Posted: Tuesday, February 23, 2016
Laura Aussant of The Providence Center is one of the many Care New England nurses who is going above and beyond their job descriptions to find innovative ways of providing care. Recently, she spearheaded a weekly support group called “Baby on Board” to provide women who are pregnant or have recently given birth with education, support and resources to help ensure a healthy pregnancy and postpartum period.
Aussant entered the nursing field just three years ago and hit the ground running. She graduated with a nursing degree from Community College of Rhode Island, and enjoyed the program’s rigorous nature. “In your second week of school, you start with clinical training, and I loved the hands-on aspect,” said Aussant.
She wasn’t always so interested in the behavioral health aspect of care. “In the CCRI program, we performed every rotation you can think of. At first, I didn’t want anything to do with psych. I tried as hard as I could to avoid it!” The semester she enjoyed the most was the maternity program, which she performed at Kent Hospital.
Like many nurses, she started her career in a nursing home and came to find geriatric psychology work genuinely fulfilling. This newfound passion led her a role at the Dual Diagnosis Unit at Roger Williams Hospital doing inpatient psych work. She liked the position, but wanted something more family-oriented.
Aussant started at TPC last June in the Community Support Program, and soon after took a float nurse position under Sharon Morello, TPC’s Director of Medical Staff Services. She found that it was exactly what she was looking for. “Not being restricted to a caseload really allows you to focus in on the nursing aspect and helping people. It’s truly fun for me,” she said.
In addition to all her day-to-day duties work, Aussant serves as a TPC nursing representative on the Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS) task force, a subcommittee of the Rhode Island State Opioid Prevention and Intervention task force that seeks to improve the clinical care of babies with NAS and enhance the support provided to their families.
A few months ago, Aussant began to notice an influx of pregnant women to TPC programs. “Dr. Ann Potter, a TPC psychiatrist, makes a point to see these women on a monthly basis, and she had asked the nurses to be aware of their progress,” she said.
Aussant decided to take it a step further. “I thought: ‘what if we started a group for pregnant women?’ There’s not much else like that at The Providence Center for that niche, and we could provide some really valuable info and support.”