Charlene Flick’s path was clear before she turned 11. “I used to get in trouble in the 6th grade for reading Sue Barton, Student Nurse books,” says the University of Oklahoma Fran and Earl Zeigler College of Nursing ’74 and ‘89 alumna. As a teenager, she volunteered at a Muskogee, Okla., hospital, finally wearing her own candy striper uniform. 

That early commitment launched a rewarding career spanning pediatric nursing, a master’s degree, teaching and decades of leadership in the field of quality improvement. 

Flick found that her clinical experience, combined with knowledge gained in graduate school, empowered her to have an impact at a different level.

“I saw first-hand what major studies have confirmed: frontline nursing and adequate staffing are crucial to patient outcomes. They can significantly impact mortality rates, adverse events and complications.”

While actively working for improved patient care as a passionate supporter of a national movement, Flick never forgot the challenges nursing students face—particularly in reaching the bachelor’s level.

“The American Nurses Association began advocating for all nurses to obtain a Bachelor of Science degree in nursing in 1965,” she explains. “But the latest statistics suggest that only around 72% of nurses have a BSN.” That number falls short of the 80% goal established by the Institute of Medicine (now the National Academy of Medicine) in 2010.

A new, need-based scholarship helps address that gap.

A gift from Charlene and her husband, Dan, to the OU Foundation created the Charlene Flick Nursing Scholarship. The Flicks chose to set up a fund through a combination of planned and direct gifts to begin awarding scholarships immediately.

For Tulsa’s Bernice Hernandez, a recipient in the fund’s inaugural year, the dream of becoming a nurse also started early. “Since I was about 6, I knew I wanted to go into the medical field,” she says. “I would have my parents buy me toy medical tools and act as my patients.” 

She stayed focused on that goal through high school and two years at Tulsa Community College while working full time to save money for nursing school. “I knew that starting nursing school, I would have less time to work to pay for my tuition,” she explains.

However, unexpected hardships forced her to use those savings to support her family. Hernandez found herself in a stressful situation, but generosity from the Flicks gave her breathing room.

Hernandez says the Charlene Flick Nursing Scholarship lightened a financial burden. The support allows her to focus on her studies and clinical work, instead of feeling pressure to earn enough money to pay for tuition. 

Five Flick nursing scholarships of $10,000 were awarded this year, one for each OU College of Nursing learning site across the state in Norman, Lawton, Duncan, Tulsa and Oklahoma City.

The Flicks have also helped focus a future caregiver. After graduation, Hernandez hopes to serve the critically ill as an ICU nurse.

“I want to help care for people, and be kind to them while doing it,”  she says.

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