Bernadette ”Bernie” Park, MSN, RN, has over fifteen years of experience in working with community based programming for organizing events and fundraising efforts and has served on several executive boards for local non-profit organizations. She is a co-founder of the Nurse Commander campaign to highlight and elevate the role of nursing in our health care landscape.
Park is currently the chair and founder of the Fairfield County Leadership Council (FCLC) and the FCLC Teen Leadership Council for Save the Children. FCLC was established in 2017 in response to the need for local support in Fairfield County for the mission of Save the Children through fundraising and advocacy work. In addition to general mission support and emergency relief efforts the council has supported Early Childhood Education in the US and Return to Learning initiatives to help displaced children globally. Park is a board member for the American Nurse Foundation. Park is a partner with Social Venture Partners SVP-CT, serving on their Investment and strategic planning committees and working on their DOMUS team developing career pathways to allied health and nursing careers for youth. She is a Sponsor Mentor for Shepherds Inc. in Bridgeport, which provides a college preparatory education for inner city Connecticut youth. Bernie is also the founder and chair of the Park Family Charitable Foundation which focuses on health and education initiatives.
Prior to working in the non-profit sector, Park worked at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center as a critical care nurse, Psychiatric Clinical Nurse Specialist, and ultimately as a Nurse Practitioner of their Cancer Prevention and Wellness Program. She was an adjunct clinical professor at Fairfield University. She is currently getting her Doctorate in Nursing Practice (DNP) at Yale School of Nursing. Bernie holds a B.S. in Nursing from the College of Mount St. Vincent, a M.S. in Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing, and an Advanced Certificate as an Adult Nurse Practitioner with a focus on Primary Care and Oncology from Columbia University.
