Dr. Francisca Njoku, DNP, FNP-BC
Owner & Founder
Heart Alive Training Inc.
Bronx, NY
An International Nurse
Francisca had traveled from Africa to Belize to the United States in pursuit of her nursing career. “It wasn’t an easy thing but I’m tenacious. I always achieve what I set out to do. So, I came here, knowing what I wanted. I was able to get a job immediately. I had all the certifications and got my master’s degree and then my doctorate.” Her versatile education and clinical experience have earned her the term “international nurse” among her peers.
Francisca grew up knowing how important access to good healthcare can be. Francisca has worked for the last 31 years as a nurse, providing care to clients just like her siblings.
As a nurse, Francisca experienced firsthand how important CPR and other certification instruction can be in saving lives, but she’s also seen how inaccessible and impersonal the training often is. In 2020, working as a nurse in New York and wondering if she was going to survive the worst days of the pandemic, she started Heart Alive Training to train and re-certify nurses, doctors, and auxiliary healthcare workers in Basic Life Support (BLS), Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS), and Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS). Classes are done in a comfortable and non-threatening learning environment. “I wanted to develop my business and that’s where the SBDC and Ascendus helped me with technical assistance, and I was able to secure an SBA $5,000 loan.” Through the loan, she was able to pay the salary of her single employee and keep the doors of her business open.
What Comes Next
Francisca was on the front lines as a nurse during the pandemic. She says she had never worked with such an infectious disease as COVID-19. “I’ve worked fighting HIV, Ebola, but with COVID, I would go to work saying maybe this is the day I was going to get this disease. Sometimes I didn’t sleep. I had a loss of appetite, but I still had to go to work and help people fight it.” Francisca plans to retire as a nurse next year and run her business full-time.
Francisca also mentors other nurses, including nurses in Nigeria. She is an active member of the Nigerian Nurses Association and the Orlu Cultural Federation (OCUFE). The association conducts yearly medical missions in Nigeria, helping the underprivileged and those who cannot afford medical care. She is also in the process of launching Francisca Njoku’s Foundation to support widows, provide scholarships, and feed those in need.
About Dr. Francisca Njoku, DNP, FNP-BC
Dr. Francisca Njoku is a diligent nurse, an entrepreneur, and a community health advocate. She
obtained her basic Nursing/Midwifery education at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital in Nigeria, where she served in several nursing positions before moving to Belize, Central America. While living in Belize, Dr. Njoku did not relent in pursuing her nursing education and obtained a Bachelor of Nursing (BSN) at the University of Belize. Shortly after migrating to the United States of America, Dr. Njoku obtained her master’s in nursing degree from the City University of New York with a specialty as a Family Nurse Practitioner. She became board certified within a few months of her graduation. She has a doctoral degree from Walden University.
Dr. Njoku’s nursing excellence has earned her several positions and awards. She received the best nurse of the Year award in 2008, the New York Nurse of the Year award in 2016, and an amazing employee of the Year in 2019 in her organization. She is currently working at North Central Bronx Hospital and Mount Vernon Neighborhood Health Center as a Family Nurse Practitioner. Dr. Njoku is an adjunct Professor at the Montefiore School of Nursing. She is a member of the Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society, New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA), and National Association of Nigerian Nurse Practitioners USA (NANNPU) Nigerian Nurses Association of USA (NNAUSA), and American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP).
Please leave a comment, follow us on social media
Inspiring and a lesson for the younger generation to follow through with their dreams in life no matter how difficult it may seem.