Introduction

Aerika Street is a Pacific Northwest native and currently teaches and advises nursing students at Seattle University. She obtained her BSN from Azusa Pacific University and Masters Degree in Nursing Leadership and Administration from the University of Southern California. She began her nursing career at Loma Linda Children’s Hospital in Southern California, providing care for children and families battling cancer and hematological disorders. She also served as a clinical instructor at her undergraduate Alma Mater. During graduate school she also provided clinical instruction to undergraduate nursing students at the University of Southern California.

Professional Work

Aerika also worked in the Clinical Professional Development (CPD) department at Harbor-University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Medical Center. Harbor-UCLA Medical Center is the major trauma center serving the south bay of Los Angeles County. CDP developed hospital wide educational programs to meet population needs and update and maintain various accreditation requirements. Aerika worked together with a team of nurses to create and implement multiple projects. Updating and integrating Mental Health services to medically fragile patients is an example of an important project she led.

Since Aerika’s return to the Northwest, she has worked with adult cancer patients and their families in the outpatient setting at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. Aerika is an End-of Life Nursing Education Consortium Trainer and has provided end-of-life care education for nurses and nursing staff in California and in Washington. She also provided education programs for cancer patients, families, and caregivers. Aerika teaches across the undergraduate curriculum at the College of Nursing at Seattle University. Her main teaching foci are Mental Health and Stress Theory.

Publications & Memberships

Aerika co-authored an article for an online journal and book with a writer/ poet, T. Goldman. The article is titled “The beauty of my brain tumor”. It was published in 2005 in: International Journal of Healing and Caring- On Line, 5(12). The book, entitled “The art of the brain” was published is 2004. Aerika is a member of Sigma Theta Tau International Nursing Honor Society, as well as the Oncology Nursing Society, and the American Holistic Nurses Association.