• VANISHED Part 3 of 3

    A couple of weeks after our hallway discussion, I spotted them exiting the elevator. Margaret pushed Josie in the wheelchair with one hand while lugging an IV pole with the other, rushing to the back door of the building and out to the parking lot in a obvious effort to avoid me. The bottle that…

  • VANISHED Part 2 of 3

    When the clinic first opened last year, Margaret would saunter in holding Josie’s hand, pulling her along. While Margaret’s stringy hair and disheveled clothes reflected an indifference to her own appearance, Josie always looked neat. Like a treasured, well cared for doll. Her deeply wrinkled face blank but her blue eyes held a sparkle. She…

  • VANISHED Part 1 of 3

    A feverish Chicago summer ebbed into autumn. No telltale falling leaves signaled the change of seasons on this block of concrete walkways surrounding the massive twenty-story apartment building. I yanked open the heavy door. Inside the foyer, through the grimy glass doors, I noticed Margaret parking Josie, in her wheelchair, in front of the elevator.…

  • UNCONVENTIONAL NURSING

        NAKED IN THE LABOR/DELIVERY ROOM Written by Ruth Donoghue Time: December in the early ‘90’s. Place: Nursery in a Catholic hospital where 5,000 babies pass through in a year. The call came from unit secretary. A nurse was requested as soon as possible to pick up a baby in delivery/labor room three. (Every…

  • TRICK OR TREAT AT THE FRONT DOOR; HEARSE AT THE BACK

    I have been pestering my classmates from nursing school (we are about to celebrate our fiftieth anniversary next month) to write their stories so I can post them on my blog. Maybe pestering is too mild a word. Regardless, I have succeeded. Two women have sent me stories. The first comes from Joan Moore.  This…

  • AN ODE TO THE BEST HOUSE ON THE BLOCK

    Nurses who make home visits will be able to relate to this. I scan houses I would like to visit—to see not only who lives in them but how they live. What health problems or social issues would I have to address? I took a picture of this house on the west side of Chicago…