Month: April 2018

Monica McLemore (1969- )

/ Peggy L Chinn / Leave a comment

Inspiration for Activism! 

  • Only nurse invited to participate in President Obama’s Frontiers of Science meeting to discuss research in community engagement.
  • Only nurse researcher mentioned in SCOTUS OpEd from American

    Monica McLemore

    Academy of Nursing.

  • Only nurse whose research was cited in NPR/ProPublica award winning reporting for Lost Mothers.
  • Face of Billboard campaign to combat misinformation of so-called medication abortion reversal – which contributed to the California Board of Registered Nursing to change their language about continuing education units. Covered widely in the press – for example:
  • One of a few nurse researchers whose research was cited in recent National Academy of Science, Engineering and Medicine report on Abortion Quality and Safety (Pg. 92).  Read more

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Jeanne Mance (1606-1673)

/ Adeline Falk-Rafael / 1 Comment

Inspiration for Activism! 

  • Credited as being first lay nurse in North America and the co-founder of Montreal itself.
  • Born in France, practiced nursing during 30-years war (1618-1638).
  • Came to Canada as a lay person with missionary aspirations. Upon arrival in 1642, she used her home as a hospital to treat sick people.
  • 3 years later, with financial support she had obtained in France, she founded the Hotel Dieu hospital in a settlement that became Montreal on a site where today stands a modern Hotel Dieu hospital with statue of Jeanne Mance in front of it.
  • Served as hospital administrator for 17 years. During that time, she made 2 more arduous journeys across the Atlantic (at a time when it took 3 months to cross one way), to secure further French funding and staff to care for the patients.

More information here and here

 

 

Margaret Sanger (1879-1966)

/ Adeline Falk-Rafael / 4 Comments

Inspiration for Activism! 

  • Worked as a visiting nurse in Henry Street Settlement.
  • Fierce advocate for measures to improve the health of poor people. In 1912 she participated in labour action in textile workers’ strike, and wrote a column in “The Call” on women’s sexuality.
  • Coined the term birth control in 1914.
  • Realizing knowledge of and access to contraception was a socio-economic issue, she challenged governmental censure of contractive information by civil disobedience.
  • Indicted in 1914 for violating postal obscenity laws and fled to England for a year to avoid imprisonment.
  • In 1916, Sanger opened the first U.S. birth control clinic (for which she spent 30 days in jail).
  • Founded American Birth Control League, later to become Planned Parenthood.
  • Global role in promoting birth control, e.g., India and Japan, although pronatalist fascist movements impeded progress during WWII.
  • In 1925, Sanger arranged for American manufacture of spring-form diaphrams, and
  • Fostered research into development of spermicidal jellies and foam powders.
  • In the 1950s, secured funding for development of the birth control pill.

More information here

 

Dorothea Fox Jakob (1946 – )

/ Adeline Falk-Rafael / 1 Comment

Inspiration for Activism! 

  • American-born public health nurse; emigrated to Canada in 1973.
  • Strong social justice advocate, particularly anti-child poverty advocacy.

    Dorothea Fox-Jakob

  • Played a key role as public health nurse in Toronto, in identifying electric kettles as a key factor in elevated lead levels among infants. Reporting of her observations led to safety standards for electric kettles across the country.
  • Wrote letters to editors in newspapers, lobbied elected officials as well as the professional nursing association (RNAO) regarding the impact of child poverty on health.
  • Represented RNAO in a meeting on child poverty that led to the establishment of Campaign 2000, a public education and anti-child poverty advocacy group that still exists today.
  • As a member of the Nurses for Social Responsibility, participated in various protest and educational activities focused on the advancement of health equity.
  • Strong believer that the essence of nursing is to bear witness to what we see and speak truth to power.