Our Hearts Your Hands Inc.
Our Hearts Your Hands Inc.
About Our Organization
About Our Organization
Based in Carmel, Indiana, Our Hearts Your Hands Inc. is a nonprofit charitable organization established to provide financial and material support that have not been previously available to nurses anesthetists worldwide. Our board members have been active in strengthening nurse anesthetists on a global level for more than 30 years.
Board of Directors
Board of Directors
Jackie Rowles, DNP, MA, MBA, CRNA, ANP-BC, NSPM-C, FAANA, FAAN, President
Jackie Rowles, DNP, MBA, MA, CRNA, ANP-BC, NSPM-C, FNAP, FAANA, FAAN, is the founder and president of Our Hearts Your Hands Inc. She has been active on the international level since 2010. She is currently serving as the elected Vice-Chair of the Content Committee for the United Nations Global Surgery Learning Hub.
Education
Education
Bachelor's Degree in Nursing From Ball State University
- Master's Degree in Business Administration From the University of Memphis
- Certificate in Nurse Anesthesia From the Truman Medical Center School of Nurse Anesthesia
- Masters of Arts in Biology From the University of Missouri at Kansas City
- Post-Masters Certificate as an Adult Nurse Practitioner From Ball State University
- Doctor of Nursing Practice Degree From Barry University
Professional Experience (Most Recent Positions)
Professional Experience (Most Recent Positions)
- Associate Professor of Professional Practice and Director of the Texas Christian University Advanced Pain Management Fellowship.
- President, Meridian Adult Health, Inc., an anesthesia educational and consulting company.
- Former Founding Director, Doctor of Nursing Practice Nurse Anesthesia Program, Marian University, Indianapolis, IN; Associate Professor in the Leighton School of Nursing; Clinical Instructor for the College of Osteopathic Medicine, Educational Consultant Marian University (2013-2019)
National and International Recognitions
National and International Recognitions
Dr. Rowles is instrumental in the development of specialty pain education and certification or nurse anesthetists including the first CRNA interventional pain management cadaver course, AANA advanced pain management seminars, and a university-based post master’s certificate in Advanced Pain Management that, in 2014, became the first fellowship program for nurse anesthetists.
In addition, she served as an item writer for the National Board of Certification and Recertification for Nurse Anesthetist’s Non-Surgical Pain Management certification examination.
The highlight of her international career was nomination by the International Council of Nurses with subsequent selection by the United Nations to serve on the content committee for their global surgery elearning hub - development of free online education for all members of
the surgery team. A highlight of her national career was serving on the 2013-2014 National Institute of Health/Health and Human Services Interagency National Pain Strategy team’s Care and Prevention workgroup.
Dr. Rowles is a sought-after speaker for local, state, national, and international continuing education meetings. Other recognitions include:
- Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA)
- Board Certified Adult Nurse Practitioner `
- Leader and Expert in Pain Management
- Board Certified in Non-Surgical Pain Management (NSPM-C)
- Fellow in the National Academies of Practice, Nursing Division (FNAP)
- Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing (FAAN)
Leadership and Service
Leadership and Service
Currently serving in her fifth term as the president of the International Federation of Nurse Anesthetists, Dr. Rowles is an accreditation visitor for the IFNA accreditation program Anesthesia Program Approval Process (APAP).
She has served IFNA as the United States National Country Representative to IFNA since 2010, was an elected member of the IFNA Executive Committee 2010-2012, the first vice president in 2012-2014, and president since 2014.
Dr. Rowles was named to the 2023 United Nations Global Surgery Learning Hub Project, as a member of the content committee. This committee is responsible for developing criteria for inclusion of online educational content for surgeons, anesthesia providers and peri-operative nursing/providers. She is also a member of the World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists Global Anesthesia Manpower Survey team. This team has been researching anesthesia manpower for the last few years, is presenting findings at the 2023 International Anesthesia Reseacch Society meeting, and working on a publication to share this important information.
