Energy:-Healing Energy with Berries

There are so many different berries and many of them prefer the temperate climate. So when I was growing up in South East Asia, I only saw strawberries and the other berries in picture except for cherries, which were 1/2 the size than the ones found in the West. My grandmother had a cherry tree which attracted many birds.

Berries, like the ones we know of are botanically considered false berries. The real berries are grapes, currants and gooseberry.
Before we continue with berries or false berries,there are rambutans in South East Asia,which is a seasonal fruit found in South East Asia, very sweet with a texture like lycee. The roots,leaves and bark of the rambutan tree is used for wound healing and for eye infection. Here is what rambutans look like.
Rambutan :- Rambut means Hairy in Malay


Blueberry, Raspberry and Blackberry
There are about 200 species of berries in Canada, some are not edible and even poisonous. So be cautious when you are picking wild berries in the woods. There are some that might look like blueberries or red currants which are poisonous.
Blueberries have anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties. Blueberries are also recommended to prevent macular degeneration and wrinkles. The wild blueberries are tinier than the cultivated ones. Saskatoon berries resemble blueberries.
Raspberry and blackberry also have anti-cancer properties according to the American Cancer Institute.


Wolfberry or Gogi berry
Gogi berry is getting a reputation as the anti-aging berry. It's or1gin is in the Himalayas and Tibet but as a fellow blogger, Dora (www.bricorefamily.com) tells me she has some growing on her farm in the US. Some effects of gogi berry which is full of minerals,protein and vitamins are the following -
1.calms nervousness and enhances memory
2.an anti-inflammatory
3.lowers blood pressure and keeps heart healthy,
4.Strengthens the immune system.
Apparently there is a Tibetan saying that eating gogi berries in the morning makes you happy the entire day. So daily dose of gogi will make you a smiling person. Gogi can be obtained dried in Health Food Stores and can be eaten with your breakfast cereal, or mixed with other dried fruits and nuts as a snack.
Gogi berries on the tree


There is also the acai berry which is native of the Amazon with healing properties and it is from type of palm plant.
These are only brief descriptions and if you wish to know more please contact me or leave a comment.
Agapelife
Ref: Canadian Encyclopedia
www.gogi.com

Energy:-Eating fruits with healing energy?

We all know that fruits are rich in Vitamin C. Well how many of you know that some fruits also have enzymes that helps digestion and others have been used to reduced inflammation, remove fatigue and Enhance Energy and since my practice is on Healing Energy these products from Mother Nature is so relevant. The following fruits for this week will be from Asian grown as that was where I first tasted these.There are some plants transplanted in Australia and Florida. Then following these, will be the berries, grown in North America and Europe.
The Papaya



Papaya has an enzyme Papain which aids digestion. In the east, people would eat part of a papaya for breakfast. In the west, health food stores sell papain supplements as a digestive aids. Fresh papaya can be found in chinese grocers as well as some supermarkets. I prefer the red fleshed papaya which comes from South America. It is sweeter and juicier.

The Mangosteen
The next fruit has been called the Queen of Fruits as Queen Victoria craved for it.
The Mangosteen is not from the mango family.



Only the white pulp is eaten. The attractive fibrous skin is used for dyes.
Mangosteen has anti-inflammatory properties. In the Caribbean, a tea is made from this plant which is supposed to give Energy and remove fatigue. In Brazil the tea is used as a digestive aid. This is a" melt in your mouth" type of fruit, sweet and a little tangy.
Agapelife

Qigong:- Qigong Congress Conclusion

A month ago, we started this topic, following the World Qigong Congress 08. that we attended in San Francisco. So we highlighted different facets of the Congress for our postings and included a couple of videos and pictures.

We started off with the positive and illuminating atmosphere of the Congress which was followed by a description of a new invention called the Energy Enhancement System or EESystem. A video of the inventor of the System, Dr. Sandra Rose Michael followed next, then a video of Dr. Gregory Gerber, the medical director of the EESystem. Both these individuals tell you all you want to know about the EESystem.

Then, in Individual and Planetary Health, other presenters of the Congress were featured with their research work, as well as group meditation and exercis of the participants to promote planetary health.
Relaxing Energy showed how participants in the Congress, while highly energized, were also quite relaxed. So how could energy be congruent with relaxation? Healing energy sure is. I really hope you enjoyed these posts, as some of you have commented on.

