Tag Archives: Anne L. Rooney

Nothing prepares you for this

October 10, 2018

Anne Rooney Oak Park, Illinois, United States   Photo by Medici con I’Africa Cuamm There are never enough beds. Seventy women lie side by side on the floor of a hospital ward intended for thirty patients. Some sleep on torn brown blankets on the cement floor. Those lucky enough to have a bed have neither […]

Until I get my strength back

October 10, 2018

Anne L. Rooney Oak Park, Illinois, USA   Hospice hands The emaciated woman lay scrunched in a fetal position with her back to me. I stood in the doorway to her cramped bedroom. “Hello, Loretta. Can I come in?” Loretta rolled over, squinting with suspicion. “You a nurse?” I nodded. “I’m a nurse who visits […]