Town Hall Seattle and Third Place Books present Sarah DiGregorio for a discussion of her book, Taking Care: The Story of Nursing and Its Power to Change Our World. DiGregorio will be joined in conversation by local author Angela Garbes.
Nurses have always been vital to human existence.
A nurse was likely there when you were born and a nurse might well be there when you die. Familiar in hospitals and doctors’ offices, these dedicated health professionals can also be found in schools, prisons, and people’s homes; at summer camps; on cruise ships, and even at NASA. Despite being celebrated during the COVID-19 pandemic, nurses are often undermined and undervalued in ways that reflect misogyny and racism, which extends to their working conditions and affects the care available to everyone. Yet, the potential power of nursing to create a healthier, more just world endures.
Journalist Sarah DiGregorio explores the complicated story of nursing in Taking Care: The Revolutionary Story of Nursing. DiGregorio chronicles the lives of nurses past and tells the stories of today’s nurses — caregivers at the vital intersection of health care and community who are actively changing the world, often invisibly. Combining storytelling with nuanced reporting, DeGregorio examines how humans have succeeded — and sometimes failed — at caring for each other. She is joined at Town Hall by writer Angela Garbes to discuss the nurses of yesterday, today, and tomorrow.
Sarah DiGregorio is the critically acclaimed author of Early: An Intimate History of Premature Birth and What it Teaches Us About Being Human and Taking Care: The Revolutionary Story of Nursing, coming in May 2023. She is a freelance journalist who has written on health care and other topics for the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Slate, Insider, and Catapult. She lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her daughter and husband.
Angela Garbes is the author of Essential Labor: Mothering as Social Change, called “a landmark and a lightning storm” by the New Yorker. Essential Labor was named a Best Book of 2022 by both the New Yorker and NPR. Her first book, Like a Mother, was also an NPR Best Book of the Year. Her writing has appeared in The Atlantic, The New York Times, New York Magazine, and featured on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah and Fresh Air with Terry Gross. A first-generation Filipina American, Garbes lives with her family on Beacon Hill.
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