Moreover, Dr. Rowles is a former president of the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists (AANA), the Indiana Association of Nurse Anesthetists, and served on the American Academy of Pain Management’s Board of Directors for eight years with four years as Treasurer.
She is a member Sigma Theta Tau (International Nursing Honor Society). Dr. Rowles is a member of the World Health Organization’s Global Initiative for Essential and Emergency Surgical Care, and recently served on the Board of Directors of the G4 Alliance (a global organization for increasing access to Surgical, Obstetrics, Trauma, and Anesthesia Care). She is a member of the AANA Non-Surgical Pain Management Committee and a member of the Ball State University College of Health Advisory Board (Muncie, Indiana).
Dr. Rowles is a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing, the American Association of Nurse Anesthesiology, and was a Diplomate in the American Academy of Pain Management (AAPM), serving as a board member and officer of the AAPM for eight years. She was awarded the AANA Alice Magaw Clinical Practitioner of the year award in 2005 and the Agatha Hodgins Award for Outstanding Accomplishment in 2012. She was honored to receive the International Federation of Nurse Anesthetist's Hermi Lohnert Award in 2018 and the 2022 AANA Foundation's Philanthropist of the Year Award. She also volunteers as a nurse practitioner in the acute care clinic at Trinity Free Clinic in Carmel, Indiana.
Sandra Ouellette, Vice-President
Sandra Ouellette, Vice-President
Sandra Maree Ouellette, CRNA (ret), MEd, FAAN
Past President AANA
Past President International Federation of Nurse Anesthetists;
President R and S Ouellette Inc
183 Heatherton Way
Winston Salem, NC 27104
Sandra Ouellette is a graduate of Watts Hospital School of Nursing, Durham, North Carolina. The following year she entered the North Carolina Baptist Hospital School of Anesthesia for Nurses, Winston-Salem, North Carolina. She obtained a BS Degree in Biology from Guilford College, Greensboro, North Carolina and completed her Masters in Education at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro in May 1986. She served as Program Director of the Nurse Anesthesia Program at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center/University of North Carolina Greensboro from 1982-2005.
She served on numerous nurse anesthesia committees at both the local and state level and is a past president of the North Carolina Association of Nurse Anesthetists. National (AANA) professional responsibilities have included the following: Item Review Committee, Council on Certification; On-Site Visitor for Programs of Anesthesia, Council on Accreditation; and educational representative, Council on Recertification. She served on the ASA/AANA Liaison Committee and the Nominating Committee of the AANA. She served as Regional Director, Vice President, and President-Elect of the AANA and was President of the AANA from 1988-1989. She was Chairman of the National Commission on Nurse Anesthesia Education in 1990 and Co-Chaired the AANA DNP Task Force. More recently (2014-2015) she served on the AANA CPC Task Force representing CE sponsors on this task force. She also represented AANA as an affiliate member to ANA’s Congress on Nursing Practice and Economics. She was appointed to the ICN Expert Panel on Nursing Leadership in 2006 and was nominated by ANA.
Ms. Ouellette has been active in the International Federation of Nurse Anesthetists. She chaired the Education and Practice Committee from 1989-2004 and formulated educational and practice standards which were adopted by the group in the 1990’s. She drafted the ethical standards which are now adopted and spoke at all ten international meetings: Switzerland 1985; Amsterdam 1988; Norway 1991; France 1994; Austria, 1996; Chicago, 2000; Finland, 2002; Switzerland 2006, The Netherlands 2010 and Slovenia 2012. She is served as the Chairperson of the Practice Committee, International Federation of Nurse Anesthetists (2010-2014). She served three, two year terms as IFNA President (2004-2010).
