MUSC Veterans Day ceremony challenges attendees to reflect and embrace inclusivity

MUSC veterans and supporters were issued a challenge by Catherine Durham, DNP, APRN, on Thursday at the MUSC Veterans Day ceremony. 

The ceremony started with the MUSC Public Safety Color Guard presenting the flags of the armed forces, which accompanied Danielle D. Thomas’ singing of the national anthem. MUSC student Sgt. Jeremy Pires, USMC, shared the history and purpose of Veterans Day. 

Chaplain and manager of Pastoral Care Services for MUSC Health-Charleston Division, Frank Harris, led the invocation in which he expressed his gratitude for the contributions of all service members, before asking for a moment of silence to reflect on those currently serving in dangerous circumstances. Harris himself is a veteran, having served 10 years active duty in the United States Air Force, stationed in Oklahoma, Florida and Charleston. Additionally, he was deployed twice during both Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. 

 

Durham was the keynote speaker for the event. She shared with the audience about her time working on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City, the epicenter of the virus in those early days. Durham, the newly appointed dean of MUSC’s College of Nursing, is a proud veteran, having joined the United States Navy in 1995. Since 2007, she has served in the Navy Reserve, where she holds the rank of captain. Her service in the Navy Nurse Corps led her to New York City to help during a very demanding time.

Durham’s talk was titled “Inclusion Through Intention” and focused on how one question changed her perspective. After spending two months serving in New York City hospitals, Dunham spent the next two weeks in quarantine with other service members with whom she had been commanding alongside in New York. She noticed one man that she had worked with was often alone and not a part of many group discussions and asked him to take a walk with her. On the walk, she learned that he was a Nigerian immigrant and a father of three. She also asked him one question that changed her perspective forever “What was your experience like working with me?”

She explained that before that day, she’d noticed a lack of camaraderie among her team. She wondered if it had to do with the murder of George Floyd and the protests surrounding it. 

“I went to those senior to me and said, ‘I think we need to do something and have a conversation. I know I’m worried about my family; I can’t imagine what others are feeling,” Durham recalled. But those above her did not think this was necessary. 

It was about a month later, when Durham asked her Nigerian colleague about his experience working with her, he paused before asking “Do you really want me to answer?” After Durham assured him that she did want an honest answer, he said “Up until May 25, we talked about you behind your back, saying ‘Capt. Durham has our back; she’s going to pull us out if we don’t have the proper PPE.’ We knew you had our back until [the murder] happened, and you didn’t say anything.”

Durham immediately knew he was right. “That’s why I wanted you to walk with me today,” Durham responded, “because I wanted to have that conversation with you and get that feedback from you.” 

She then asked what she should have done in that situation. A total of 17,000 steps and a meal later, the two had shared their perspectives on race, skills and leadership. “He shared what he would like to have heard from a leadership perspective, and it wasn’t anything I couldn’t do,” Durham said. “He just wanted someone to check in with him.”

Durham said she returned to the college with a renewed passion for inclusivity. “I knew I didn’t have the skills, so we developed a program with Dr. DaNine J. Fleming for our faculty,” Durham said. “I knew I needed more of that, so I signed up for a yearlong training on diversity, equity and inclusion. That was transformative for me as a leader.” 

Durham wrapped up her Veterans Day presentation encouraging everyone to continue learning and being intentional about becoming a better and more inclusive leader.