title: Intergenerational Lessons and 'Fabulous Stories'.
abstract: While directing the Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action, Susan B. Hassmiller, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's senior adviser for nursing, realized the value that nursing history could bring to the campaign. She decided to interview her mother, Jacqueline J. Wouwenberg, a 1947 graduate of the Bellevue Hospital School of Nursing, in order to better understand and contextualize changes that had occurred in the nursing profession during the 20th century. In collaboration with nurse historians Cathryne A. Welch and Sandra B. Lewenson, Hassmiller participated in interviewing her mother and was also interviewed herself. The stories that emerged revealed a great deal: each woman had found that nursing had given them countless opportunities that reflected the time periods in which they lived. Wouwenberg's experiences, transmitted to Hassmiller through words and actions, also served as important lessons for her daughter. This article shares five lessons: be independent and courageous, know that nursing has no bounds, follow your passion, honor diversity, and give back. It also asks readers to reflect on the relevance of nurses' work from one generation to the next..
authors.affiliation: Sandra B. Lewenson is a professor at the Lienhard School of Nursing, College of Health Professions, Pace University, Pleasantville, NY. Cathryne A. Welch is project coordinator of the New York State Nurses' project "1+2+1 Model for Combined AD and BS Degrees in Nursing: Making Strides Toward Meeting the IOM's 80-20 Recommendations," funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and a member of the steering committee of the Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action's New York State Action Coalition. Susan B. Hassmiller is director of the Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action and senior adviser for nursing at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Princeton, NJ. The original transcript of "An Oral History with Jacqueline Wouwenberg and Susan Hassmiller" (Princeton, New Jersey: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, 2013) is housed in the archives of the Bellevue Alumnae Center for Nursing History at the Foundation of New York State Nurses' Center for Nursing, Guilderland, New York. The full transcript can also be obtained by contacting the authors. Contact author: Sandra B. Lewenson, slewenson@pace.edu. The authors have disclosed no potential conflicts of interest, financial or otherwise.
authors.forename: Sandra B
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Lewenson
authors.forename: Cathryne A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Welch
authors.forename: Susan B
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Hassmiller
mesh_terms: D002321:Career Choice; D004506:Education, Nursing / Q000266:history*; D006676:History of Nursing; D049673:History, 20th Century; D016901:Intergenerational Relations; D024802:Nurse's Role / Q000266:history*; D014481:United States