I just finished reading “My Mother, Your Mother: Embracing “Slow Medicine”, the Compassionate Approach to Caring for Your Aging Loved Ones” by geriatrician Dennis McCullough, MD.

Although there have been a host of books about “death & dying” and “end-of-life” care as well as “how-to” books about financial trusts and living wills, this is the first book I’ve seen that tenderly encapsulates the beauty and pathos of what he calls “late life.”

The book is chock full ...

On March 6th Country Joe McDonald presented the world premiere of his musical tribute to Florence Nightingale at the Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists in Berkeley, California.

A veteran of the US Navy, Country Joe first became interested in Florence Nightingale in 1981 after attending a seminar on the problems of Vietnam veterans. One of the speakers was a Vietnam War nurse named Lynda Van Devanter. Joe says on his website that “she was the first Vietnam War nurse to ...

You may have heard of the ‘Slow Food’ movement which started in Italy in reaction to the pervasiveness of fast food chains.such as MacDonalds. ‘Slow Food’ evokes images of simmering crock pots but is more about families and friends sharing a leisurely meal as well as how our food is grown and distributed.

‘Slow Medicine’ also has it’s roots in Italy but the concept has been further developed by Dennis McCollough, MD based on his work with geriatric populations. He posits that although ...

The 31st Annual Conference of the Association of California Nurse Leaders started out with John Garamendi, Lt. Governor of California, who starting out with a few facts: 6-7 million Americans are without healthcare in this country and the “social compact has unraveled,” he said. The system is fragmented and one third of health care is spent on administrative costs.

He compared this to the Medicare system which started 41 years ago and has only 2% administrative costs and ...

Connie Kerins, RN arrived in Oakland, Calif at 6 am yesterday morning [Sunday, 1/25] after completing the round trip coast-to-coast “We Believe” bus trip to the inauguration of Barack Obama.

“I really have to say that for being in such close quarters for 10 days and 6,000 miles I think we did very well. We had 3 mechanical failures and 2 medical emergencies but it was worth every second.” said Kerins.

“I was meant to witness this inauguration. I will never forget that ...

Connie Kerins, RN reports by cell phone:

“We drove furiously on Thursday [1/23] in order to get to the Lorraine Motel in Memphis Tennessee before closing time.” This is the site of Dr. Martin Luther King’s assassination." [ March of 1968]

“We realized that we were not going to make it on time. Someone on the bus called and told them who we were. A staff person agreed to keep it open just for us. We got there at 8pm and it was a deeply moving experience. The motel ...

Connie Kerins, RN called to tell me that there was a medical emergency this morning, Thursday, January 22nd. She was awakened at 5am by a passenger who told her that one of the photojournalists was in ”really severe abdominal pain.” Kerins told me that “he hadn’t felt well yesterday and thought thathe had food poisoning.” The bus driver pulled over to the side of the road. “We called 911,” said Kerins. We were in Arkansas between towns on Highway 40. I told the 911 operator that we were near a ...

Connie Kerins, RN left this message on my voice mail the day after the inauguration:

“Yesterday was incredible, fantastic! We got up at 3am and by the time we went to sleep it was 1am the next day but it was worth every second. We heard things like ”the mall is closed” and “the metro is packed” but we didn’t listen and were able to get on the metro.

“We got off at Arlington Cemetery and went over the bridge and walked right onto the mall. All of us got up to the Washington ...

The group arrived in Harrisburg, Pa. from Oakland, Calif. at about 4 am Monday morning. I reached Connie Kerins, RN by cell phone and here is her account in her own words:

“The ride was incredible. We got on board and people did not know each other. One by one people got up to introduce themselves. They told their stories about why they came. I shared my seat with a 12 year old boy who’s mother and 4 year old sister were also on the bus. The first night we sat up straight but by ...

San Leandro nurse Connie Kerins is getting on a chartered bus tonight at midnight to attend the inauguration of President-Elect Barack Obama. Kerins read about the trip, organized by a popular Oakland barbecue restaurant, Everett & Jones in the San Francisco Chronicle and was lucky enough to be one of 50 people, and the only RN, to be part of this journey.

Out on disability from her position as an ambulatory clinic nurse, Kerins says, “I am extremely disillusioned with the healthcare ...

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With only 3 days notice, over 60 people, mostly nurses, showed up for a town hall forum on Thursday, Dec. 18th at the UC Davis Health System Education Building. President-Elect Obama’s transition team is reaching out to healthcare providers across the nation and already 4200 groups have signed up to hold meetings between December 15th and 31st.

The format of the meeting was spelled out in a packet sent from the transition team and included questions about needed policy changes and ...

A newly minted PhD nurse presented her dissertation findings about why associate degree nurses (ADNs) do not often go on to get a BSN or MSN degree.

At a dinner meeting on Wednesday, UCSF graduate Liana Orsolini-Hain, RN, PhD presented, “On the Influences on Associate Degree Prepared Nurses to Return to School to Earn a Higher Degree in Nursing” to the members of the San Francisco / Marin chapter of the Association of California Nurse Leaders (ACNL) at the Cathedral Hill Hotel in ...

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Welcome to my blog! I’ll be blogging every Monday about what I’m seeing and hearing in the nursing world. I’d love to hear your thoughts. As editorial director of NurseWeek magazine in the California and Mountain West regions I’m interested in hearing what is important to you.

Many people want to be nurses now—we just don’t have enough space in nursing schools. And the main bottleneck seems to be faculty shortage.This week I joined a group of about 40 expert nurse leaders at Shriner’s ...