Cliff Morrison
a nurse who established the first hospital ward for treating AIDS patients in 1983
Cliff Morrison is an activist and a nurse who established the first hospital ward for treating AIDS patients in the United States. Ward 5B was established in San Francisco General Hospital in 1983. When the ward was opened there was little known about this illness, and patients with the disease were regarded as worthy of disgrace and/or disapproval.
 |
This article about an activist is a stub. You can help out with Wikiquote by expanding it! |
Quotes
edit- I would go in patients' rooms and you could tell that they hadn't had a bath. They weren't being taken care of.
- 1st AIDS Ward '5B' Fought To Give Patients Compassionate Care, Dignified Deaths (JUNE 26, 2019heard on Fresh Air Terry Gross)
- The stigmatization extended far beyond the illness itself, Cliff explains. “It was as if the door to darkness had been opened and all the taboos were out there—sex, death, homosexuality, drug use ... Things that people had never heard discussed openly before.”
- Aren’t Men Supposed to Be Doctors?
- Cliff remembers feeling “almost ashamed or embarrassed” with the decision to enter a profession that, even though more males were becoming nurses, was still so heavily dominated by women. “But, I’ll get an associate degree in nursing,” he thought. “I can make $10,000 a year working as a nurse and with that I’ll be able to put myself through medical school.”