Tuesday, May 6 marks the beginning of Nurses Week. This year’s theme is “The Power of Nurses.” This brings into focus the invaluable skills and passions that nurses possess. Nurses have always played a part in my life-and I know I’m not alone.
My most favorite Nurse, Auntie Mil, the woman my Dad used to call “Florence,” a reference to nurse Florence Nightingale, was a lifelong friend of my father’s and during their courtship, a girlfriend to my mom. I like to think that had my Dad known about the history of Black Nurses, he might have called her Harriet or Sojourner.
Mildred Craft Chapman not only played a part in the lives of family and friends, but also in hospitals and Nursing programs in and around Chicago. The hospitals included Provident, on Chicago’s southside, where she saved my mother’s life when bringing me into the world. She also worked at Chicago’s Malcolm X College, introducing and educating young people in the ever-changing world of Nursing.
One of the promises made in a Nurse’s Pledge of Service, not only represents all the nurses I know, but especially my Auntie Mil, Nurse Mildred Craft Chapman:
“I solemnly pledge myself to the service of humanity and will endeavor to practice my profession with conscience and dignity.”
With all due respect to the medical Doctors I know and love, and recognizing that all are not perfect, these overworked and underpaid women and men are very often the guiding forces of life in our homes, communities and medical facilities.
Auntie Mil’s sense of purpose to help others was matched only by her bigger than life personality. She not only left a tremendous professional legacy in our family members like Caramen Billheimer, but in caring and looking out for others, as evidenced by Darlene Foster DeJohnette.
Although Auntie Mil died many years ago, I still think about her as often as I do my mother. Looking back, she seemed to be on an unspoken mission to help others in a clinical setting, on the block and in her church. I miss that. I miss her. Thank you Auntie Mil.
This week, as the What We Need to Know Newsletter pays tribute to the Black Nurses in our history, please take the time to thank and show appreciation for the nurses in your lives.