When we watch the news, when we see stories of people whose health and lives are in danger, when we read accounts of human suffering, does being a nurse make a difference? Do we bear a special responsibility? A responsibility to “nurse out loud,” to take a stand and speak out? More and more nurses Continue Reading
“There but for the grace for God go I,” Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley started off when invited to contribute to a special Congressional hearing last week about Identifying, Preventing, and Treating Childhood Trauma. She, too, had been a victim of trauma and abuse, she revealed. And it was a school nurse who had signalled what was Continue Reading
“I understand making sure that we have rest breaks and things like that. But … I would submit to you that those nurses probably do get breaks! They probably play cards for a considerable amount of the day!” State Senator Maureen Walsh That’s how it all started, with these remarks by a state legislator in Continue Reading
We know it. Your colleagues know it. The doctors know it. You studied for years to be a nurse. You have an intricate grasp of treatments and symptoms. You know how to juggle key responsibilities during long shifts without flagging. As Mike Ginsberg, M.D., put it in a beautiful post that went viral: But in Continue Reading
When the Spencer Dam in Nebraska collapsed in the wake of the “Bomb Cyclone,” an 11-foot wave gushed through the breach, threatening downstream Boyd county and its hospital, which were already struggling to cope with perilously rising waters. One of the nurses wrote us to recount how they braved the challenge.
When Terry Slinde walked into Iowa Methodist Medical Center one Tuesday morning last month to meet the person who had donated a kidney to him, he didn’t know what to expect. All he knew was how grateful he was to the person who’d helped him live. Imagine his surprise when he came face-to-face with his donor, Anna Boelman. Continue Reading
“Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhuman,” Martin Luther King Jr. told the Medical Committee for Human Rights (MCHR) at its 1966 convention . Hundreds of doctors, nurses, and other health care workers had rallied behind the organisation and its predecessor, the MCCR, in the previous Continue Reading
It’s Christmas Eve, and families around the country are coming together to celebrate the holidays… except you’re a nurse, and you couldn’t get time off. Problem? Not necessarily! “Nursing is a 24/7/365 job,” writes budding nurse blogger Deb Aston. “Just like police officers, EMTs, and firemen/women,” nurses “know the expectations going into our roles. I Continue Reading
A long while ago, we asked you to tell us about your personal nursing superheroes: the people who motivated and inspired you, or set an example you have tried to live by. This Thanksgiving, we’d like to share the story that perhaps moved us most of all. Thank you, Heather Wilson! Who was your “Uncle Continue Reading
You might have heard already about Faye Lewis. The first job Faye did was serving fried chicken at KFC. She worked her way up to manager, even as she raised her son AJ and enrolled in college. Got a job as a Housekeeper at an Assisted Living Facility. Completed her CNA training. Went on to Continue Reading