by Mike Lee, Staff Writer
The Oklahoma Nurses Association is providing Oklahomans their only chance to view The American Nurse, a heart-warming film that explores some of the biggest issues facing America on Wednesday, October 21.
Coinciding with the annual ONA Convention at the Reed Conference Center in Midwest City, the viewing will be offered through a dinner and movie ticket for $35.
You do not have to be registered for the convention to attend and this will be the only screening of the Carolyn Jones documentary in our state.
“It really portrays nurses respectfully in different settings and the work they do,” ONA Executive Director Jane Nelson said.
Aging, war, poverty, prisons – the film examines them through the work and lives of nurses
The night will be a fundraising reception and dinner event. While this year’s Convention focuses on the impact of Oklahoma Nurses, this film highlights the work of nurses from throughout America.
Tickets for the dinner and movie can be purchased for $35 at www.oklahomanurses.org and are first come, first serve until they are sold out. You do not need to be registered for Convention in order to attend this event. Dinner will begin at 5 p.m. with the film following at 6:30.
The American Nurse is an examination of real people that will change how we think about nurses and how we wrestle with the challenges of healing America.
The film is an important contribution to America’s ongoing conversation about what it means to care.
The American Nurse follows the paths of five nurses in various practice specialties including Jason Short as he drives up a rugged creek to reach a home-bound cancer patient in Appalachia.
Tonia Faust runs a prison hospice program where inmates serving life sentences care for their fellow inmates as they’re dying.
Naomi Cross coaches an ovarian cancer survivor through the Caesarean delivery of her son. Sister Stephen is a nun who runs a nursing home filled with goats, sheep, llamas and chickens, where the entire nursing staff comes together to sing for a dying resident.
And Brian McMillion, an Army veteran and former medic, rehabilitates wounded soldiers returning from war.
The American Nurse Project aims to elevate the voice of nurses in this country by capturing their personal stories through photography and film. In early 2012, photographer Carolyn Jones and her team began a journey across the United States, recording the unique experiences of nurses at work.
The photographs and narratives aim to inspire audiences to think about nurses in a way that they may never have before, with a newfound appreciation for this indispensable figure on the front lines of health and healthcare today: the American nurse.
Known internationally for her socially proactive medium-format photographic portraiture, Jones is also an award-winning filmmaker, having worked in a wide variety of film and video formats, primarily in documentary production.
Her most widely acclaimed book, Living Proof: Courage in the Face of AIDS, was published by Abbeville Press and was accompanied by shows in Tokyo, Berlin, the U.S., and at the United Nations World AIDS Conference.
In addition to her multiple exhibitions, book and magazine publications, she has collaborated on projects with Oxygen Media, PBS, the Girl Scouts of the USA, and an extensive list of corporate clients. She founded the non-profit 100 People Foundation for which she travels the world telling stories that celebrate our global neighbors.
