Doris 'Dee' Lippman, Ed. D., of Westport, professor of nursing at Fairfield University, has been invited to attend a special reception for those responsible for making the Vietnam Women's Memorial possible. After nine years of effort beginning in 1985 with Diane Carlson Evans's dream to have a memorial to recognize the role of women who served during the conflict in Vietnam. The Vietnam Women's Memorial was dedicated November 11, 1993.

The 15th anniversary of the dedication of the Vietnam Women's Memorial will take place Nov. 11 in Washington, D. C. As vice chair of the Vietnam Women's Memorial, she worked with Carlson Evans for nine years to see that the effort to visibly recognize the service of women became a reality. In recognition of her efforts and those of others, she will be recognized at a special reception hosted by Senator Chuck Hagel and the Vietnam Women's Memorial Foundation. As a result of Dr. Lippman's work, as the vice chair of the Vietnam Women's Project and other initiatives on behalf of veterans, Dr. Lippman was chosen in 1992 by the Connecticut Post as its first Woman of the Year and in 2006 received one of the highest honors in nursing when she was inducted as a Fellow into the American Academy of Nursing.

One of Dr. Lippman's primary roles as a professor in Fairfield University's School of Nursing involves educating Fairfield nursing students at the VA Hospital in West Haven. There, she teaches nursing students to care for veterans suffering from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression and Traumatic Brain Injury, conditions usually related to being soldiers in a war zone.

Last year, Fairfield's School of Nursing and Veterans Affairs Connecticut Healthcare System (VACHS), also known as the VA Hospital in West Haven, were selected by the Department of Veterans Affairs to participate in the VA Nursing Academy. According to Linda Johnson, Ph. D., chief nursing officer VA Academic Affiliations, several of the important purposes of this national government initiative are to address the nursing shortage within VA hospitals by increasing the number of students who choose to work at a VA hospital after graduation as well as the number who choose to become nursing faculty. Fairfield's School of Nursing and VACHS were one of the first four national partnerships to be chosen to implement this important five-year effort on behalf of this nation's veterans and the nurses who care for them.

Posted On: 11-06-2008 10:11 AM

Volume: 41 Number: 123