There is so much more to write on Healing Energy. We are hoping for more comments and will respond. I would appreciate if you would let me know what aspects of this theme, you would like expanded or discussed more.

Next week, we will discuss some of the fruits and vegetables that produce
healing energy and are tasty!

My 100th post

It is my birthday today! This posting will be My 100th Post since starting the Empower-you blog in May 2008. Here is a synopsis, my experiences and what I have learned.

So I have been writing with a passion to inform, educate and make you laugh. I began writing 6 days weekly, and then reduced to 5 days, then at present it is 2 days weekly. I have video clips that would make you laugh and some jokes on Saturday which was discontinued as I had no comments or contributions from readers on Saturday ceased.

I had some traffic but few left comments and this blog did not become the interactive one that I expected. Some of the traffic came from Blog Catalog which I subscribed to.
So here I will leave you some of the topics of my blog and some of the topics had several postings on them as I tried a theme focus for a week.

1. Healthy Lifestyle
2. Healing Humor - Laughter - includes videos.
3. Self-Image -Theme
4. Self-Esteem -Theme
5. Mental Health - Depression
6. Insomnia
7. Snoring - statistics,causes, treatment and prevention,World's loudest snorer
8. Sleep Apnea
9. Pain - causes, treatment, prevention
10.Energy Healing
11.Qigong - medical, qigong congress
12.Nurses and Nursing

I also have some related audiobooks on the subjects at the side bar or sometimes below the article - and to purchase, you could click on the image.

I would like to thank readers and followers of my blog and please let me know what you would like me to post about in the future or what existing topics, you would like to have expanded. Thanks and may you have waves of positive energy!

Agapelife/P Nicholas

Qigong:-Meet Jolyn - Severe asthma healed!

Energy healing Masters including qigong masters had cured patients who gave testimonials. One of them was a lady who was walking after qigong therapy. She had MS for several years. Another lady was the smiling, energetic Jolyn. Here is her testimonial.

Jolyn:-
I had been struggling with increasingly severe asthma for over six years. Even with the three medications I was taking for it, I had difficulty walking up stairs and hills without stopping to rest, and had frequent asthma attacks, often quite serious. Within two weeks of meeting Dr. Chow in June of 2007 and practicing her methods of posture, breathing and the Precious Eight exercises, I was able to discontinue all medication for asthma and began improving rapidly. I have been off medication completely now for over one year and have not had a single asthma attack in that time. I climb stairs and hills without having to rest, and I am now playing tennis twice a week and dancing once a week.

In June of 2008 my optometrist confirmed at my annual exam that my vision had improved in each eye (at age 49!), and he was amazed at the substantial increase in my peripheral vision.

When I began doing Dr. Chow’s Precious Eight exercises daily, I lost four inches around my waist in only three weeks. I have since lost another inch and look forward to loosing more.

I am a singer and have struggled with sore throats and nasal congestion from time to time. Dr. Chow taught me how to use her upper tracking system to clear my sinuses and throat and enable me to sing more clearly. The relief from asthma has also substantially improved my singing.

Finally I want to say how much better I feel in general. I sleep better, feel more relaxed more of the time, and have much more energy than I did before beginning Chow Qigong. My skin and eyes are clearer and I feel more radiant and peaceful.

Thank you Jolyn for sharing this testimonial with my Readers

Agapelife/P Nicholas

Qigong:-Relaxing Energy?

Strange phrase isn't it? You may ask how could energy be relaxing. Well, what images does energy bring to your mind? Usually some or all of these attributes - activity, vigour, electricity, quick movement. Can you really see energy? Perhaps you would answer No. Yet you could see and feel the effects of energy!

Relaxing on the other hand gives you images of passivity, perhaps minimal activity like sitting in a recliner with a novel or lying on a hammock with a gentle breeze on your face.

Relaxing Energy was the best way to describe the experience many of us had in the Qigong Congress 08 in San Francisco. You could feel the Energy - Positive Energy, Healing Energy, Creative Energy. It is the sort of Energy that has the propensity to relax a person to prepare for creativity.

