Yellow Bird: UND's legacy of Indian nurses
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Filed Under:
Opinion
"I’ve followed the nurses in the RAIN program for as long as I’ve been around the campus at UND. I’ve followed the careers of women from reservations who came from isolated, poverty-stricken areas where nursing for them was only a far-off dream.
Many of these American Indian nurses excelled with the help of RAIN, the Recruitment/Retention of American Indians into Nursing program.
RAIN started 20 years ago this year.
And UND’s nursing program as a whole started 100 years ago.
So as I sat among the hundreds of people attending the gala “UND’s Legacy of Nursing” at the Alerus Center on Friday night, I marveled at the depth and breadth of this program that has graduated so many women and men into careers of caregiving.
One after another, nurses came forward to talk about their experiences and the history of their profession. Some of their stories were interesting, some were funny — and some were stunning.
Why stunning? Consider the tales of nurses’ work of 70 to 100 years ago. For example, among nurses’ many duties was this one: They had to shine doctors’ shoes. Yes, that’s right. They also had to give up their seats when doctors came into the room and needed places to sit."
Get the Story:
COLUMNIST DORREEN YELLOW BIRD: UND’s College of Nursing: A century of care
(The Grand Forks Herald 10/7)
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