Even before Bethany Lutheran College offered a nursing major, Bethany students prepared for a career in nursing through Bethany’s associate in arts pre-nursing program. Beth (Flitter) Good ’86 studied pre-nursing at Bethany before she earned her bachelor’s, master’s, and doctorate degrees in nursing. Good recently was awarded with the State Award for Nurse Practitioner Excellence recognizing a protocol she developed for patients experiencing major depression. The following is an excerpt from an article printed in the Madelia Times Messenger about Good, her practice, and the prestigious award she received. A link to the complete article is also provided at the bottom of this page. Congratulations to Dr. Good on her tremendous achievement.
By Michelle Van Hee, Editor, Madelia Times Messenger Reprinted with Permission
Nurse practitioners and nurse practitioner advocates, recipients of the prestigious American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP) 2017 State Award for Excellence, were honored at an awards ceremony and reception held during the AANP 2017 National Conference June 20-25, 2017, in Philadelphia, Pa. Dr. Beth (Flitter) Good, DNP, APRN, CNS-BC, a 1984 graduate of Madelia High School, was among the recipients honored. The State Award for Nurse Practitioner Excellence, founded in 1991, recognizes a nurse practitioner who demonstrates excellence in practice.
In 1993, the State Award for Nurse Practitioner Advocate was added to recognize the efforts of individuals who have made a significant contribution toward increasing awareness and recognition of NPs. Good earned the award for what she calls “The Good Protocol” and it is used for the screening, referral and management of major depression. This is not her first award; in 2016 she received the March of Dimes, Nurse of the Year Award for Advanced Practice.
Good said that, from a young age she knew she wanted to be a nurse. She was inspired by her mother, Carol Flitter, who was an LPN, and her aunt, Lillian Gronewold, whose nurse capping ceremony Good attended when she was five. “I was really intrigued by a career where you could wear a cap,” Good recalled. Those women in her life knew how to respond in emergency situations, and were so compassionate when caring for others; Good wanted to be just like them.
Her path to that end led Good to attended Bethany Lutheran College for Pre-Nursing after high school, then she went on to study at Minnesota State University, Mankato, where she earned a Bachelor of Science in Nursing. After moving to Georgia, where she lived for several years, Good went to school to earn her master’s degree in nursing at Georgia State University. Finally, in 2011, she earned a Doctorate in Nursing Practice from University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.
For the past six years, Good has been integrating behavioral health services at FirstLight Health System in Mora, Minn., and also serves as Psychiatric Treatment Director at Recovering Hope Treatment Center, a women’s residential treatment program in Mora. She also provides psychiatric medication management services through her private practice at COR Counseling and Psychiatric Services in Anoka.
Mental health was not an area that Good realized was a passion for her until her fourth year of nursing school when doing a rotation at the state hospital in St. Peter. “I did not love starting IVs and giving shots,” Good admitted. “I wanted to sit down and hear more about people’s lives. So when I was at the hospital in St. Peter, it was so interesting that I knew I wanted work somewhere like that for the rest of my life. Meeting patients who were suffering with mental illness, through no fault of their own, was fascinating. I learned more from the patients there than I did from the textbook. I learned something every time I went there and it was enjoyable.”