Congratulations! SDSU West River nursing grad named Nurse of the Year | Indian Country Today | Living

Amber Janis, a 2000 graduate of the West River Nursing program at South Dakota State University, has been named Nurse of the Year by the Dine (Navajo) Nursing Leadership Council.

Janis is a psychiatric nurse practitioner at the Indian Health Service outpatient mental health clinic at Fort Defiance (Arizona) Indian Hospital. She began her work in the Behavioral Health Department more than three years ago as a staff nurse in the adolescent care unit.

While working full-time, she obtained her psychiatric nurse practitioner degree through SDSU in 2007 in collaboration with the University of Nebraska Medical Center and became one of the prescribing clinicians in the outpatient division.

At Fort Defiance, Janis provides nursing assessments and psychiatric evaluations to inpatients and outpatients. She also travels with the home-based care program.

During 2009, Janis had a growing commitment to the Domestic Violence Initiative at Fort Defiance Indian Hospital. She now co-facilitates the weekly domestic violence women’s support group during her lunch hour and travels to a satellite clinic in a significantly underserved community to co-facilitate a weekly support group for those women.

Most of the Fort Defiance outpatients with domestic violence issues are now referred to Janis. Additionally, she participated in all aspects – from planning to running last-minute errands – of the Domestic Violence Conference in Window Rock, Ariz., in October 2009.

In her nomination letter, Dr. Susan Ehrlich, acting chief of psychiatry at Fort Defiance, wrote that Janis’ “direct patient care is steadily improving the health status of the Navajo community in our service unit. The domestic violence work touches each individual as well as all the children and loved ones in the home.

“Through her ability to combine nursing care, psychiatric treatment and support for social change, she is a part of improving the quality of overall health care delivery. She provides an example of all that nursing can be and is a fully respected, appreciated member of our department, both outpatient and inpatient.”

Janis is an enrolled member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe and was raised in Pine Ridge and Spearfish. She is the daughter of Norma Janis-Grignon and Dr. Charles Grignon.

Janis was honored earlier this year at the seventh annual Dine Nursing Leadership Council Awards luncheon in Gallup, N.M., at the Sacred Heart Retreat Center.