Irish America
Irish America
Irish Americans Confront U.S. Nursing Shortage Dr. Linda Flynn knows all too well that the COVID pandemic placed a tremendous strain on nursing staffs across the U.S. “There was so much burnout,” explains Flynn, a Washington D.C.-area native, who now serves as dean of the School of Nursing at Rutgers University. “There’s only so much trauma, and death and dying (nurses) can … [Read more...] about “It Really Is a Crisis”
Her likeness appears on a banknote and in portraits by famous artists.Who was Lady LaveryWomen rarely have their faces on currency. Except, of course, for the recently departed Queen Elizabeth II who was on the currency of Great Britain and her colonies for over 70 years and, until recently, showed no sign of retiring or expiring. In 1928, Ireland, too, cast a woman on the … [Read more...] about The Lady From Chicago & The Pound Note
Irish nurses, in fiction and in real life, shaped nursing and healthcare in the U.S.There is a moment late in J. Courtney Sullivan’s excellent 2017 novel Saints for all Occasions when “hundreds of people showed up” to a Boston Irish American wake. Among the mourners are a trio of sisters, “Peggy, Patrica and Jane, all of them nurses…two of them wore scrubs beneath their winter … [Read more...] about “Saints” in Scrubs
How the parents of a young boy from Queens, New York, who died from sepsis, created a nationwide movement to address the issue. On Tuesday, March 27, 2012, twelve-year-old Rory Staunton cut his elbow on the floor of his school gymnasium diving for a basketball. The gym teacher did not clean the cut but rather applied band-aids. By Sunday, April 1, 2012, Rory died in the ICU of … [Read more...] about Coping with Grief and Loss by Helping Others
Dr. Jim O'Connell and his Health Care for the Homeless ProgramIn the pitch-black Boston night, the constant ache of being homeless – of being lonely, sick, cold and hungry – frightens poor souls into quiet desperation and smoldering panic. Dr. Jim O’Connell, Boston’s street doctor, searches out men, women, and children living in the shadows, helping them fight off their … [Read more...] about Boston’s Street Doctor