I think the best illustration would be an artist painting the HorseShoe Falls while standing on the opposite Canadian side of the Falls. The roar of the waters, the ambiances, the sunny skies, the view of rainbow against the Falls gives the artist both energy and relaxation simultaneously.

I heard western medical doctors on the podium, stating that energy medicine is the next progressive step, as Dr Gregory Gerber MD of Texas pointed out is the Future of Medicine. The following two presenters are Canadians. Dr. Aung MD - spoke of energizing, purification and recycling of healing energy. Dr. Roy Ngui's workshop was on Boosting Energy and Immune System. Dr Sandra Rose Michael presented the Energy Enhancement System on scalar energy and the practical applications of Energy Medicine.

All throughout the Congress, the communication among the 277 people gathered was positive. You could say positive energy invaded that building. Even other guests in the hotel were all friendly and positive. Not a single complaint was heard.
On the first floor, one room was set up a four unit Energy Enhancement System and participants were invited to spend some time sitting in the room. According to a physicist who measured the scalar energy from that room, stated that the scalar energy enveloped the whole building.

The next posting will feature a testimonial of a lady which is very fascinating and I met her at the Congress.
Please send your comments or questions and I will answer them.

Practical application of my FAE Therapy

If you had been on my website, you would know that my practice is on FAE or fast acting energy therapy.

The three modalities used on FAE (fast acting energy) Therapy and also includes positive psychology, laughtter, gratitude and forgiveness. The three main modalities include EM or energy medicine of Donna Eden's, EFT or emotional freedom technique as taught by Gary Craig and medical Qigong.
Several ways one can strengthen positiveness. I have been using it for a while.

So when my website was updated by GoDaddy with template and images missing which took almost a week to fix, I had to have many conversations with them but did not lose my cool. When they gave me the time as first, 24hours, then 72 hours to fix it, I decided to take some time to do other things like enjoying nature, visiting with friends and watching some comical old series from the UK.

What could have brought my mood and demeanour down was instead used to do things that uplifted me. This is what I am teaching people to do too.

We will continue with the Qigong Congress next week.
Agapelife
copyright/P.Nicholas

Qigong:-Individual and Planetary Health at the Qigong Congress

So do you think that you can't eliminate stresses in your life? You have unbearable pain and tried everything without success? Is aging preventing you from enjoying life fully? The people below will answer with a resounding "Nay"

They were many doctors,psychologists, scientists and innovative Qi (Energy) Healing masters presenting their studies that showed evidence of breakthroughs in pain elimination, stress reduction, anti-aging, weight loss and extraordinary human performance. All these studies had a positive outcome - they showed the capabilities of the human potential.

According to Dr. Chow, a qigong grandmaster, more people are learning qigong's benefits which is nourishing and maintaining physical and environmental health.This inevitably benefits the Health of our Planet.

I could not attend all the workshops, especially, since I volunteered for one and a half days. One of the workshops was on Spine Care by Dr. Alex and it was excellent and we also had some practical hands on exercises. Another was Dr Chow's Spontaneous Healing in holistic body,mind and spirit rehabilitation. There were also different qigong techniques and excercises given by the different qigong masters.

The panel discussions by the presenters were also very informative. We learned about the research on how Qigong reduced blood pressure. Dr. Aung MD from Edmonton, Canada talked about how alternative medicine has been integrated to the university of Alberta and how healing energy purifies, energizes and is recycled.

Another interesting person on the panel was Dr. Rico Melson MD who is known as a pioneer in Integrative Medicine and he spoke of how globalization should bring harmony to the many different traditions of the Healing Systems and this is a man who spent his lifetime studying some of the healing systems of the different cultures.

It was a Fun Congress as well, as there was entertainment, dancing and fashion show.One qigong master stood on eggs while doing a chinese painting - the eggs did not crack.The Shaolin monks from China performed remarkable feats. There was no frown to be seen, almost everyone from presenters to the attendees were smiling, relaxed and happy. The positive energy was very catchy. Many heart to heart hugs were given and received.

