Ep. 165 - Veterans Day Episode With Colonel Susan Luz

Ever wondered what it's like to serve as a combat nurse on the front lines? Join us for this special Veterans Day episode with Colonel Susan Luz as she shares inspiring and heartbreaking stories of service, resilience, and leadership that translate from the battlefield to the bedside.

 

SPECIAL GUEST

Susan Luz, BSN, MPH, RN graduated from the University of Rhode Island with a degree in Nursing. After a clinical rotation at Rhode Island's Institute of Mental Health and public health experiences, she joined the Peace Corps, with her first assignment in Brazil. After leaving the Peace Corps, Luz earned her master's degree in public health nursing from Boston University. She returned to Brazil with Project Hope and then took a job as a nurse-teacher at Central High School in Providence and ran its school-based clinic from 1978 to 2006. While working at Central, she also worked nights at the state Institute of Mental Health and then Gateway Healthcare's Acute Residential Treatment Center. Luz joined the Army Reserves in 1983. She was 56 years old when her unit was later deployed to Iraq in 2006, at the height of the U.S. surge and the bloodiest point of the war. Colonel Luz was the highest-ranking woman in the 399th Combat Support Hospital, a Massachusetts based Army Reserve unit. As a public health nurse with certification as a psychiatric nurse, Luz's mission in Iraq included helping soldiers with emotional trauma, and providing comfort to dying soldiers. Luz formed her own "Band of Sisters," a group of nurses who were not only dedicated to treating wounded soldiers, but also maintaining morale among the troops, especially during the unit's time in the middle of the desert in Al Asad. Luz was awarded the Bronze Star in 2007. She is the author of "The Nightingale of Mosul" A Nurse's Journey of Service, Struggle, and War.

 

MEET OUR CO-HOSTS

Samantha Bayne, MSN, RN, CMSRN, NPD-BC is a nursing professional development practitioner in the inland northwest specializing in medical-surgical nursing. The first four years of her practice were spent bedside on a busy ortho/neuro unit where she found her passion for newly graduated RNs, interdisciplinary collaboration, and professional governance. Sam is an unwavering advocate for medical-surgical nursing as a specialty and enjoys helping nurses prepare for specialty certification.