for the college of licensed practical nurses of alberta's CARE magazine

In the most recent issue of CARE magazine, I wrote the bit about the Dialysis Bus on page 11.  And I was humbled by my interview with Larry Leduc on page 16.

This photo was taken at the beach in front of Ke Iki Beach Bungalows on the North Shore of Oahu in Hawai’i.

I love to travel and I love to eat, so I’ve married the two in a new blog, called Foodie Suz Travels.

Travel and food writing?  You bet – email me:  sue.robins@shaw.ca.

Like this poem, which was rewritten and posted on the wall of Mother Teresa’s orphanage in Calcutta.

The Paradoxical Commandments
by Dr. Kent M. Keith

People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered.
Love them anyway.

If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.
Do good anyway.

If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies.
Succeed anyway.

The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.
Do good anyway.

Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.
Be honest and frank anyway.

The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds.
Think big anyway.

People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs.
Fight for a few underdogs anyway.

What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.
Build anyway.

People really need help but may attack you if you do help them.
Help people anyway.

Give the world the best you have and you’ll get kicked in the teeth.
Give the world the best you have anyway.

© Copyright Kent M. Keith 1968, renewed 2001

grandview extended care

I’m thrilled to bits to announce that my latest feature written and photographed for CLPNA’s Care Magazine is now on-line.  It is called Myth Busting, and features photos and interviews from some of my favourite people in the world: nurses who work in the world of continuing care.

I have my own story about working in continuing care.  A long long time ago, in the decade they call the ’80′s, I worked part-time at the Mewburn Veterans Home as a nursing attendant, while I was going to the University of Alberta.  And studying Shakespeare and Art History.  Talk about a contrast in my life.  I used to go directly to my English classes on campus still wearing my nursing uniform.

Being a nursing attendant was hard work, but exceedingly rewarding.  I’ve carried the experience I had at the Vet’s Home into everything I do in the health system.

The folks that provide hands-on, bedside care to the most vulnerable are very dear to my heart.

I love this program.  Peer support is something very near and dear to my heart.  Associated with this program, we have the opportunity to speak to Perinatologists and Pediatricians about disclosing diagnosis – sharing an unexpected diagnosis with a family. This is kind of a big deal to me too, if you check out this Globe link.

from the glorious food shop olive et gourmando

The tables are turned, and I am the interviewee instead of the interviewer.

Aimee of the Montreal food blog Under the High Chair asks me the hard questions.  About food.  Glorious food.  Check it out here.

I met Aimee when I was in Montreal in July.  She generously took me on a private foodie tour of the city, which was a great amount of fun.  Lucky me…

at the harbour in howth, north of dublin

I was thrilled when my abstract for speaking at the World Down Syndrome Congress was accepted earlier this year.  So in mid-August, my husband and I packed up our youngest son, age 6, and travelled to Ireland for the Congress and a subsequent two weeks in Dublin and County Cork.

I’ve chronicled many of our adventures which revolved around food, on Foodie Suz.  I also had time to read an entire book (a rarity that I carve out for myself on holidays).  This time it was Lori Lansen’s A Wife’s Tale.  Lest you think it is like the Canadian version of The Biggest Loser, it is certainly not.  A Wife’s Tale is an engaging and compassionate read.It is a lovely book of transformation and post-divorce.

After my first marriage ended, I, too travelled far away – for me, it was to Norway with my two kids.  This is a common experience, I think – women searching for home in strange places.  Eat, Love, Pray is like that too.  Although both those protagonists weren’t travelling with two children under the age of seven.  I clearly wasn’t thinking straight.

Take a look at Lori Lansen’s bio page.  It is the best bio I have ever read – very warm and personable, and illustrates that our lives really are built around babies and where we live.  She provides inspiration for those of us who say about writing:  I can’t. I can’t find the time. Lori Lansen just sits down and writes.  Because that’s what writers do.

I wrote a piece for London Health Science Centre in Ontario about a family who frequents their Cystic Fibrosis Clinic and have two delightful little girls with CF.  We are trying to celebrate family centred care initiatives in Canada.  To learn more about family centred care, visit the Institute for Family Centered Care website.

Here’s the link to the London article, off our CFAN website.   If you click around the site, you will find all sorts of information about what’s happening at health facililites here in Canada to include a family voice in the care of their children.   Of which I feel pretty passionately about…

I wrote an article called Hushed Drama – life in the OR, about LPNs in the Operating Room, for the CLPNA’s Care magazine in the spring.  It was just published, and I’m really happy with it.  It was a collaborative effort with five different interviews and an extensive photo shoot.

My favourite kind of work is profiling folks who work in health care.  There are a lot of unsung heroes out there – not used to the spotlight, but passionate about their work.  And they are doing good, important work.

The photo shown above was chosen as the cover shot. (It appears as a mirror image on the magazine).  That’s a first for me.

A strange mix of writing books, inspirational books, teenage girl angst books, and foodie books.  I guess that pretty much sums me up.