If for 5 days, almost 277 people (was about 400 on the weekend) from all over the world, from different religion, cultures and languages could mingle harmoniously, imagine the possibilities for Peace and Harmony Globally, if each one's focus was the same as it was at the Congress, we all had one main focus - Positive Qi (Energy)

Agapelife

Developer / Inventor of the Energy enhancement System

Dr. Sandra Rose Michael, is a petite, woman with flawless skin and thick long blonde hair with a sunny smile. She greeted me with Aloha in a voice that is soothing yet strong. It took me by surprise, as this is the woman who spent 15 years of a life with the invention that has caused a stir in scientific and health circles.
She stated humbly, that she had the input of scientists, physicists and technologists.

Who is Dr. Sandra Rose Michael?
She is a doctor of Natural Medicine and was so renowned as a healer in Hawaii that more people were seeking her services! She said that she did not deliberatly try to invent EESystem. Her intention was to find something that would reach more people than she would be able through her healing techniques. She uses th1s rejuvenating System herself in her home. It must work as she looks younger than her stated age! She also stated that she does not feel the effects of jetlag using the System. This is a woman who travels monthly all over the world, giving lectures, and presentations.

Here is a clip of the presentation, similar to the one I attended in San Francisco.


Agapelife

Energy Enhancement System

During the Qigong Congress, I met many fascinating people, one of them was Dr. Gregory Gerber, medical director of the energy enhancement system also called EESystem. He is also an MD who works in a Rehabilitation Hospital.

So what is this System about you might ask? To put it simply, this EESystem, can revitalize, re-energize as well as relax you.

1.It makes you feel and look young.

2.It revitalizes you - gives you energy.

3.It helps your immune system.

4.Purifies the air around you.

5.Relaxes you and remove harmful stresses.
Some people who used the EEsystem, had physical healing, others found mental healing and others found emotional tensions resolved.

It looks like the invention of the century! Many scientists and physicists have tested it and approved it. Early next week, I will post about the inventor of this EESystem, I had the priviledge to meet recently.

I attended Dr. Gerber's presentation and this video shows part of it. Please send me your comments.




Agapelife
copyright/P Nicholas

Qigong:-Energy - Positive and Illuminating at the 11th World Qigong Congress

It was in San Francisco - the World Qigong congress and the theme was Qigong and TCM for Individual and Planetary Health - an essential balance.

Presenters were from China, Japan, Canada, Hawaii and the US and they all gave good presentations. We also had researchers, scientists, physicists, medical doctors,nurses, doctors of natural medicine, professors and an inventor in the panel discussions.

It was interesting to see doctors educated in Western Medicine, incorporating eastern medicine in their practice. One in particular, Dr. G. Gerber will be featured next week with an excerpt of his talk. You will also hear from the inventor of the EE System, (Energy Enhancement System) which I believe you will hear much about in the coming years as the invention of the century.

It was so refreshing to see Qigong done by these masters, including the hostess of the event, Dr. E Chow. We also heard the personal testimonials of those who had various diseases healed through Qigong therapy.

The pervading atmosphere of the whole five days was peace, joy and harmony among all those in the Congress. Over 270 people from 4 continents, Americas, Asia, Europe and Australia gathered in San Francisco for this event. The energy was highly positive. Some healing of chronic pain took place with Dr. Chow emitting Qi.

In the following postings, we will show a couple of the presenters as well some scientific research results done on qigong and energy enhancement. Here are some of the Presenters including Qigong masters.

Agapelife

copyright/P Nicholas

Nurses - Not the final word!

The time has come to leave Nurses and Nursing for a while! Some interviews were put on the back burner for now.

The past few weeks, we briefly commented on the history of nursing, the characteristics of the men and women who pursued the nursing vocation and the evolving and future of nursing. We also had two interviews, one with a nurse practitioner and another with Nurse William, an ER and critical care nurse.

Nurses have and are making a difference in the lives of many people. Some have left the hospitals, clinics and classrooms without leaving the organized compassion and caring that comes the Nurse. Our former, well-liked Mayor was a nurse. Some nurses have become doctors of natural medicine or alternative medicine therapists.

Nursing has certainly evolved to an empowering role and a nurse is no longer the doctor's handmaid.
Hopefully, these postings on Nurses have dispelled any myths you have about them. It will be interesting to see how nursing will further evolve in the years to come.
Agapelife

copyright/P Nicholas

Nurse William speaks.

Here is the interview with Nurse William who works in ER and Critical Care.

