Episode 13

Overview:

This is episode number 13, and today we’re talking to a long-time capracare friend and former co-chair of the CapraCare Health Care Committee, Rory Sweeny McGovern. Rory served in health care for over 35 years. She has held Nursing Education Administrative positions in several tri-state major safety net medical centers. She has worked all this time in underserved tertiary care hospital systems directing the operations of nursing education in the 5 NY city boroughs, Newark, NJ, and Bridgeport, CT. Her staff, student, and patient population represented racially diverse inner cities.  She has been a presenter and moderator for numerous conferences and symposiums throughout the tri-state area. She has been a keynote speaker for multiple Nursing graduations in NY and CT. Currently, she is an Education Consultant for Epicare in NJ servicing a diverse mental health population. Prior to working in healthcare, she was an elementary school teacher in CT. She is a Fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine, a Board Director for the TC Nursing Education Alumni Association (TCNEAA), and a member of the TCNEAA Nursing Hall of Fame. She was inspiring and encouraging and I cannot wait for you all to dive into our conversation. Here we go! 

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More of the overview on Rory Sweeny McGovern:

Rory Sweeny McGovern, RN, EdD, MEd, MA served in health care for over 35 years. She has held Nursing Education Administrative positions in several tri-state major safety net medical centers. Her Doctoral and two Masters degrees are from Teachers College Columbia University in Health Education, Nursing Administration, and Education respectively. She has worked all this time in under served tertiary care hospital systems directing the operations of nursing education in the 5 NY city boroughs, Newark, NJ and Bridgeport, CT. Her staff, student, and patient population represented racially diverse inner cities. Dr. Sweeny McGovern has held adjunct health education faculty positions in both CT and NY. She has been a presenter and moderator for numerous conferences and symposiums throughout the tri-state area. She has been keynote speaker for multiple Nursing graduations in NY and CT. Currently, she is an Education Consultant for Epicare in NJ servicing a diverse mental health population. Prior to working in healthcare she was an elementary school teacher in CT.

 

She is a Fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine, a Board Director for the TC Nursing Education Alumni Association (TCNEAA), and member of the TCNEAA Nursing Hall of Fame. Formerly, she was co-chair of the CapraCare Health Care Committee and was the recipient of the 2016 TCNEAA Achievement Award for Nursing Education. She engaged in a Medical Mission in Fonfrede, Haiti with the non profit organization CapraCare of which she still is a member.

 

“My EdD from Teachers College was the shining star in enabling me to be selected for my first Director position at The University of Medicine and Dentistry (UMDNJ), in Newark, New Jersey. I am most grateful for my outstanding TC education and the ability it has afforded me in networking with colleagues working toward improving the health, education and daily lives of those in impoverished communities.”

 

 

Episode Highlights:​

• Intro from Host,Marielis Figueroa(0:00)

• Introduction by our special guest: Rory Sweeny McGovern. (3:13)

• Rory has been a dear friend to capracare for nearly a decade, as a changemaker, and has been involved in our healthcare committee. She had an interesting way of connecting to capracare, and interesting because it speaks on the power of social media and, essentially, word of mouth in the digital era. Here she shares with us her story of how that connection happened. (5:47)

• Rory has been in healthcare for over 35 years, most of which she has spent serving underserved people. In our pre-talk, she mentioned that growing up, she was blessed to live a comfortable life, which many Americans, including my kids, can relate to. A fire was ignited and shifted Rory's perspective in wanting to gear her focus to underserved people, and she shares what keeps her going. (10:30)

• One of the most important experiences with capracare was a mission trip Rory did with JPL and a group she put together that included Deans, students, and professors. Rory walks us through her thought process from when she saw the picture on social media to when she got into the Jetblue plane to go to Haiti. (15:24 ) 

• Rory mentioned upon arrival how attentive JPL was from the airport to her destination in Haiti. She mentioned going on a school bus and driving for 6 hours. Then she said something that I wrote down, she said “looking at the people walking on the side of the bus walking with bags as if they were coming or going to work or school, seeing the resilience of the people made me realize “they are so worthy of all the help we can give them.” Rory expounds on that sentiment and realization she had. (18:39 )

• PSA: You too can support by logging onto www.capracare.org/changemaker   (23:40)

• Let’s dive deeper into the mission trip to Haiti because Rory had immensely inspired and encouraged me in our pre-talk. (28:35)

• Rory shares her experience with the people of our community in the rural southern area of Haiti; the services she provided and what she took (tangible and intangible) from Haiti. (36:45)

• When we talked about your trip, I confessed that I felt intimidated because I’ve been invited to two mission trips with capracare. I felt disqualified because I had no “special background or skillsets” like nursing, education, doctor, etc. What could one possibly contribute? We both discussed how, unfortunately, this mental block is very common in our communities here in the US; people oftentimes get discouraged from helping because they disqualify themselves because of the lack of expertise. Rory tells our community what she told me in our pre-talk and encourages our listeners. (32:30)

•  As a long-time friend, supporter, and ChangeMaker of capracare, Rory shares what she envisions for capracare within the next five years. (41:08)

• At capracare, we believe in the power of the word and its profound effect on our identity; for us, our word is courage. Besides courage, Rory McGovern's one word she would use to describe capracare. (48:22)

• Rory about her beliefs on giving and if one should be part of someone’s identity, and why. (49:48)