Madison Lord '21 was a member of the alpine skiing team at Middlebury College, graduating with a degree in neuroscience and global health. She has since earned her master's in nursing from Columbia University and is currently a Licensed Nurse Practitioner for Westside Family Health Center, alongside being a Doctor of Nurse Practitioner (DNP) Candidate at Columbia with a focus on family health.

What have been the most rewarding parts of working in the medical field? What have been the challenging pieces?

Both the most rewarding and challenging part of working in healthcare is the feeling of making a difference in someone's life. Being there for my patients, oftentimes at some of the most vulnerable periods in their lives, is an incredible honor. It is extremely rewarding to see positive outcomes from interventions my patients and I implement together. On the flip side of that, it can be extremely challenging to feel that my role in an individual's care has been ineffective or that I cannot make a difference in the face of healthcare inequities produced by systems of oppression in the United States.

You mentioned your amazing clinical intensive trip to Ghana. What pushed you to go, and why was the opportunity a mix of excitement and nervousness? What was the main thing that you took away from this experience?

Toward the end of my nursing program, students complete an intensive six-week clinical rotation. While many of my colleagues chose to stay in New York City and gain experience at world-renowned hospitals, I chose to go to a hospital most people have never heard of ­— St. Anthony's Hospital, located in the small town of Dzodze, Ghana. While I'm aware of the optics of yet another young and privileged white woman on a journey to aid an underserved community (cue the white savior narrative), I saw this opportunity as a once-in-a-lifetime chance to immerse myself in a different culture and learn from nurses that have much wider scopes of practice than their counterparts in the United States. Coming from a privileged background and being passionate about caring for underserved communities creates a dissonance that I constantly grapple with as I strive to advocate for my patients. My biggest takeaway from this experience is the power of nurses on a global scale and what the profession can do to address health equity across national borders and cultures.

Working in medicine can often be a stressful experience. How have you learned to balance your work and personal life? Are there some things you took from your time as a student-athlete at Middlebury to help find the right mix?

Balancing work and personal life is something I'm still learning to do. It's challenging because so much of what I do in my career as a nurse practitioner is very personal and emotionally charged. I can go from counseling a patient who has six months left to live, to conducting a well-visit on someone who is only six months old! Looking back at my time at Midd, an important lesson I learned is to listen to what my body is telling me and accept that it's okay to struggle and slow down.

One goal you bring up is opening a clinic that emphasizes holistic care and health equity. What does that look like to you? Do you have any other milestones you hope to reach in your career as a family nurse practitioner?

My dream is to open my own clinic that serves a diverse patient population, strives to provide health care of the highest standards, and turns no one away at our doors regardless of their insurance status, citizenship status, or ability to pay. This career goal of mine is a small part of the bigger picture – healthcare is a human right. I hope to create a place that affirms this in as many ways as possible through accessibility and inclusivity. I also hope to grow into leadership roles and advocate for health equity through grassroots community efforts and changes at the policy level. Advanced practice nurses are uniquely positioned to address health inequities, and I believe in the ability of nursing to effect change not only in our patients' lives but those across the nation and the world.

What is one piece of advice that you would give to current Middlebury student-athletes?

My knee-jerk advice is to take it all in and enjoy your time at Midd because it goes by fast! However, having been a fellow sufferer of the existential crisis that can ensue when someone tells you how much time flies, I will refrain and say to do things that take you out of your comfort zone, create your own career path and don't fear waking up in the morning with no plans for the day – those days are sometimes the best!

What is your Midd Moment?

I was just talking about this with my teammate from when I was on the ski team (hey J) and we both feel like the stuff we miss the most from Midd are all the seemingly small, absentminded in-between moments that you don't realize as, "The Good Stuff," until later on – van rides to practice, hanging out in cabin, walking (or running) to class, cooking midweek meals with friends and yapping on the Versailles porch to name a few of my own!

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