1. What attracted you to nursing? Was it your first profession?

I was not so much "attracted" to nursing as I was "called" to it. It was something I truly and clearly felt called to do. I was a paratrooper in the Army and then a merchant seaman before I felt the call to go into nursing. I had toyed with the idea for some years before doing it, and finally decided that if I didn't at least try I would kick myself for the rest of my life.

2. How do you view nursing after graduation and now?

My view of nursing has really not changed at all. The ethos and motivation I had during school are the same, if only a bit stronger.

3. How many years in the nursing profession

I have been in the profession for nearly seven years.

4. Is your definition of the male nurse any different from the female nurse!

Not at all. The common misconception is that men are new to the profession, which is not at all the case. Men have been nurses at least since 200BC. It was not until the advent of Florence Nightingale- and later the American Nurses Association- that men were pushed out of the profession.

In my mind, a nurse is a nurse. I am not a "male" nurse- I am a nurse. To call me otherwise is on the level of referring to someone as a "lady doctor". It demeans the title.

5. How is the public/patient reaction to a male nurse? Some examples, please!

I honestly have had no reaction from my patients, except for the patients who happened to be nurses, and then only once. She said, in a quite patronizing tone, "It's so nice to have more men in the profession." I smiled and said, "We were here first." She didn't think I was funny.

6. What would you say to men who might be considering this profession?

DO IT. You'll be kicking yourself in the butt for the rest of your life if you don't, at least give it a try.

7.Is there another area of Nursing that interests you?

Another area of nursing that has attracted my attention is disaster and mass-casualty incident preparation. I have presented the findings of a related research project to my state's Nursing Commission and I am currently working on creating a standardized statewide curriculum that would prepare nursing students and faculty for deployment as disaster/MCI clinical teams that would provide additional manpower for addressing the needs of a community affected by an event.

Thank you Nurse William and hope some of my male readers will follow your advice.

More about this nurse's views and experience on - NurseWilliam@blogspot.com

Agapelife/PNicholas

Qigong:-11th World Qigong Congress

Will be away for this congress for a week in San Francisco, attending workshops and meeting some of the world's most gifted energy healers.
There will be many in the health profession, including family physicians, psychologists,physical therapists, nurses and scientists, who have incorporated natural healing into their practice. I will also be attending Dr.Effie Chow's workshop.

Just keep the comments and questions coming in and I will answer them next week. If you want to know about Qigong, please go to the past postings on the Qigong.
Agapelife

Interview with a Nurse Practitioner (PN)

Jennifer works as a Nurse Practitioner in a clinic.

Why did you chose to be a nurse and a Nurse Practitioner (NP) in particular?

I spent many years as a cashier but I had always wanted to be a nurse, then I met my husband who told me to pursue my dreams. So at age 30, I entered the nursing program with the ultimate goal of becoming a NP.

How long did it take?

7 long years, while working on the Medical-Surgical floor and a stand-by charge nurse full time, as well as being a full time mother and wife, I studied for my Degree in Nursing and NP. Now I am a Board Certified Family Nurse Practitioner (ARNP)

So who is a Nurse Practitioner?
Most people have heard the term Nurse Practitioner but don't understand what the title entails.
We order tests, diagnose diseases and treat them just like a family physician can.
What are the Pros and Cons?

Pros - ability to take care of patients and their entire family through education, diagnosing and treatment in an office setting.

Cons - not having prescriptive authority for controlled substances and not being able to follow patients into the hospital setting as the primary care provider.
In what way are you Empowering your patients?
Empower them to take charge of their own health.

What is the future of Nursing and for the NP?
It is becoming better through expansion of research, regarding treatment outcomes.

To know more about what the Nurse Practitioner does, please visit Jennifer's blog.
http://www.npplace.com OR http://arnp.blogspot.com

Thank you Jennifer for an inspiring interview!
If you have any questions or comments, please send it along.

Next Thursday September 25, our interview will be with Nurse William, an emergency care nurse.

Nursing 2030 - Future of Nursing

Here are some of the technologies that have changed the nursing career in the past century. 1. Electronic IV monitors,
2.portable defibrillators
3.computer stations
4.hands-free communication devices including remote call badges
5.portable IT devices.
6.drug management technology to regulate dosage of medications.
Yet with all these advances, there is an acute nursing shortage in many parts of the world. By the year 2020, it is estimated there will be a shortage of 800,000 nurses.
Buerhaus, JAMA,2000

In the 1990's I wrote a skit for a degree nursing course called Nursing 2020 and some of my fellow classmates enacted it out. I had a challenging time to convince these registered nurses that charting would be done at the bedside on computers and that hospital cleaning would be done by robots.