Ms. Ouellette has lectured extensively at both the national and international level. She has presented at 846 meetings in 40 states since 1972. Additional international presentations have been given in Canada, Germany, Korea, British West Indies. She has 91 publications to her credit including 12 chapters and 1 book. She received the Achievement Award from the North Carolina Association of Nurse Anesthetists in 1994. She was selected as a Great 100 RN in North Carolina in 1993. In 1995 she became a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing. In 1996 she received the Dannemiller Award for Excellence in Anesthesiology. She received the AANA Program Director of the Year Award in 1997 and the AANA 24th Agatha Hodgins Award for Outstanding Accomplishment in 1998.She received the Hermi Lohnert award from IFNA in June 2010 for outstanding contributions to the international nurse anesthesia community and in 2012 she received the AANA Helen Lamb Award for outstanding contributions in nurse anesthesia education.
At the present time, Ms.Ouellette is President of R and S Ouellette Inc, a consulting company specializing in continuing education, organizational leadership, and legal consultation in nurse anesthesia affairs. She is a Visiting Assistant Professor in the School of Nursing at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She continues to teach at nurse anesthesia programs at : Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center. Major responsibilities include didactic instruction in physiology, pharmacology, and anesthesia-related topics at these graduate anesthesia programs. She has served as course director for CRNA Review and Update, a reinstatement course for nurse anesthetists. This course has been offered from 2007 to 2016 and was the only approved course for reinstatement is the country. Ms. Ouellette is a frequent guest on the Podcast Series "Beyond the Mask" and is an expert in the history of nurse anesthesia.
Betty Horton, PhD, CRNA, FAAN Secretary
Betty Horton, PhD, CRNA, FAAN Secretary
Betty Horton, PhD, CRNA, FAAN was presented the International Federation of Nurse Anesthetists’ Hemi Lohnert Award in 2016 for a lifetime of service in nurse anesthesia during the World Congress for Nurse Anesthetists in Scotland. Her past awards include: fellowship in the American Academy of Nursing; and 2 awards from the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists – the Agatha Hodgins Awards for outstanding accomplishment; and the Helen Lamb Outstanding Educator Award.
As former chair of the IFNA Education Committee, she led the design and implementation of the process to approve anesthesia education programs worldwide based on international standards, which have been endorsed by IFNA country members and the International Council of Nurses. She then served as the first manager for IFNA’s Anesthesia Approval Process during its implementation phase.
Dr. Horton has been involved in international research activities including the receipt of a research award from the Transcultural Nursing Society to study the culture of nurse anesthesia. She also was co-investigator for a grant awarded by the United States Department of Education’s Funds to Improve Postsecondary Education to study educational requirements and mobility between North American Countries. For two decades, the results of her research and topics related to international education and accreditation have been topics of speeches presented at meetings in addition to being recorded in various publications.
Memberships held by Dr. Horton include Sigma Theta Tau’s International Society of Nursing and the Transcultural Nursing Society. She also served as a member of the International Task Force for the Council on Accreditation of Nurse Anesthesia Educational Programs for several years.
Kay K. Sanders, DNP, CRNA
Kay K. Sanders, DNP, CRNA
Founding Director, Texas Christian University, School of Nurse Anesthesia and Professor of Professional Practice
Dr. Sanders graduated Magna Cum Laude from Texas Woman’s University in 1980 with a B.S. in Nursing. She received her Master of Health Science degree and became a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist in 1984. She earned the Doctor of Nursing Practice degree from TCU May 2009. Prior to nursing she was a teacher in public and private schools. Her anesthesia experience was primarily in small hospital settings although she has also worked in major metropolitan medical centers.
While recently retired, Dr. Sanders was the founding Director for the TCU School of Nurse Anesthesia, serving for over 16 years. She served as the Director for 14 years at another institution where she started a distance education program utilizing video teleconferencing, a human patient simulator lab, and brought on board more than 60 clinical sites for nurse anesthesia students. She received the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists’ (AANA) Program Director of the Year Award in 2008. Dr. Sanders is currently serving as a consultant for the Council on Accreditation of Nurse Anesthesia Educational Programs (COA).
