Category: Death & Dying

Remembering Doris

I submitted this essay to the Jersey City Medial Center School of Nursing Alumni Association Newsletter for the Fall publication. Limit: 500 words. Remembering Doris Dolan (December 31, 1926 – January 10, 2021) Class of 1947 I met Doris back in 1965 when we both worked at Pollack Hospital in Jersey City. We became friends…… Continue reading Remembering Doris

Through the Eyes of Nurses

On February 25th in the New York Times, two stories appeared about nurses. Both sobering. Both timely. Both essential. In my last post, I celebrated the fact that although the pandemic is killing scores of people and putting a strain on resources, including health care personnel, nurses have been in the forefront of the media getting…… Continue reading Through the Eyes of Nurses

Country Music

I’m not writing my second book whose working title was to be “Home Visits.” The Pandemic has cast a spell on my brain, resulting in lethargy and an inability to focus on structuring another book. So, instead, I’ve decided to take each home visit story and submit it to a literary magazine for potential publication…… Continue reading Country Music

A Physician’s Story

   I haven’t posted any stories about what physicians face when working on the front lines during the Covid-19 pandemic. Of course, my Blog is about nursing. In more recent years, the collaboration between nurses and physicians has grown. The professions work together with more mutual respect than when I began my nursing career. And…… Continue reading A Physician’s Story

Stories that Need to be Told

I almost forgot about Dennis. That’s what Carol Novembre thinks his name was. Carol and I worked together in the early 60s at Pollack Hospital in Jersey City. It was a county-run hospital. Dennis was head of maintenance. I learned a lot from him about the political corruption that went on behind the scenes. Not…… Continue reading Stories that Need to be Told

Nurses Give Their Expert Advice on Understanding the Broken Health Care System

I have been on the lecture circuit. My topic is Empowering the Patient: How to Navigate the Health Care System. Two presentations down and two to go with another in the negotiating stage. I’m fine-tuning the presentation based on the feedback I have received from my audience each time I give the talk. Sana Goldberg’s…… Continue reading Nurses Give Their Expert Advice on Understanding the Broken Health Care System

Twenty Years After the Cancer Diagnosis.

Next Sunday, November 5th, will be the 20th anniversary of my mastectomy. Afterward, my surgeon draped her arm over my shoulders and said I was “cured” as she escorted me out of her office on Connecticut Avenue in Washington, D.C. Each November 5th , I would make a big deal of the anniversary date of…… Continue reading Twenty Years After the Cancer Diagnosis.

Leaving Our Legacy

I have been thinking for a long time about the fact that we older nurses are dying off. We will take with us our memories of nursing history. I have always loved to hear from other seasoned nurses about how they size up their nursing careers as they look back. What was important at the…… Continue reading Leaving Our Legacy

A Hospice Nurse is Featured in The New Yorker

Larissa MacFarquhar is a staff writer for the New Yorker. She has written profiles on “do-gooders,” people whose altruistic acts “spring from genuine empathy.” Her subjects are varied: Quentin Tarantino, Diane von Furstenberg and Paul Krugman. Most recently she spotlighted Heather Meyerend, not a famous person, but a nurse. Her story starts on page 62…… Continue reading A Hospice Nurse is Featured in The New Yorker