TED Talk: Tribute to Nurses
"Carolyn Jones spent five years interviewing, photographing and filming nurses across
America, traveling to places dealing with some of the nation's biggest public health
issues. She shares personal stories of unwavering dedication in this celebration of
the everyday heroes who work at the front lines of health care."
Breast cancer survivor, Carolyn Jones shares her personal experiences with nurses
as she endured chemotherapy, her dad’s heart attack and her mother’s last days after
a fall. Jones was so inspired by the help of nurses that she met and interviewed other
nurses from around the country, including nurses from Brooklyn to Appalachia to the
battlefield to hospice. Each nurse, she noted, saw the humanity, along with the suffering
of their patients and their families and allowed them the dignity of finding a normalcy
in their own suffering. This translated to gratitude to each nurse who revealed the
loving care each one had for their patients.
About the author: Debra Beck, Ph.D. is the former director of the Health Professions Programs at the University of North Texas where she served as the inaugural JAMP Faculty Director. After her retirement, she served as a consultant to TXHES where she established the Courage Sessions series to address the fast-changing landscape of admissions to professional school during the pandemic.