34 D'MENSIONS MAGAZINE D'YOUVILLE UNIVERSITY 35 32 | OHIO STATE ALUMNI MAGAZINE foundation program called “Ryan Time” in which he speaks to individual spinal cord patients and their families by phone or video call every Thursday. “He listens to us,” Jaclyn says. “He knows my family. He actually cares.” During his visit to the UPMC Rehabilitation Institute, Ryan listens as a woman in a wheelchair describes her mental health challenges and then puts him on the spot. “Do you have anxiety and depression?” she asks. “I did deal with depression, to be honest,” Ryan replies. “That was kind of tough for me to overcome. It’s still difficult when you’re dealing with what we’re dealing with.” The late morning sun shines brightly through the hospital windows behind him. “Lean on each other. Build relationships. Gain new experiences. Don’t feel isolated,” he says. “A lot of people with spinal cord injuries lock themselves into a box, almost like a prison. Once you get yourself out, you meet more people, you allow yourself the opportunity to flourish.” • • • Ryan is flat on his back on a mat, breathing heavily after coming down from a trip up the climbing wall. “Whoa. I’m tired, man,” he says. Above him is Crystal Rackowski, 32, paralyzed since December 2020 when she fractured a vertebra after her car slid on black ice and crashed into a tree. Now, her wheelchair sits empty as she uses her arms to hoist herself with a pulley and ropes. Cheers erupt when she reaches the top of the 42-foot wall. “That’s awesome,” Ryan says as he watches. Crystal’s face is aglow after she descends to the floor, where she talks about once being a gymnast and how empowering she found the climbing wall outing. “It’s great to be part of something and not excluded,” Crystal says. Around her conversations crackle among others with spinal cord injuries, their families and caregivers. “I feel like, as a community, we all just got thrown into a bad situation that we never expected,” Ryan Patient Kaytlin Dixon poses with (from right) Ryan and University of Pittsburgh Medical Center workers Grace Kresky and Gizelle Townsend. Ryan regularly visits the center’s Rehabilitation Institute, where he had 130 rehab sessions. McCrory-Churchill worked in some of the profession’s most difficult settings — pediatric oncology and emergency room being the most demanding, mentally and physically. But in those jobs, her appreciation for the important role nurses have in the “heaviest” of settings grew, and she particularly enjoyed her interactions with students and younger nurses who saw her as a mentor. While working at a children’s hospital, she was approached by a faculty member who suggested she look into becoming an adjunct faculty member in pediatric nursing. She clearly remembers her job interview to become a clinical associate professor at D’Youville in 2007, and not because it went particularly well. “I was late for my interview with the then-chair of nursing, because I had a student in the OR, and I wasn’t willing to pull them from their experience so I could go to my interview,” she recalls. “They still hired me, even though I was an hour late. I did call and let her know the reason why, and maybe that helped. But I wasn’t willing to sacrifice their experience for mine.” McCrory-Churchill worked for 15 years as a professor before becoming acting dean in the summer of 2022. This August, D’Youville “dropped the act” and named her dean of the Patricia H. Garman School of Nursing — D’Youville’s 83-year- old program born from a need for wartime nurses during World War II and growing to become arguably the University’s flagship program and a consistent enrollment draw even in lean years. Today the School offers three undergraduate programs (BSN, RN to BSN and accelerated BSN), a nurse practitioner master’s program, two doctorate programs (family focus and mental health) and two post-master’s certificates. All programs feature immersive internships and clinical placements, and graduates leave prepared for careers in several healthcare settings — from primary care to hospitals, community and home health to long-term care. The 2025 class of BSN graduates celebrated their pinning ceremony to mark the end of their journey at D’Youville. Their chances at landing jobs out of college are high, as the U.S. is projecting approximately 193,000 annual job openings for nurses over the next decade due to retirements, workforce exits, and increasing healthcare needs from an aging population. “It’s a very interesting and exciting time to be in healthcare. But it’s also a bit terrifying, because of changes in the industry and in government. You never know what’s coming. So we have to be failure-proof. It’s my job to make sure that we are.” Dr. Shannon McCrory-Churchill
