Students
welcome Colonel Lorraine Fritz as the keynote
(Chester,
Pa.) -- The Nightingale Ceremony is a traditional pinning ceremony for
graduating nursing students, reflecting the values and traditions of the
profession.
While
holding a lit candle to honor the late Florence Nightingale, who made late
night, solitary rounds in a Crimean military hospital to care for wounded
soldiers by candlelight, all students will recite the Nightingale Pledge,
written by the International Council of Nurses, and vow to uphold the integrity
of the profession. The burning candle flame symbolizes the human spirit that is
at the core of healing both now and back then.
There will
be 92 seniors graduating from the School of Nursing at Widener University on
Friday, May 11 in Alumni Auditorium at 11 a.m.
Colonel
Lorraine Fritz will be the keynote speaker at the ceremony this year. Colonel
Fritz has served the country as an Army Nurse for almost three decades. She
echoes the mission of the university, as it has a strong ROTC program. Each
year the Army hopes to commission 225 Army Nurses, Widener’s School of Nursing
has played a role in that as in pervious years they have contributed up to 5%
of its graduates.
Colonel
Fritz graduated from Niagara University ROTC in 1984 as a Distinguished
Military Graduate with bachelor’s of science in nursing. She was commissioned a
Second Lieutenant in the Army Nurse Corps. In 1994, she earned her master’s in
nursing as a pediatric nurse practitioner from the Medical College of Virginia
at Virginia Commonwealth University.
COL Fritz
currently serves as department chief for Health Professions Education and Staff
and Faculty Development at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in
Bethesda, MD. Before taking on this role, she was deputy commander for Nursing
and Health Services there.
Throughout
her career, as an Army Nurse, COL Fritz has served in a variety of clinical
nursing and leadership positions. Some include: head nurse at 5th
General Hospital in Bad Cannstatt, Germany; head nurse at Reynolds Army
Community Hospital in Fort Sill, Oklahoma; pediatric nurse practitioner at Winn
Army Community Hospital in Fort Stewart, GA; head nurse and officer in charge
at Monroe Health Clinic in Fort Hood, TX; and Deputy Commander for Nursing at
Heidelberg MEDDAC in Germany. She was also deployed with the 47th
Field Hospital in support of Operations Desert Shield/Desert Storm.
COL Fritz
will discuss the importance of leadership and how it has impacted her life.
Some of COL
Fritz’s awards include: Legion of Merit, Defense Meritorious Service Medal,
Army Meritorious Service Medal (4 OLC), Army Commendation Medal (2 OLC), Army
Achievement Medal, Army Superior Unit Award, and Meritorious Unit Citation. She
was also awarded the “9A” Proficiency Designator in Nursing Administration by
the Surgeon General in 2009 and is a member of the Order of Military Medical
Merit. Academically, COL Fritz is currently a member of the Uniformed Services
University, Tau Theta Chapter.
For more information visit, http://www.widener.edu/newsevents/commencement.
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