Catherine Georges

Alicia Georges, R.N., Ed.D., F.A.A.N., of the Bronx, New York, was elected to AARP's Board of Directors in 2010.

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Life Perspectives

"One of the greatest experiences in my life was going to Cape Town, South Africa. It was where my great uncle jumped ship 106 years ago, coming from the U.S. Virgin islands. The port reminded me of the Virgin Islands, so I could imagine why he did that.

"When I graduated from high school, there was no college or university in the Virgin Islands. The only option was to go to Puerto Rico or to the U.S. So I came to the U.S. and went to the College of Nursing at Seton Hall University in New Jersey.

"Nursing has been a great journey for me. A lot of bumps and some setbacks, but really great fun. And I think I've contributed a lot. My first job was at a visiting nurse service of New York. It was exciting. You don't really know patients until you see them in their own environment.

"Then, one of the pioneers in nursing, Dr. Claire Fagin, convinced me that I wanted to give up my good-paying job and go to a lower-paying job called education. And I did. I've had the greatest time since in teaching.

"Nurses have been in the trenches for so long on health care delivery. People forget that nurses are there 24/7. When you come in and when you go out — birth to death. And we're in the community. We understand the problems. As an African American female, I've been exposed to some of the same issues and problems that patients from the most vulnerable communities have been exposed to.

"Nobody knows who you are when you enter an institution. Whatever baggage they have, or whatever baggage we bring, it connects right there. I felt what some of those patients have felt, not being treated in the way I think I should have been treated.

 "Over 30 years ago, I was having acute abdominal pain. The closest emergency room to my house was a large public hospital. So I went. The manner in which I was questioned about how many sexual partners I'd had! I was married! I mean, the questions were so offensive.

"The data shows that when minority women, particularly African American women, appear with acute abdominal pain, it's immediately assumed that they've got some sexually transmitted disease. I'll never forget it. It was written up in the Harvard Medical Letter a few years ago.

"Another example is my husband, who is now in his 70s and has Parkinson's. We have a Bronx address, so when he appears in an ER, they immediately start asking, ‘Where's your Medicaid card? Are you sure you can afford this?' They look at your ZIP code, and your ZIP code becomes the manner in which you're treated.

"These are the kinds of things that people in my community respond negatively to, you know. It's very disheartening.

"We've got to educate people to tell them what they're entitled to with the new health care law. You're entitled to be treated in a respectful way. You're entitled to have quality care. You're entitled to ask questions if you don't think things are going right.

"We're not going to remove people's biases with the new law, but we're going to make them accountable to make sure that they provide equity and equal services to everybody. There are enough teeth in the new law that that can happen."

 Expertise

Nursing, health care, health disparities, nursing education, home health care, ethnicity and disease, health and social public policy.

Education

Ed.D., educational leadership and policy studies, University of Vermont; M.A., community health nursing, administration and supervision, New York University School of Education Division of Nursing; nursing degree, Seton Hall University College of Nursing.

Experience

Currently, associate professor and chair of the department of nursing, Lehman College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY) and an adjunct faculty member at Excelsior College. .Formerly a lecturer at Lehman College of Nursing, CUNY; staff nurse , team leader, supervisor and district manager, Visiting Nurse Service of New York; adjunct faculty member, State University of New York Downstate College of Nursing.

Volunteer experience

Boards: Serves on the AARP Board's Audit and Finance Committee and the National Policy Council. A member of the Board of Directors, Family Care Services, Bronx, New York. Formerly, member, Board of Trustees, American Academy of Nursing; member, Board of Directors, National Black Nurses Association; chairperson, Community Board #12, Bronx, New York; member, Community Board #12, Bronx, New York.

Other: Currently, president, National Black Nurses Foundation; chairperson, Bronx-Westchester Area Health Education Center; member, Health Literacy Foundation; member, Children's Aid Society Health Committee. Formerly, president, Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools; secretary-treasurer, International Society on Hypertension in Blacks; president, National Black Nurses Association.

Honors

Awarded a fellowship by the New York Academy of Medicine. Received: Estelle Osborne Award, New York University; Margaret Haley Award, Seton Hall University; Mary Mahoney Award, American Nurses Association; Nursing Alumni Award, New York University. Named Nurse of Distinction, Region I, by the New York State Legislature and Outstanding Woman by New York Senator Larry Seabrook. Awarded a fellowship by the American Academy of Nursing and a public service award by the American Nurses Association Minority Fellowship Program.

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