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Although their reasons for going to Vietnam varied,
the nurses who served in the war all had in common a
desire to care for people who needed their help. Much
of their work went largely unnoticed until the TV series
"China Beach." While the series took a lot
of liberties, it did bring to the forefront that nurses
served in Vietnam.
The nurses of Vietnam knowingly went into a war zone
because people there needed their help. Thirty-plus
years later, these nurses still can vividly remember
patients they saved and those they could not. They also
remember the feeling of bombs falling far too close
and the reactions of some Americans when they returned
to the States.
Sadly, it took until 1993 for the thousands of women
who served in Vietnam to be recognized with the dedication
of the Vietnam Women's Memorial, which includes eight
trees planted for American nurses who died in Vietnam.
There's a scene in a "China Beach" episode
that always gives me goose bumps, no matter how often
I see it. Nurse Colleen McMurphy has come home, and
after days of no one wanting to talk with her about
what she has been doing in Vietnam, she visits the VA
hospital, where she knows she will find people with
whom she can relate. There, she talks with the patients,
one of whom recognizes her. He tells the other patients
about how she helped save his life and how he has always
remembered her comforting voice.
As she starts to walk out of the room, he yells, "That's
my nurse!" over and over, in a voice full of emotion,
pride and gratitude. The goose bumps come as you feel
the impact McMurphy had on this soldier's life and realize
that this represents the impact that individual nurses
can have on other people each and every day of their
practice.
Although what nurses routinely do may not be as dramatic
as saving a soldier's life in the midst of a war in
a foreign country and while few of us will ever get
the overt gratitude from patients that McMurphy received,
our commitment to helping others can only be strengthened
by looking to the nurses who served in Vietnam. Their
work during the war and their fortitude since then make
them worthy role models for us all.
Discuss this and other topics with your colleagues at
www.nurseweek.com/rnvillage.
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