About Me
In a nutshell, I spent 25 years in hospital nursing in every position from staff nurse to VP, then another 25 years developing and running a consulting company full of highly competent, wise and compassionate people who are continuously devising new strategies that move the profession forward. In 2000, I sold that company to the wonderful people who work there and am now enjoying semi-retirement.
During that time, I have seen (and been a part of) some amazing changes in the profession. I was in on the ground floor of the project that became Primary Nursing, and wrote a book about it. I have helped hospitals around the word, most recently in Hong Kong, design and implement Primary Nursing systems. I helped develop Leading an Empowered Organization, a leadership program that has reached well over 100,000 people around the world. They say I have conducted seminars for over 1 million nurses. It doesn’t seem like that many, but when I stop to think about it, I realize it may be right.
Through all of that, my passion for the staff nurse – the nurse at the bedside, delivering the care – has never wavered.
I have been in love with the nursing profession all my life, it seems. When I was 5 years old, I was hospitalized for a month, and the only good memory I have of it is the caring I felt from a nurse named Florence Marie Fisher. I knew then that I wanted my life to be about helping others experience that same caring when they were sick.
If you want more official information, see my bio on the Creative Health Care Management website.
My Dear Marie:
Being the first to comment “what about you” is a so wonderful moment very similar at the Summit of Sages we just had some days ago!
Coming from a different country, taking almost a day long to get there with a person very special and to myself “the most important nurse we have in Brazil”, your dear friend, Mrs. Lore Cecilia Marx. I knew so much about you since many years ago through Lore’s mind and eyes. And then when I saw you person to person in Oct 13th I think to myself: There is the most famous and wonderful woman that one of my Sages, Lore, wish I could ever know one day.
The time we spent with you and all the people were talking about the same matter was just “amazing”, that there is a meaning in our language some like a wonderful moment that a human might have to into this life. I really would like to thank you and congratulations for all your job around the world. Nothing that Lore always told me was different from that I saw through my own eyes.
Dr. Maya Angelou, John Nelson, Georgia, Leah, Dr. John Howe and every each special person that was there: an extraordinary moment certainly. Tears tears and tears coming from my eyes…
That was not enough: “The Rainbow in the clouds” meant so much to me and, as a magic moment, as soon as I left Minnesota / Saint Paul I started to see a lot of rainbows that the Nature gives to us. I never have seen so many rainbows in my life. From the airplanes windows and another ones. One of them, in Chicago, on Oct 18th, Mr. Bruce Komiske said to me right the time we saw it: “Make a wish!” - I answered that I did not need anymore, because I believe that God heard our pray. I am sure that Lore approves what I am saying to you and I am sure that the way you think about Nursing, Healthcare, Relationship, Primary Nursing, Healing, Social Justice is the same way that people who makes the difference in our World.
We must do together “Somewhere over the Rainbow”.
With love, Lilia.
Try it (copy and paste):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2A2Jt4WOxN8
Thanks for the comment Lilia. The Summit continues to reverberate among groups of nurses here. I hope you are enjoying telling nurses in Brazil about the Social Justice topic and generating discussions among them about it’s meaning in nursing and in the world. Last night we had a salon here at my home and it was a remarkable event in that the discussion went deep into meaning….and reflected just how thoughtful and concerned nurses are about the injustices we see every day in health care….and in the world. I truly believe these discussions enrich our lives and can only lead to positive constructive outcomes. Let’s keep it going!