Featured NIGH Interviews from the UN CSW 2017
“I am able to take what I hear from the United Nations and bring it back to work...
But I am also able to take my work experience — from working with so many patients
from diverse backgrounds — and bring it back to the United Nations.”
But I am also able to take my work experience — from working with so many patients
from diverse backgrounds — and bring it back to the United Nations.”
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Veronica Pasha is one of NIGH World's UN NGO Youth Representatives. As a young nurse and nursing leader, she has already made her mark in a number of areas. As a student at Hunter-Bellevue School of Nursing Class of 2015, she was Co-president of Global Medical Brigades at Hunter College and served as Breakthrough to Nursing Director with the Nursing Students Association of New York State (NSANYs).
Beginning her career at New York Presbyterian Weill Cornel Medical Centre in Manhattan, she serves as a 'Float Nurse' practicing within the Women's & Childrens Health arena — in Post- Partum, Labor & Delivery and High-Risk Ante-Partum. She is also a 'SAFE' — a Sexual Assault Forensic Examiner — who looks after domestic violence and sexual assault victims requiring time-sensitive one-on-one care and treatment. Fluent in Spanish, Veronica has volunteerd in Honduras, Panama and Nicaragua to make remarkable gains in women's and children's in Central America. To learn more, click here >> |
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See our related UN Parallel Event
Co-Sponsored with ICN |
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See our UN CSW
Gala Reception |
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“We are all together! Do not give up! We are all trying our best. We are all nurses.
Even though you’re going through something — and its very difficult and very different
from what we are going through — we are trying our best on this side of the world.“
Even though you’re going through something — and its very difficult and very different
from what we are going through — we are trying our best on this side of the world.“
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Born in New York — the first generation of Afghan parents — Freshta Poupal took a remarkable leap of faith to bring both her nursing experience and her culture and language to the Greek island of Levos. Armed with a cadre of medical supplies she had raised monies to bring, Freshta took herself to Greece to serve desperate Afghan refugees who journeyed across the sea — from Turkey — to safety. To learn more, click here >>
Freshta now serves as one of NIGH World's UN NGO Youth Representatives and has presented about her volunteer work with Afghan refugees at the UN Headquarters in New York City. Her clinical nursing practice has focused on Emergency and Level 1 Trauma Care at New York Presbyterian / Queens — where she now serves as a Supervisor and mentor to young nurses who appreciate learning from Freshta's remarkable insights and experience. |
“Being involved — having a voice — is so important because
— if nobody knows what’s going on — how can we fix anything?”
— if nobody knows what’s going on — how can we fix anything?”
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“There are these millions of nurses & midwives out there. They know what they’re doing! They know the problems of their communities. And they can have a voice and they can have a say. I thought well! That’s really pretty obvious!
Why hasn’t somebody advanced that before? in some properly organized way? It's one of those ideas whose day came. It should have come earlier!” Cyril Ritchie knows of what he speaks! For more than four decades, he has made significant 'civil society' contributions to global needs and causes. He has participated in many United Nations Summits and World Conferences, including for Food, Environment, Women, Habitat, Nutrition, Social Development Information and for Sustainable Development.
Since 2007, Cyril has served on NIGH’s Boards of Directors and Advisors — helping our Core Team to bring the voices of nurses and midwives |
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In 2014, Cyril was re-elected President of CoNGO — the 'Conference of Non-Governmental Organizations in Consultative Relationship with the United Nations.’ Prior to his Presidency, starting in 2010, he has served for 40 years for five separate terms as Secretary and Vice President of the CoNGO Conference. To learn more about CoNGO's significant global contributions, click here >>
“She told me that one of the students had been in labor the day before.
The baby was delivered — a 'fresh stillbirth.' And the mother — a student nurse --
had actually ended up dying from a postpartum hemorrhage.”
The baby was delivered — a 'fresh stillbirth.' And the mother — a student nurse --
had actually ended up dying from a postpartum hemorrhage.”
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Hannah Bergbower is a nurse and public health specialist with a passion for global health, women’s health and empowerment, and health systems strengthening. She graduated with a BSN from Lakeview College of Nursing in 2010 and with a MPH in Behavioral, Social and Community Health from Indiana University in 2012. She also completed a two year fellowship in Global Clinical Education through Massachusetts General Hospital in 2016. In the United States, she has worked in a variety of emergency department settings — from nationally-ranked Level 1 trauma centers — to community hospitals. She brings her remarkable experience as a US Peace Corps Seed Global Health volunteer — teaching student nurses how to save lives of at-risk infants and mothers in labor in Tanzania — to the 2017 UN Commission on the Status of Women.
Click here >> to see an excerpt of her presentation at a UN CSW Parallel Event in New York City on March 17, 2017. To learn more and see photos of her Tanzanian students, click here >> |
“I remember feeling as though every bit of this had washed over by body. It was a complete and utter let-down!”
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“...I’ve had another fire lit under me
to really take a stand for women—for women’s health and to stand up for the development and empowerment of women.” Kim Evans is an Advanced Practice Nurse (APN) with over 35 years of clinical experience in multiple roles — including as a staff nurse, nurse manager and critical care clinical nurse specialist. Her APN practice is as a clinical nurse specialist with board certification in Adult Health. She is also certified as a nurse ‘Amma Therapist’ — to provide acupressure based on Traditional Chinese Medicine and has completed a Fellowship Program in Integrative Medicine through the University of Arizona with Dr. Andrew Weil. Committed to serving the ‘Body, Mind & Spirit’ of people, Kim recalls the seminal moment when she became aware of this need. “When the hospital I was working for began its open heart surgery program in 1995, we were able to include an Expressive-Art Therapist on our team. Over a 3-month period, |
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she saw everyone who had had a heart attack or open heart surgery. Her results astounded me! 75 % of these patients had significant unresolved grief issues. I realized they had a ‘broken heart’ which manifested physically as a blockage in their coronary arteries. I knew then that healing was more than just a physicality.”
Kim is keen to now be taking this ‘Body-Mind-Spirit’ lens to global arenas, enthusiastic to be — for the first time — participating at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women in 2017.. She is the founder and owner of the Institute for Integrative Medicine in Louisville, Kentucky. To learn more about Kim's work and insights, click here >>
Kim is keen to now be taking this ‘Body-Mind-Spirit’ lens to global arenas, enthusiastic to be — for the first time — participating at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women in 2017.. She is the founder and owner of the Institute for Integrative Medicine in Louisville, Kentucky. To learn more about Kim's work and insights, click here >>
”First of all, nurses are present with people from birth to death
and nurses are one of the most trusted professions.
So, its just natural for nurses to be a vehicle to bring about world peace.”
and nurses are one of the most trusted professions.
So, its just natural for nurses to be a vehicle to bring about world peace.”
All above videos and photos are from NIGH's archives.