PHOTOS BY GLENN TRIEST

TH E DETRO I T JE WIS H NE WS

Patient Katherine Scantlebury and RNs Kristan Rodwell and Cindy Diskin at Sinai Hospital.

32

Obstacles
and rewards
fill the days
of Jewish nurses in
metro Detroit.

JIM PFEIFER SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

1

derful hospital. I loved every minute
there."
Although she's retired, Ms. Kramer
still does volunteer work. She splits
her time between the Jewish Infor-
mation Service and clinics sponsored
by Sinai Hospital. As a young nurse
just getting started, her experiences
were notably different than those of
today's new nurses.
"I never got a (bachelor's) degree,"
she says. "So the only initials after my
name were RN (registered nurse). I
got my letters before my name, and
those were M-R-S. I got married."
To receive her training, Ms. Kramer
enrolled in the U.S. government's
Cadet Nurses Program, which pre-
pared nurses for immediate military
service during World War II. The rules
at the time were strict. "Your hair had
to be off your collar, no jewelry, your
shoes had to be spotless, and there was
uniform inspection every morning."
But the routine went beyond stan-
dards of cleanliness. "I had to go to
chapel every morning. I sang the
hymns with everybody and said the
Lord's Prayer. It was what everybody
had to do. My kids are astounded that
I did it, but I was told to do it, and I did
it."
However, Ms. Kramer didn't do
everything she was told to do. "I al-
ways wore a Star of David around my
neck," she explains. "And a doctor re-
ported me for wearing it. So I chal-

lenged him."
She defended her actions simply by pointing out all
the gold crosses so many of the other women were wear-
ing. "The end result was that I continued to wear my
star. They didn't challenge me any further." Ms. Kramer
says she harbors no resentment. "Looking back, those
years I spent in training were my best years. I just re-
ally enjoyed learning to be a nurse."
The nursing profession has indeed grown and changed
since the 1940s. Linda Belkin is chairwoman of the Nurs-
es Council for Hadassah in the Detroit area. The Coun-
cil has been in existence since 1990 and already has more
than 80 members. Its mailing list numbers 160. Hadas-
sah was founded in 1915 by two Jewish nurses who went
to Palestine to educate citizens on how to improve their
poor living conditions. The organization has evolved into
the largest Zionist women's group in the world.
In the Detroit area, Hadassah claims about 5,000
members. "Hadassah is an activist group," says Ms.
Belkin, "and the Nurses Council is the most recently
formed professional Jewish group there is. We take
stands on various American issues. Hadassah as a whole
hortly after World War II, Shirley Kramer pretty much stays out of politics in Israel, though. They
applied for a job at a hospital close to the don't feel it's their place.
"As for American politics," Ms. Belkin says, "we are
Detroit-area school she was attending.
"They were very interested," says Ms. pro-choice. We're also becoming involved in breast-
Kramer, a retired registered nurse now cancer awareness now throughout the country. In fact,
living in Oak Park. "It was almost to the Hadassah is becoming involved with Sinai Hospital and
point where they wanted me to start on the American Cancer Society. We are going to do a pro-
Monday. But then the woman that inter- gram in October, which is breast cancer awareness
viewed me said, 'I think you need to make month. The program is called 'Check it Out.' It involves
a correction on your application. You wrote going into local school systems and teaching breast-care
awareness to high school junior and senior girls.
down that you're Jewish."
"And now Hadassah is taking a stand on national
Ms. Kramer told her, "There's no cor-
rection needed. I am Jewish." The inter- health care. Hadassah supports a national health-care
viewer politely thanked her and said she'd plan that includes preventative care for women, like
mammograms and Pap smears. The group wants
call her back.
"Of course, I never heard from her again," Ms. Kramer women's treatments and diagnostic tests covered under
a health-care plan.
says.
"They're not saying we have to have a national plan,
She won't name the hospital because "things have
changed there. I've seen the changes. And in the end it but if we do, include women's health-care issues," Ms.
probably worked out better, because I got a job at a won- Belkin says.

