Spotlighting the Career of CDR Adriana Meyer-Alonzo
Biography Contributed by: LT Alyssa Givens
This Nursing Spotlight is brought to you by CAPT Amy Valderrama, CDR Nichole Vetter, LCDR Allison Gallen, and LT Alyssa Givens
In 1996, CDR Adriana Meyer-Alonzo began her nursing career as a Licensed Vocational Nurse (LVN). Continuing her education, she obtained a Bachelor of Science in Nursing in 2002 from the University of New York at Buffalo. Deter-mined to broaden her education, she completed a Masters of Public Health from Madison University in 2006. As she gained more experience in the nursing field, she decided to return to school and in 2011, received a Master of Science in Nursing as a Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) from the University of Cincinnati.
CDR Meyer-Alonzo was called to active duty in 2002 and has led a distin-guished USPHS career over the past 15 years. Her first assignment in the Corps was with ICE Health Service Corps (IHSC) in San Pedro, CA where she worked as a staff nurse. She transferred to the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) in 2005 where she served as a staff nurse. In 2007, she was selected to join the Commis-sioned Officers’ Award (COA) Program at the Division of Commissioned Corps Personnel and Readiness (DCCPR); within 2 years she became the program’s coordinator. While at DCCPR, she published the first USPHS Award Poster, revamped the awards pamphlet, and developed the first comprehensive training manual for members selected to serve on the COA Board. In 2011, CDR Meyer-Alonzo began her current detail with IHSC in Taylor, TX serving as an FNP. Her decision to make this transition was difficult because she loved the work she did in DCCPR; however, she wanted to use her newly acquired skills as an FNP. She is instrumental in providing direct patient care to detainees and is a subject matter expert on tuberculosis, acting as a liaison between the clinic and adminis-trative departments. She enjoys her time as an FNP and emphasizes the im-portance of setting aside time during her patient visits to educate and empower women to make their own health decisions. "I don’t feel like it’s work; I enjoy everything I do for this wonderful population of people."
Multiple deployments have been some of the most rewarding experiences CDR Meyer-Alonzo has had during her USPHS career. Participating on the Service Access Team 2 (SAT-2) awarded her the opportunity to help those devastated by hurricanes in Puerto Rico (PR) and the Virgin Islands.
She uses every experience she has to gain a deeper un-derstanding of those whom she serves. In PR, she learned how strong and determined people could be in the face of the devastation that was felt throughout the island. She provided CPR and was able to resuscitate a man who had gone into cardiac arrest on the roadside just outside of the hospital. Another amazing experience during that deployment was with a woman in the hospi-tal who was very anxious about finding her husband. She was unable to vocalize her concerns to hospital staff and CDR Meyer-Alonzo sat down with her and asked her questions. This enabled the search for her husband to restart and the couple was reunited a week later.
CDR Meyer-Alonzo mentors officers and loves to teach new skills, while also learn-ing something new. "Each position I’ve held has taught me so much. For example, IHSC taught me that new officers don’t know much in the beginning but they can learn by observing and doing. BOP offered a different view and an understanding of the importance of training and security measures to keep people safe. Working for DCCPR gave me an inside look at USPHS and I learned the importance of adminis-trative roles." She reiterates the significance of learning from your experiences but also going one step further to take that knowledge and put it into practice by becom-ing a mentor.
CDR Meyer-Alonzo has gained insight from her unique experiences; continuous learning and growing has been the cornerstone of her successful career. "Know your-self, learn and enjoy every aspect of your assignment. Don’t rush through your ca-reer, there are so many places we can serve and grow. Start your career at the bot-tom and move slowly up; the whole time observing and learning from both leaders and non-leaders."
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