Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Reflection for the Feast day for Florence Nigtingale

I am a Registered Nurse. We who are nurses are all heirs of a great tradition, a tradition that started with Florence Nightingale over 150 year s ago, the founder of modern nursing and the woman whose feast day we celebrate today. She took her nursing skills to the Crimean War, where she became known as the “the Lady with the Lamp”. Her life and work was the beginning of a long line of nurses who have served in the Spanish American War, Two world wars, in Korea, Viet Nam and now in Afghanistan and Iraq. Many gave their lives in that service. Nurses have gone quietly about their job during epidemics, disasters and in hospitals, clinics and communities all over the world. Some work in clean hospitals with all the latest equipment and others toil in clinics in some of the most poverty stricken areas of the world, with minimal access to equipment or supplies.

Trinity Cathedral is blessed with quite a few nurses, and we use those skills not only to make a living, but to make a difference in the lives of others. Two of nurses recently became certified Parish Nurses using their knowledge to work with the congregation to address health related issues. We have another nurse who has traveled to Lesotho, Africa and worked with a population that has been decimated from AIDS/HIV. I have been to Southern Mexico to work in a clinic, where each day we saw over 200 women, old men and children. Most had never seen a doctor.

Other Nurses from Trinity Cathedral are volunteering at a free clinic that has recently opened in South Phoenix and is organized by one our Deacons, John Mather. The clinic is seeing 80-100 people each time it is held. The need is great, as unemployment and poverty continue to rise.

As a nurse I am awe struck at what Florence Nightingale accomplished in her lifetime, but what is even more amazing about Florence Nightingale, even beyond what she did for nursing, is that believing she was called by God she became a nurse in an era when women did not work, didn’t vote, couldn’t own property, and did not have a voice in how they lived their lives. Women had one role and it was to marry and have children. How many of us have the kind of courage it takes to step outside what is expected from our friends, family and society do what is right and what is needd?

In case you are thinking, great, I don’t have to do a thing, Let a Nurse do it……. I have to point out that John Mather is not a nurse and most of the volunteers at the clinic are from other professions, and are there because they saw a need and were called to help.. Curtis Wait who organizes the clinic in La Laguna, Veracruz, Mexico, is not a nurse, he saw a need in an impoverished community and acted.

Addressing the health and well being of those in our society is critical to addressing many of the issues affecting our society today. And that is not just a nurse’s job. It is all of our jobs. It is no accident that 3 of the 8 Millennium Development Goals, the goals developed by the United Nations and adopted by the Episcopal Church are health related. It is recognized that without healthy children and young adults extreme poverty will not end.

Today in the United States we are engaged in a debate over health care. I will not stand up here and tell you what side you should be on of the debate, I will stand up here and tell you that I believe our present health care system is not sustainable. As those of us of the “baby boomer” generation grow older we will begin to access the health care system in unprecedented numbers, as unemployment rises, and permanent jobs disappear, so does’ affordable health care. Last night on the evening news a free clinic was featured that is being held in the LA Forum in California, where 1500 people will be seen each day over the next 7 days. Many have not seen a doctor in over 5 years. The lines formed outside the forum in the wee hours of the morning, 1000’s of people who are without health care, part of the estimated 47 million Americans without health insurance. It would seem to me that an issue as important as this to all of us deserves a serious discussion.. Making an informed decision on the issues affecting health care is all of our responsibilities, it is a moral issue and a issue of justice.

Over 150 years ago a young woman left her home and her family to do a job that no one thought she should or could do, and in the process she revolutionized a profession, developed the foundations of modern hospitals and public health and changed the course of health care. She was called the Lady with the Lamp as she would walk quietly in the night with a lantern caring for the wounded and dying during the Crimean war. She was a light of hope to those she cared for.

The Gospel today calls us all to follow in the lead of Florence Nightingale, to be that light of hope to who those who are suffering and in need and do what needs to be done and must be done.

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