Taking Action
Into the Rabbit Hole: My Journey to Service on a City Council
Holly Edwards
“Service is what life is all about.”
—Marian Wright Edelman
Nursing was a career change for me. I had a degree in psychology and a master’s degree in education and was working in a homeless shelter. When I began studying nursing at Hampton University, I was a bit older than my classmates. I had to work as well. It was tough. Between semesters, I would read Alice in Wonderland, a childhood favorite and a great way for me to escape. Even as an adult, I admired Alice’s boldness when she just jumped into the rabbit hole. Little did I know that entering local politics was going to be my own “rabbit hole” experience.
I moved to Charlottesville, Virginia, because of an employment-scholarship program offered by the University of Virginia Health Sciences Center. When I moved there in 1991, I intended to stay for 18 months and then return to my home in Washington, D.C. That’s not what happened.
Working as a Novice
As a new graduate, I struggled to organize my patient care. It took awhile for me to find my voice as a nurse. With the help of really great mentors and spending nights reading Patricia Benner’s From Novice to Expert, I was able to climb the clinical ladder. I reached a point where I could balance my clinical work at the hospital with volunteer service in the community. I became the first president of the Black Nurse’s Association of Charlottesville, Virginia. I also became involved with creating a network of parish nurses in a chapter of the Health Ministries Association.
I became aware of many social issues while at the University of Virginia. The University’s Board of Visitors issued a resolution that acknowledged the role of the university in slavery (University of Virginia Board of Visitors, 2007), and I was deeply affected by this. As I learned about health disparities in the African-American community and the importance of advocacy for the disenfranchised, I knew I wanted to learn more about the Charlottesville community. I wanted to contribute, and I became a health fair waiting to happen! Health education and outreach were ways I could create trust and build a bridge to link people to health services. I volunteered and served on boards including Charlottesville City Schools’ School Health Advisory Board, Prevention and Treatment Committee, Quality Community Council, the Shelter For Help in Emergency, HIV/AIDS Services Group, and the University of Virginia Health System, Department of Chaplaincy Services and Pastoral Education, Professional Consultation Committee. I worked hard to learn about the community, but it was while I cared for an elderly woman that I learned a special lesson.
A Lesson about the Power of Policy
While I was working on a general medicine unit, an elderly African-American woman was admitted for evaluation of confusion. It was discovered she had a urinary tract infection. She was given antibiotics and improved dramatically. When I assessed her, I asked her what day it was and other routine questions. She answered them appropriately. But she gazed through the window the entire time I questioned her. When I asked her what was she looking at, she said, “My house.” When I looked out the window to follow her gaze, I saw a parking lot and railroad tracks. I documented my assessment that she was improving but was still confused.
Years later, I found out that the land obtained for the hospital where I had cared for the elderly woman had been an African-American neighborhood. City policy had guided the rezoning of the neighborhood in order to build the hospital. This experience made me realize the powerful impact policy has on human lives. I became curious about the impact of government policies and their effects on the community. I wondered if decision-makers took into consideration the policies that affect the day-to-day lives of people.
Twin Miracles
As I worked to become engaged in the Charlottesville community, I became engaged myself. I was married in 1993, and in 1995 I gave birth to twins. Several years later, something happened that I didn’t expect to happen: I was pregnant again—with twins (Figure 78-1). Being pregnant makes you do a lot of thinking. Being pregnant and on bed rest because you are 45 years old and expecting a second set of twins was more than just a contemplative exercise for me. The reality of raising children in a complex world was overwhelming. During this time, I found that bed rest during pregnancy is really spiritual boot camp.
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