Three years later, working in Florida, the former was a reality. While visiting a maternity hospital in Singapore, I was going to an elevator when I was told by a voice to move out of the way which I did and stared in disbelief at the machine that gave the command. It was taking food trays to the patients on the floor and was gave the command after entering the elevator for the particular floor.

New technological advances are continuing?
R2D2 - Robot nurses could be in hospitals by 2020! (Warwick University Engineering Dept, UK.)
What are your views? Would robots take over as Nurses?
Will hospitals be managed by Nurses?

Some Nurses are already ordering treatments and medications. They are the NP - licensed Nurse Practitioners. On next Tuesday's post, we will have the interview with Nurse Practitioner, Jennifer and the following week, we will have the interview with Nurse William!

Agapelife
copyright/P Nicholas

Who Becomes a Nurse?

Before we peer into the future of the Nurse and Nursing, let us discuss the characters of people who enter the nursing vocation. In the days of Florence Nightingale and before, it was middle class ladies who were altruistic or nuns and monks as the extension of their religious vocation.
in Europe.
In the forties and fifties, some nurses might tell you that they became nurses as there was not much opportunities for women in other fields.

Traits of nurses include compassion,intelligence, diligence ethical,non-judgemental, confident, problem solver, multi-tasking,humorous,
politeness, flexibility, well organized,precision,intuitive, a good listener,patient advocate and many other traits which will need a longer posting. Do send me traits not mentioned in your comments?

Irregular Nursing shifts, physically or verbally abused by patients, working extra shifts, working weekends, call back on days off, no room for errors are all part and parcel of a nurse's life. Through all this, the nurse is expected to be kind,polite and smile without retaliation of any kind. Is it any wonder, that some think nurses have a masochistic trait as well.
On several occasions previously, when I was assigned to six patients and four of them in the same room were asking me, at the same time to attend to their requests, while I was doing a treatment on one, I remember saying " I am not an octopus, only a nurse", which made them laugh. Many times, I felt I needed more arms to tend to the patients assigned to me.

As one nurse wrote on her blog posting, -
"Nursing is head on, hands on, heart on, all together, all at once, maybe that is enough explanation why there is a Nursing Shortage; because not a lot of people can be all that, all at once".
may at www.aboutanurse.com
Agapelife
copyright/P.Nicholas

The Nurse and the Past 50 Years

Physicians gave the orders, Nurses implemented them!This is how the nursing profession have been linked with the medical profession and still continues, in many areas. In the last fifty years, some changes have occurred that does not make the above statement accurate to all nurses! LPN or licensed practical nurses have taken over the bedside nursing in many facilities, especially in Long Term Care but they do work under the Registered Nurses' supervision.

In order to make these postings simple, all the Nurses I mention in the next paragraphs are Registered Nurses who are either educated in a nursing college or a university and all have post-graduate studies in some specializations.

You, most probably have heard of ICU (intensive care unit), ECU (emergency care unit), CCU(cardiac care unit) Dialysis unit. All these units are specialty units and the nurses who work there have extra education and certification above their basic nursing education.

Scientific and Medical discoveries like radium, vaccines and antibiotics expanded the role of the nurse. Then in the last 15 years, informatics has changed the mode of recording data and treatments.

Nurses are now working in other areas besides the traditional hospitals and Nursing Homes. Community Health Nurses work in clinics and visit homes to do assessments on home-bound clients. Public Health Nurses work in municipal and other government agencies, teaching, researching on disease prevention and policies for health protocols. Occupational Health Nurses work with employees, in industries and organizations.

Nurse Researchers, nurse Educators are found in colleges, universities and some major research facilities. There are also Nurse Anaesthetists, Nurse Case Managers, Mental Health Nurses

The Informatics Nurse is a new addition in the last decade and she is responsible for teaching her colleagues on IT related documentation as well as formulating new applications for nurses. Another new addition is the Nurse Practitioner who is able to diagnose and prescribe some medication and treatments independently. Usually, she works in a community clinic or Wellness Centres. Sometimes, she works in partnership with a family physician in an office setting!
Yet another is the Nurse Entrepreneur - she is a business owner either online or off-line.

