At Clara Barton’s Home in Glen Echo, Inspiration for a New Nurse Graduate

“You have never known me without work; while able, you never will.” – Clara Barton

Yesterday on day three of our ongoing Clara Barton tour we visited Barton’s home in Glen Echo, Maryland. As a brand new nursing graduate and history lover, learning about the dedication of the courageous woman who paved the way for me and millions of others is a humbling experience.

Barton’s fame as a selling point for a new town.

Clara Barton lived and worked in Glen Echo, located a little over seven miles from Washington, D.C., and overlooking the Potomac River, until her death in 1912.

Barton was an early resident of the town, which was established in 1889 by two brothers, Edwin and Edward Baltzley. The American Red Cross was an operating organization by this point and Clara’s work was well-known throughout the world. The Baltzley brothers hoped that her fame and affiliation with the American Red Cross would bring attention to their town, including from investors for its development, and they gave Clara land and a home at no cost. She moved in when she was 75 years old.

The home, built in 1891, also served as a warehouse for the American Red Cross an its […]

2024-06-06T12:58:27-04:00June 6th, 2024|Clara Barton Tour 2024, Nursing|1 Comment
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At Red Cross National Headquarters, a Vision of Past and Present Priorities

The author speaking to the Clara Barton tour group before the Tiffany stained glass windows at national Red Cross headquarters.

“Because of the climate crisis, the Red Cross launches nearly twice as many relief operations for major disasters than it did a decade ago.”

Today a group of us tracing the career and legacy of Clara Barton arrived at the ornate national Red Cross headquarters in Washington, D.C., a building I have been at countless times over my last 48 years of volunteering. Every time I enter, it reminds me of the people who have worked so hard to help millions of people have better lives—whether through disaster or war recovery, aid for military families, or donating the gift of blood.

Built as a memorial to the women of the Civil War with U.S. and private funds, the headquarters features exquisite architecture. The building’s showpiece—the Tiffany stained glass windows—are designed to “symbolize reconciliation following the Civil War and are reputed to be the largest suite of Tiffany windows created for a secular environment.”

A Brief History

We learned how the Red Cross initially focused on domestic and overseas disaster relief efforts, assisted the U.S. military […]

2024-06-05T10:44:05-04:00June 5th, 2024|Clara Barton Tour 2024, climate change, Nursing, nursing history, Public health|0 Comments
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How Did She Do It? A Second Chance to Study Clara Barton’s Legacy

Do you know that game where people ask each other which famous person they would most like to have dinner with? Well, for me it’s Clara Barton. I would jump right to the punch line: Dearest Clara, how DID you do it? 

How did you stand up for enslaved people during the height of the Civil War? How did you manage to care for the men fighting in the Civil War with all the gore that war brings, in your hoop skirt no less?

Men and women alike were frowning upon your activities and actively blocking your efforts—and asking you to simply go home and be a lady. How were you able to help families find their missing husbands, sons, and fathers during and after the war, and then help locate and mark nearly 13,000 graves?

Founding the American Red Cross

And here’s the big one, Clara: How were you able to take the lessons you learned from caring for soldiers during the war and assisting in disasters to build one of the greatest humanitarian organizations of all time, the American Red Cross—as a 59-year-old single woman, no less? Most people told you it was impossible to create an organization that was impartial, neutral, independent of the government, and run by volunteers. Then you led the organization for […]

2024-06-03T11:22:06-04:00June 3rd, 2024|Clara Barton Tour 2024, Nursing|1 Comment
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A Paradigm Shift in Obesity Care: Recommended Reading in AJN’s June Issue

The June issue of AJN is now live.

Obesity, which is depicted on the June cover, has steadily increased in prevalence in the United States over the past three decades. This month’s AJN Reports, “Weight Loss Medications: Stigma and Shortages,” takes a close look at the multifaceted implications of new medications to treat obesity. (Also see editor-in-chief Carl Kirton’s editorial, “A Paradigm Shift in Obesity Care.”)

“Nursing Care for Patients After Urostomy Surgery” details pre- and postoperative interventions for nurses who encounter patients undergoing urostomy surgery. It also includes a tear sheet that nurses can use to provide patients with the basic information and skills they need for effective self-care. (CE credit available)

Can physical activity help alleviate nurse burnout? This month’s Original Research article, “Addressing Nurse Burnout: The Relationship Between Burnout and Physical Activity” describes a cross-sectional study that sought to determine whether a correlation exists between self-reported physical activity levels and nurses’ perception of burnout in a sample of hospital RNs.

In “Improving Compliance with  a Nurse-Driven Protocol for Unfractionated Heparin Infusions in Patients with Venous Thromboembolism,” the authors discuss a QI initiative to reduce patient safety events related to […]

2024-05-28T15:00:03-04:00May 28th, 2024|Nursing|0 Comments
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The ‘World’s Meanest’ Clinical Nursing Instructor

When I was growing up, my mother kept a short essay called “I Had the World’s Meanest Mother” displayed in our house. She really loved that essay. What I’m writing today is inspired by that essay. It’s not for mothers but for all those clinical instructors who continue to cultivate the next generation of nurses.

Student nurse giving a patient a metabolism test/Library of Congress

As I sit in the classroom and hear my colleagues talk about their clinical instructors, I remember my own and think to myself that I’m the one who had the meanest clinical instructor: She kept us in clinical for our entire allotted time. Not only that, but she frequently reminded us of the importance of our clinical rotation by saying things like “you are paying for an education,” “this will help you to be successful in your NCLEX preparation,” and “you will become a great nurse.”

In some ways that clinical instructor reminded me of Mary Poppins—she always carried a bag and she seemed to pull an endless number of items out of its depths: NCLEX questions with a list of rationales; an NCLEX blueprint (she had a few copies); concept map templates; a medication book; even […]

2024-05-21T11:44:47-04:00May 21st, 2024|Nursing, Nursing education|4 Comments
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Views expressed on the blog are solely those of the authors or persons quoted. They do not necessarily reflect AJN’s views or those of Wolters Kluwer Health/Lippincott Williams and Wilkins.
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