring multiple hospital stays."

"It was scary,” she says. “Being a nurse is a great thing, because you kind of understand what they're saying to you. So they can talk to you like normal medical jargon. But it's also a curse because you know what to expect.”

"Her cardiologist referred her to Texas Children’s Adult Congenital Heart Program, part of the Texas Children’s Heart Center in Houston. Her first appointment was in May 2022."

"Jessica had a “complicated cardiac lesion,” says  Dr. Edward Hickey, surgical director of the program."

“She essentially has half a heart,” Hickey explains.

 “These are some of the most extreme transplants in terms of risk and complexity. In all the databases and registries, this category of transplants are particularly challenging and risky, which means that historically people have shied away from them.”

Read more at: 

Cardiac Nurse, 43, Gets Her Own Heart Transplant (Exclusive)

Cheers!

Donna