So what is next for the Nurse?? Tune in on Tuesday?
Agapelife

copyright P Nicholas

Nurse - Who was the first Nurse?

Let me ask you a question? When you were feeling unwell or when you had a cough or cold as a child, who was the first person who gave you care, till you became better? Many of us will answer - mother, grandmother,aunt. Likewise, the first nurse was untrained and the female member of a family.

The history of nursing seem to be synonymous with the history of women.(V.Robbins)
Yet both sexes have the tendency to respond to helplessness (Donahue,M.96) The first religious orders had male nurses caring for their sick in the monasteries in the middle ages as women were not allowed in the enclosures.

Nursing was part of many religious orders who followed Christ's mandate in ministering to the sick. In 1633, St. Vincent de Paul and Louise Marillac of France founded the Daughters of Charity who looked after the sick in their homes and in hospitals. In the Americas, Jeanne Mance founded the first hospital in Montreal in 1645 and in 1783, James Derham, a slave in New Orleans, through the earnings as a nurse bought his freedom.

In the nineteen century in the England, Florence Nightingale, initiated Evidence-Based Nursing after she went to France to learn from the Daughters of Charity, their methods in caring for the sick. She included statistics and a systemic approach to nursing. She and the women she trained were ladies who volunteered their services without being paid.



So in England in the nineteenth century, nurses' training was provided for those who cared for the sick and carried out their duties under the direction of a physician. I mentioned England, because all the Commonwealth countries adopted the same training as those in England. Training was provided in hospital schools, and usually an unmarried girl or widow was accepted. They were trained on the job and were required to live in nursing residences attached or close to the hospital. There was a nursing hierarchy

The student nurses were paid a stipend while they trained, which usually lasted for three years when they are promoted to staff nurse. The next level is a nursing sister (only a few reached this status, as many of the staff nurses married and left the hospital to raise a family. Nursing sister did not marry. They were provided lodging and the acted as supervisors and teachers.

The final level in the nursing ladder was the Matron, who also was unmarried. Physicians at times were intimidated by the Matron. Nurses usually stayed in the residences except for their occasional week-ends off. White, starched, a-line,modest, dress uniforms and little caps or veils were part of the scenery in hospitals for two centuries.

Florence's contribution to nursing and health, included, careful statistical data collection and thorough documentation. She changed Public Health and reformed the hospital environment, including basic infection control. You can read more about Florence in this website - http://spartacus.schoolnet.com.uk/re nightingale.htm

This is only a brief description of the history of nursing and the Nurse! There is a great volume of information on the web and in books, describing the history of nursing in the individual countries.
From its history, we can travel to the present and see the paths, Nursing and the Nurse evolving, in the area of education, duties, opportunities and empowerment.

The next posting will be nursing in the last 50 years. Would like to hear from Nurses, retired or still working as well as student nurses!
Agapelife
copyright/pnicholas

The Nurse - Who and Why?

A discussion in a social blog forum, about how the general public perceived Nurses prompted this series. I was prompted to write this as I spent many years in the different areas of nursing, from medical-surgical in the hospitals to Home Health and Long Term / Chronic Care, from bedside nursing to teaching, supervision and case management. All along, nursing has evolved and continues to evolve!

In the next few postings, we will touch briefly on, the History of Nursing. Who becomes a Nurse? Why Nursing as opposed to other careers? Why is there a shortage of Nurses? Will it improve? Technology and Nursing, The evolution of Nursing! What will nursing in 2030 be like? We will have short interviews with perhaps five or six nurses, each in a different area of nursing.

So join me in the next few weeks, as we explore this noble, dynamic yet vulnerable profession. We would also like to hear your positive and not so positive impact of nurses or nursing on your life.

Have Nurses contributed to society? Have Nurses made a difference in your life? Do you see a future in Nursing? If you are looking for a career, would you choose Nursing or Not? What are the reasons? Would Robots ever replace a Registered Nurse??

After you have read the completed work (expected date of completion - mid-Septemeber), perhaps, you will no longer have myths about Nurses and the Nursing Profession?