Intely@Sea is a five-day cruise out of Miami, Florida to the Bahamas, taking place May 9 – 13, 2022 in honor of Nursing Professionals Week! We are so excited to be a part of this celebration. It is going to be a trip to remember! 

Joining us on the cruise will be prominent nursing professionals who are subject matter experts and leaders in the nursing world. Some of them will be teaching courses on board for CEU credits. Each of them will be available to network and share their stories with you! Be sure to read up on each of these pioneers in nursing and follow them on social media as well.

Meet Veronica Southerland

Veronica Southerland, APRN, FNP-BC, FIEL, DNP(s) is a 2019 Inaugural Nursing Innovation, Entrepreneurship & Leadership SONSIEL Fellow, entrepreneur, and speaker, also known as “Vee the NP.” Veronica started her nursing career in Greenville, North Carolina. She moved on to Charlotte, NC, working as a registered nurse. After a brief move to Florida, Veronica and her family found their way back to Charlotte where she opened her first business – a home healthcare agency. While she was starting this business, Veronica continued to work as a nurse. 

The home healthcare business took off and had a very successful run, thriving until 2010. At that point, Veronica decided to make another career pivot, going back to school to get her NP. As she puts it, she “kept [her] head down and focused,” and continued working while going to school. Knowing the rewards that one can reap from continuous hard work helped to keep her motivated.  

In 2015, Veronica started making house calls with a new method of treating patients with IV hydration therapy. She created a new business, Advanced Practice Care, and became known as “Maserati Medicine.” She drove all over her state providing IV hydration to private patients seeking her care.  

Veronica’s journey from RN to business owner, to NP and a business owner once again, is unique. She wants to show other nurses that journeys like this are possible for them, and to teach them how they can create sustainable and long-standing businesses of their own. 

Veronica’s Intely@Sea course will be covering everything you need to know to start, maintain, and grow an IV hydration business. It will also dive into how mindset, marketing, media training, and more can help you as you work to get your business off the ground. 

Read on for a Q&A with Veronica about her views on the nursing profession, self-care, and education.

Q&A

IntelyCare: What does Nursing Professionals Week mean to you? 

Veronica: “Nursing Professionals Week means so many different things to me! First and foremost, when I think of Nursing Professionals Week, I think of my fellow nurses and nursing assistants and how much potential they have to make an impact on the world. I need them to know that they have options when it comes to their career path. Knowing that there were options beyond practicing at the bedside changed my life. I want nurses to feel celebrated and appreciated, but I also want to challenge them to look at where they are right now and think about where they want to be in the future. Your future could start next week! Ask yourself, if you could use your skill sets and serve people anywhere in the world, where would you go and what would you do? 

Second, Nursing Professionals Week makes me think about how much my fellow nurses have been through. We’re all aware of the broken healthcare system that exists in our country. Even though the world just recently became aware of this fact because of COVID, nurses have known about it long before that. Everyone should be concerned about our broken healthcare system and how it is going to impact the future of healthcare, specifically as it relates to our nurses. There are 4 million nurses who have been directly and indirectly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. We need to think about how to help them and fix this system so that they are not working while they are tired, overworked, and unfulfilled. There is a better way. Nurses deserve to be able to show up at the bedside as their best selves to care for their patients, but that is essentially impossible right now.” 

IntelyCare: What does education mean to you? 

Veronica: “Education goes beyond the classroom. It is more than taking a $50 class or participating in a group session. Education is taking what you already know and applying it. It’s sharing what you know with others without calling yourself an expert. 

If you took a class last week, you are not an expert in that subject matter this week. Take time to absorb what you have learned. Apply it. Sit with it. Be present in what you’re learning. That is education.” 

IntelyCare: What do you think everyone should understand about what it means to be a nurse? 

Veronica: “Everyone should understand that every nurse you encounter is someone who got into this role because she or he wanted to serve others. We want to see you get better and live your best life. We want a system that works for you.” 

IntelyCare: What do you think every nurse should understand about the importance of self-care? 

Veronica: “Self-care isn’t always about going to the fanciest spa or buying yourself the high-dollar bag. Sometimes it is about taking a bubble bath or going to bed at 8:00pm. It’s about meditation and leaning into your higher power. And it’s not a one-day-a-week thing. It’s a moment-by-moment practice.” 

IntelyCare: Is there anything else you would like to share with us? 

Veronica: “Surround yourself with a team who is true to you and your goals. Sometimes this team looks and thinks just like you. Sometimes it does not. Sometimes you get so mad at each other you want to shake, but surround yourself with people who lead with love, who are smart and savvy, who know things that you do not know but who are aligned with your values. 

Get friends who think like you and will challenge you, and who will have you in their home without having to tag on social media that he or she is hanging out with you.  

Love you who are now and also love who you are going to be.” 

Learn more about Intely@Sea here, and be sure to read about the other nursing leaders and subject matter experts who will be attending.