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Over the Years

U.S.A.: Nurses Training Program

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HICARE invited two Nurses from USA for three weeks training.

Name and Position:

Deborah Jean Persell
PhD Student at University of Tennessee
Associate Professor, Arkansas State University

Elizabeth Ann Fiske
PhD Student at University of Tennessee
Critical Care Clinical Nurse Specialist, East Tennessee Children's Hospital

Period:

June 4 to June 23, 2007

Training Organization (in order of occurrence):

Radiation Effects Research Foundation
Hiroshima University Research Institute for Radiation Biology and Medicine
Hiroshima University Hospital
Hiroshima Red Cross Hospital and Atomic-bomb Survivors Hospital
Hiroshima Atomic Bomb Casualty Council
Hiroshima Prefectural Medical Association
The Japanese Red Cross Hiroshima College of Nursing
Hiroshima A-Bomb Survivors Relief Foundation

Training content:

Course on nursing techniques

Mrs. Fiske (left) and  Mrs. Persell (2nd from the right) at the Hiroshima Red Cross Hospital and Atomic Survivors Hospital with Mrs. Tagawa, Director of Department of Nursing (2nd from the left) and Ms. Ymamoto, Chief Nurse (right)

Impressions:

Deborah Jean Persell:
The training I received from HICARE is unlike any training on radiation effects I’ve received anywhere else. I was afforded opportunity to personally speak with and hear the research activities and results of some of the best scientists in the world at RERF. However, the training incorporates much more than science. As important as the science is to provide current and relevant health care to those who have been exposed to radiation, opportunities to understand the cultural and societal results of radiation exposure provides increased utilization of the science.

My visits to the A-Bomb Dome, the Peace Museum, and the Mound were life changing. However, nothing prepared me for the experience of personally setting with an A-Bomb survivor and hearing her story of that day and her life since. I will carry this experience with me always.

In the United States, I am an associate professor of nursing at Arkansas State University and a doctoral candidate in nursing with a specialty in homeland security from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. As I resume my faculty and civic responsibilities related to disaster preparedness, I will now be able to share personal experience and perspectives obtained in Hiroshima. This entire experience has put a very human face on a devastating historical event. The international significance of these experiences is obvious: we should all work to prevent the use and proliferation of nuclear weapons. Hiroshima’s message of peace becomes critically important as the field experiences of HICARE unfold.

Elizabeth Ann Fiske:
HICARE’s training was a once in a lifetime opportunity to not only meet with world renowned scientists but to meet actual survivors of the a-bomb event. I learned a range of very technical information as well as social and personal information that will be very useful in my career. I provide classes at a Children’s Hospital to prepare workers to respond to disasters and HICARE’s training will enhance my classes significantly. In addition, I am completing nursing doctoral studies with a concentration in Homeland Security and the training here in Hiroshima is a capstone experience in my education. ion. As such, let me conclude by reemphasizing the value of my recent training in Hiroshima.