Claire Bertschinger: Difference between revisions
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'''Dame Claire Bertschinger''' [[Order of the British Empire|DBE]] is a [[Switzerland|Swiss]]-[[United Kingdom|British]] |
'''Dame Claire Bertschinger''' [[Order of the British Empire|DBE]] is a [[Switzerland|Swiss]]-[[United Kingdom|British]] [[nurse]] and advocate for the third world people. |
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==Career== |
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After training and working as a nurse in the United Kingdom, Bertschinger became a medic for the [[Scientific Exploration Society]] expedition to [[Panama]], [[Papua New Guinea]] and [[Sulawesi]]. |
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Aftre this experience, she joined the emergency disaster relief group of the [[International Committee of the Red Cross]] (ICRC). Through this she has worked in over a dozen countries including [[Afghanistan]], [[Kenya]], [[Lebanon]], [[Sudan]], [[Sierra Leone]], [[Ivory Coast]] and [[Liberia]]. |
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Before Ethiopia she worked in Lebanon, Panama Papua New Guinea and Sulawesi. Later on, she moved to Uganda, Kenya, Sudan, Afghanistan, Sierra Leone and other countries in West Africa. She lectures and runs the Diploma in Tropical Nursing at [[London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine]]. She was nurse on "Operation Drake" a round the world scientific expedition led by the British explorer [[John Blashford-Snell]]. |
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She then returned to Switzerland and the head quarters of the ICRC in [[Genenva]] as training officer in the Health Division, with the personal goal to learn [[French (language)|French]]. She was also nurse on "Operation Drake," a round the world scientific expedition led by the British explorer [[John Blashford-Snell]]. |
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| ⚫ | Her experiences of the suffering she witnessed and lived in the war zones that she worked in made her look for a philosophy in life which answered her question of Why? Why should some people have plenty and others none. She wrote a book about her experiences, ''Moving Mountains'', and the spiritual motivation which led her in her to Buddhism. Part of the money from the book went to ''African Children’s Educational Trust'', a small British charity. A controversial aspect was the passage describing her having an affair in Afghanistan. |
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Bertschinger then joined the [[London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine]], where she is presently Course Director for the Diploma in Tropical Nursing.<ref name=LSHTMBio>{{citeweb|url=http://www.lshtm.ac.uk/people/bertschinger.claire|title=Claire Bertschinger|publisher=[[London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine]]|accessdate=2009-12-31}}/ref> |
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Bertschinger is an ambassador the African Children's Educational Trust, and a voluntary worker in the UK for the charity [[Age Concern]].<ref name=LSHTMBio/> |
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===Ethiopia=== |
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| ⚫ | In 1984, Bertschinger was working as an ICRC nurse in [[Ethiopia]] during the [[famine]] of 1984. She ran two feeding centres which could only take in 60 to 70 new children at a time whilst thousands more were in need of food. As a young nurse, she had to decide who would be the lucky enough to receive food. Those she couldn't help had little hope of survival. |
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She became the central figure of a [[BBC News]] report, sent by [[Michael Buerk]] and broadcast on 23 October 1984, which inspired [[Bob Geldof]] to put together the [[Band Aid (band)|Band Aid]] charity recording. |
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| ⚫ | Her experiences of the suffering she witnessed and lived in the war zones that she worked in made her look for a philosophy in life which answered her question of Why? Why should some people have plenty and others none. She wrote a book about her experiences, ''Moving Mountains'', and the spiritual motivation which led her in her to [[Buddhism]]. Part of the money from the book went to ''African Children’s Educational Trust'', a small British charity. A controversial aspect was the passage describing her having an affair in Afghanistan. |
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==Awards== |
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| ⚫ | Bertschinger has received a series of awards for her work, including the BISH medal from the Scientific Exploration Society in 1986, Florence Nightingale Medal in 1991, the Women of the Year Award 2005 [[Window to the World Award]] on a ceremony which also honoured [[Margaret Thatcher]] and [[Tina Turner]].<ref name=LSHTMBio/> In 2007 she received the Human Rights in Nursing Award from the International Centre for Human Rights and Nursing Ethics. |
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Bertschinger was appointed [[Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire]] (DBE) in the [[New Year Honours 2010|2010 New Year Honours]] for services to Nursing and to |
Bertschinger was appointed [[Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire]] (DBE) in the [[New Year Honours 2010|2010 New Year Honours]] for services to Nursing and to |
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[[Category:Year of birth missing (living people)]] |
[[Category:Year of birth missing (living people)]] |
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[[Category:Living people]] |
[[Category:Living people]] |
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[[Category:British Buddhists]] |
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[[Category:British nurses]] |
[[Category:British nurses]] |
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[[Category:Academics of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine]] |
[[Category:Academics of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine]] |
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Revision as of 09:31, 31 December 2009
Dame Claire Bertschinger DBE is a Swiss-British nurse and advocate for the third world people.
Career
After training and working as a nurse in the United Kingdom, Bertschinger became a medic for the Scientific Exploration Society expedition to Panama, Papua New Guinea and Sulawesi.
Aftre this experience, she joined the emergency disaster relief group of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Through this she has worked in over a dozen countries including Afghanistan, Kenya, Lebanon, Sudan, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast and Liberia.
She then returned to Switzerland and the head quarters of the ICRC in Genenva as training officer in the Health Division, with the personal goal to learn French. She was also nurse on "Operation Drake," a round the world scientific expedition led by the British explorer John Blashford-Snell.
Bertschinger then joined the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, where she is presently Course Director for the Diploma in Tropical Nursing.Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page).
References
External links
- Bio at the London School of Tropical Medicine
- Biography and interview by the BBC
- [1] Article on Faith
- [2] Interview with Deidre Fernand
- [3] Woman of the Year Award 2005
- [4] Radio4 Woman's Hour interview
- Poster advertising her talk at King's College London
- Review of her book by The Times
 | This Swiss biographical article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |