The American Nurse Documentary
On May 14, some of the Celestial Care staff enjoyed watching the documentary filmed and directed by Carolyn Jones called The American Nurse Documentary. Photographer Carolyn Jones, inspired by the woman who nursed her though chemotherapy for breast cancer, traveled the country in 2012 to interview 110 of the nation’s finest nurses. The film was in theaters from May 7th to the 15th.
The end result is the American Nurse Project, personal stories of nurses of every stripe from every facet of society captured through photography and film.
In the documentary, “The American Nurse,” Jones (“Living Proof: Courage in the Face of AIDS”) and her producer Lisa Frank, highlight those who “make the difference between suffering and peace; between chaos and order. … Nurses understand humanity in a way that no one else does.”
The highlighted nurses in the documentary were as follows:
Sister Stephen brings hope and healing to the Villa Loretto Nursing Home in rural Wisconsin with the help of a farm full of dogs, cows, sheep, llamas, alpaca and ring-tailed lemurs. Brian McMillion, a military nurse with the V.A. San Diego Health System, never thought he would go into nursing. But he has traveled the world as a nurse with the “jungle infantry” and in the military’s war on drugs in Panama. Naomi Cross is a labor and delivery nurse at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. Cross spends most of her days filled with the joy of helping to bring new life into the world. Jason Short, a former mechanic and truck driver, provides home care to patients in eastern Kentucky, one of the poorest areas in the country. His patients are battling cancer, diabetes and black lung disease. Tonia Faust followed her mother’s path, working as a nurse at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, a maximum-security prison, where she directs the hospice program.
To learn more, watch a trailer of the film, read interviews, purchase the book or donate, go to the following website http://americannurseproject.com/. As of now the film is not for sale, but if it becomes available it is a must see for anyone in the medical profession.
Our staff was deeply touched by the film and enjoyed each and every story told.