Dr. Dee Lippman partnered with Library staff to create a very moving and educational exhibit that is on view through March 15.. The lobby case on the left features the VA Nursing Academy, which partners School of Nursing Faculty with VA Connecticut Healthcare in West Haven to provide “compassionate, highly educated nurses to look after the health-care needs of the nation’s veterans.” Sadiann Ozment, Director of Hospital Education at VA in West Haven, and Mary B. Doughterty, National Director, VA Nursing Academy, recently visited DiMenna-Nyselius Library to tour the facility and see the exhibit.
The other lobby case, designed and set up by Pam Wertz, a member of Female Soldier, Forgotten Hero, features materials about Female Soldiers Forgotten Heroes, which addresses inadequate housing for returning women soldiers in cooperation with Homes for the Brave. There are also materials about the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans. 11% of homeless Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans are women. Also features is the volunteer project Kick for Nick which send soccer balls to service people in Iraq to distribute to Iraqi children to honor Nicholas Madaras who was killed in Iraq.
The six freestanding cases contain information about nursing pioneer Florence Nightingale, SON Faculty publications, nurses in the Civil and Spanish American Wars, World War II, and Vietnam, featuring a model of the Vietnam Women’s Memorial which is on the National Mall in Washington. Dr. Lippman, who was a Captain in the Army Nurse Corps in Vietnam, played a key role in making this Memorial possible.