Carolyn Jones 🇺🇸 | Raising the Torch for Nurses

image credit CAROLYN JONES PRODUCTIONS

I first heard Carolyn Jones speak about The American Nurse project in an auditorium at the medical center campus of Columbia University in New York City in the spring of 2013.  As a practicing nurse with almost two decades under my belt, I did not need to be convinced about the impact that nurses make every day.  I had already lived it.  Yet, there was something about the conviction with which Ms. Jones told stories about the close to one hundred nurses (and their patients) she encountered on a journey across the continental United States during the one year project.  Perhaps it is because Ms. Jones is a breast cancer survivor who depended on the care and strength of nurses to get through her treatment.  Or maybe it is because of her anthropology chops that she can so skillfully drill beneath the surface of a story.  Whatever it is, Ms. Jones paints a powerful and compelling portrait of nurses in America.

There she is following community nurses into Baltimore, MD strip clubs as they administer examinations and prescribe contraceptives to patrons and performers alike from their mobile van.  Now she is following an automobile mechanic-turned-visiting home nurse as he hikes up an Appalachian creek to reach his housebound patient, a retired miner with black lung disease.  And there she is witnessing a nun who runs a hospice offer compassionate and fearless end-of-life care.

Such intimate interactions that occur between nurse and patient are often difficult to translate for others who are outside a particular circle of care.  Patient’s or nurse’s friends and family members may not grasp the deep meaning conveyed in a simple act or kind word that leaves an indelible mark on the patient’s journey to wellness.  Ms. Jones’ book and film, both titled The American Nurse, shatter these barriers.  In each narrative, what it means to nurse another is so clear.  And, that message has been beautifully packaged in a format that is accessible to all, whether they are nurses or not.  Ms. Jones believes that nurses matter.  She is intent on making everyone believe the same and it makes me very, very proud that she is our torch bearer.