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University of Wyoming

Family Nurse Practitioner Program
Alumni Spotlight
 

 

Meet Laurent Avondstondt, MS '99, FNP...

Howdy! My name is Laurent Avondstondt. I graduated from the UWYO School of Nursing Family Nurse Practitioner program in 1999. It was one of the best decisions and accomplishments of my life. [Read below about his journey into nursing ant his resultant career.]

Laurent with wife Emi, son Keiji, and daughter Amina

    

 

I grew up in Miami, Florida...

. . . with my Mum, sister and brother. Avondstondt comes from my Father who is Belgian (Only the various credit card applications we receive in the mail consistently spell it correctly!) After high school, I got my Bachelor’s in international politics at Florida State University. Directly after graduation I went to university in the People’s Republic of China for two years. Actually, I was living in Beijing at the time of the Tian An Men student demonstrations and left to travel just before the subsequent massacre. From exotic China I moved back to exotic Miami to wait exotic tables for a couple of years. My next step was with the US Peace Corps serving for more than two years in the Republic of Mali (West Africa) as a natural resources volunteer. I had the stereotypical Peace Corps life living in a small village, in a mud hut without electricity or running water. It was there that I realized what I wanted out of life—to help underserved people in health care. This would meet my selfish needs of wanting to learn about the human body in particular and interact with people in general, while fulfilling my drive to help those who are truly in need.

After returning to the United States of America, I did some research and decided to become a Family Nurse Practitioner. Community college in Miami taught me the necessary prerequisite classes, which got me into the Bachelor’s of Nursing program at Johns Hopkins University. The University of Wyoming was kind enough to take me into their program with no nursing experience, a new policy for which I was grateful. Throughout this time I worked full-time sweating in a warehouse in Miami to part-time ‘work’ as an Americorps health volunteer with the underserved of inner-city Baltimore to three-quarter-time on the night shift at Ivinson Memorial Hospital in Laramie, Wyoming. For me, it was always a matter of when I became a nurse practitioner, never if. Even so, I am still amazed that my plans worked out as well/smoothly as they did.

I would not have made it without my wife Emi. She is from a small village in Japan. We met in Miami (she was my waitress!), moved to Baltimore, got married shortly after arriving in Laramie. A couple of my new classmates (Wade and Nikki) were our witnesses. We have a son Keiji (3 ½) and a daughter Amina (1 ½)—They are amazing. We are diligently working on the third and likely last!

After graduating I found a great job here in Toppenish, WA working in the urgent-care department for a migrant health clinic. The Yakima Valley Farm Workers Clinic is a well-run, private, non-profit health care corporation. In addition to a lot of great experience I also got to learn Spanish—Only five percent of my patients speak English. We are currently in the process of another transition. I am transferring to a new clinic my company just opened for the urban underserved in Portland, OR. This will allow me to focus professionally on primary care, which is my true work love. Emi can interact with many more Japanese people and our children will be able to attend the dual language (English/Japanese) public schools. Our longer-term plans include living in Japan for a few years and living and working in lesser-developed countries around the world.

I have been very fortunate. I get to live my dream every day: beautiful, healthy family; great work with daily learning and challenges both professionally and culturally; helping families who really need me; plenty of diversity and change; and a safe home in a beautiful country. I owe no small part of my current happiness to the University of Wyoming School of Nursing, its instructors and the community of Laramie. Thank you sincerely.

last reviewed 2/12/2007