She has served her professional in many roles including: President, Texas Association of Nurse Anesthetists (TANA); member of the AANA Education and Finance committees and Chair of the AANA Nominating committee; a member of the Texas Nurses Association Advanced Practice Task Force. She was elected as a Director to the Council on Accreditation of Nurse Anesthesia Educational Programs (COA) in 2010 and served for two years as the COA Chair, two years as Vice-Chair and one year as Secretary-Treasurer.
Education
B.A. (Tulane Univ), 1965; B.S. (Texas Woman's Univ), 1980; M.H.S. (Texas Wesleyan Univ), 1983; Certificate in Nurse Anesthesia (Texas Wesleyan Univ) 1984; DNP (Texas Christian Univ), 2009.
Susan Caulk, CRNA (ret) Director
Susan Caulk, CRNA (ret) Director
Susan Caulk joined the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists (AANA) in 1977 as its first director of Continuing Education with responsibility for development, implementation and management of the AANA continuing education program and formation of the Council on Recertification of Nurse Anesthetists. She developed the recertification process which she implemented and managed until her retirement. Caulk also served as Director of Certification. A recognized expert resource in the field of continuing education and credentialing, she successfully transitioned the paper and pencil National Certification Examination to computerized testing, a first within the nursing specialty profession. In addition, she served in various capacities with other credentialing agencies, including the Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools, National Commission for Certifying Agencies and the American Board of Nursing Specialties.
Susan Caulk was the recipient of the 2006 Agatha Hodgins Award, the highest honor given by the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists. Hodgins founded the AANA in 1931 and the award was established to recognize certified registered nurse anesthetists who had furthered the art and science of nurse anesthesia.
Throughout her career, Susan worked to defend and uphold the continuing education, credentialing and recertification standards of the AANA and Councils on Certification and Recertification of Nurse Anesthetists. She also advised member countries of the International Federation of Nurse Anesthetists on issues concerning the implementation of continuing education and credentialing programs. She has co-authored papers and articles on continuing education and credentialing.
She received both her master’s degree in nursing education and a bachelor’s degree in English and education from the University of Detroit. In addition, she earned her nursing diploma from the Henry Ford Hospital School of Nursing in Detroit, Michigan and a nurse anesthesia certificate from Wayne State University’s Program for Nurse Anesthetists in Detroit. She was an instructor in the College of Pharmacy and Allied Health Professions of the Department of Anesthesia at Wayne State University-Detroit General Hospital, Detroit, Michigan.
Janet Dewan, PhD, MS, CRNA, Director
Janet Dewan, PhD, MS, CRNA, Director
Dr. Dewan is an Associate Clinical Professor and the Associate Program Director at Northeastern University's Bouve College of Health Nurse Anesthesia Program. She has extensive experience working with nurse anesthetists and educational programs in Africa. She has served as a consultant for African programs work to gain approval as part of the International Federation of Nurse Anesthetists's Anesthesia Program Approval Process.
Education and Training:
PhD Northeastern University
CRNA New England Medical Center School of Nurse Anesthesia
MSN Pace University Leinhard School of Nursing
AB Douglas College, Rutgers University
Global Health Activities include:
Consultant, International Federation of Nurse Anesthetists Accreditation report and on-site visit. Phebe School of Nurse Anesthesia , Bong County Liberia
Health Volunteers Overseas (HVO) Anesthesia Programs Steering Committee
Consortium for Universities for Global Health (GUGH)
Scientific Program Advisory Committee (SPAC)
Seed Global Health Partnerships, Consultant, Nurse Anesthesia Program, Bong County, Liberia
Health Volunteers Overseas (HVO) Anesthesia Programs Steering Committee
Medical Board International Organization For Women and Development (IOWD)
Teaching and Clinical volunteerism in Rwanda and Niger.
Areas of Expertise:
Nurse Anesthesia, International Health Law
Honors & Awards
2023 Massachusetts American Nurses Association Living Legend Award
Global Humanitarian Hero Citation Lifebox Corp/WHO Leadership International, August 19, 2015
American Association of Nurse Anesthetists Didactic Instructor of the Year, 2007
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