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Just a Nurse, an exhibit
of nearly 100 photographs that capture the rigors and rewards
of nursing, opens today at the Hospital of the University
of Pennsylvania (HUP). |
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It features the work of photographer Earl
Dotter and writer Suzanne Gordon, journalists renowned for their
ability to chronicle “on the job” heroism and sacrifice. |
> |
Nurses from all 40 HUP units were photographed and interviewed
through the fall and winter. The exhibit illustrates the wide
range of roles and responsibilities nursing entails, and the
intense day-to-day pace at a major, 772-bed urban academic medical
center. |
> |
The exhibit runs May 1 – 18, and coincides with National
Nurses Week (May 6 – 12). |
(PHILADELPHIA) – Just a Nurse, an exhibit of nearly
100 photographs that capture the rigors and rewards of nursing,
opens today at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP). The
exhibit runs May 1 – 18, and coincides with National
Nurses Week (May 6 – 12). It features the work of photographer
Earl Dotter and writer Suzanne
Gordon, journalists renowned for
their ability to chronicle “on the job” heroism and
sacrifice.
|
Nurse Norah Taylor assists in a coronary
artery bypass graft operation
Click on thumbnail
to view more images |
Nurses from all 40
HUP units were photographed and interviewed
through the fall and winter. The exhibit illustrates the wide range
of roles and responsibilities nursing entails, and the intense
day-to-day pace at a major, 772-bed urban academic medical center.
“It was a privilege to work alongside them and see firsthand
the critical difference nurses make to patients at such personal
and usually difficult times of their lives,” said Dotter. “Their
knowledge, passion and sheer stamina were exhilarating to photograph.”
Gordon is the author of numerous books and articles on nursing
and a national commentator on the escalating shortage of registered
nurses. “Nurses are a critical link in helping us solve
our health care crisis,” she said. “We desperately
need to raise awareness of nursing’s importance and encourage
more young people to enter the profession.”
“Earl and Suzanne have given a voice to the too-often silent
story of nurse’s vital role in patient care,” said Victoria
Rich, PhD, Chief Nursing Officer and Associate Executive
Director at HUP. “Nurses are microbiologists, chemists
and scientists. They are strong patient advocates. We
need to make sure more people know about, seek out and benefit
from their expertise.”
According to the American
Hospital Association, U.S. hospitals
need more than 100,000 registered nurses and have a vacancy rate
of 8.5 percent. The January/February 2007 issue of Health
Affairs reports that the nursing shortage is expected to triple
by 2020, to 340,000.
“These remarkable photographs and interviews
tell a compelling story about a vital profession that can no longer
be in the background,” said Rich. “Our goal is that
the exhibit serves not only as a salute to the exceptional work
nurses are doing today, but that it inspires others to take up
the calling.”
Just a Nurse continues through May 18 in the Mezzanine
of the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Ravdin Mezzanine
[floor
plan], 3400 Spruce
Street [driving
directions]. It can be viewed daily from
7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. and admission is free. The public is also
invited to attend a ceremony to kick off National Nurses Week at
the exhibit on May 7, from 4:00 – 5:30
p.m., where Rich, Dotter, Gordon and other dignitaries will speak.
Editor’s Notes: Photos
from the exhibit are available for media use.
Following the public ceremony on May 7, there will be a reception
for invited guests only; media wishing to attend the reception
should contact Marc Kaplan at (215) 349-5660 or marc.kaplan@uphs.upenn.edu.
Victoria
L. Rich, PhD, was
appointed Chief Nursing Officer for the Hospital of the University
of Pennsylvania (HUP) in January 2002. She also serves as Associate
Executive Director and is an Assistant Dean of Clinical Practice
at the University of
Pennsylvania School of Nursing. As a senior
hospital administrator, Rich directs inpatient and outpatient
nursing and manages a $180,000,000 budget. A strong advocate
for the nursing field, she is the Project Director of the Seedling
Program, Nursing Development Careers Scholarship for Under Privileged
Certified Nursing Assistants, by the Board of Women Visitors
at HUP. An acknowledged expert on patient safety and staff dynamics, Rich
frequently presents at national and international conferences
and has published in such leading journals as the Journal
of Emergency Medicine, Critical
Pathways in Cardiology and American
Journal of Nursing.
Earl
Dotter’s photographs
of occupational subjects span more than three decades and numerous
industries. His photography focuses not just on the subject’s
work, but the person’s life on the job, at home and in
the community. It has been cited for “leading the
way in portraying the dignity of working people,” featured
in exhibits sponsored by the Harvard
School of Public Health and earned him a Josephine
Patterson Albright Fellowship from
the Alicia
Patterson Foundation. He has been honored
by the American Public Health
Association and Robert
F. Kennedy Book Awards and was featured in a Columbia
Journalism Review profile.
Suzanne
Gordon is an award-winning
journalist and author who has written for The New
York Times, Los
Angeles Times, Washington
Post, The
Philadelphia Inquirer, Atlantic
Monthly and other leading publications. She’s
the author of six books, including Life
Support: Three Nurses on the Front Lines and Nursing
Against the Odds: How Health Care Cost Cutting, Media Stereotypes,
and Medical Hubris Undermine Nurses and Patient Care,
and co-author of From
Silence to Voice: What Nurses Know and Must Communicate to the
Public. She has
been a health care commentator for American
Public Media’s “Marketplace,” a
Visiting Professor at the University
of Maryland School of Nursing,
an Assistant, Adjunct Professor at the University
of California San Francisco’s School of Nursing, and
is co-editor of the Cornell
University Press series on “The
Culture and Politics of Health Care Work.”
###
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