Latest news with #Myrna
Business Insider
3 days ago
- Health
- Business Insider
A boomer quit nursing to live on $2,972 monthly in Social Security in an RV in America's parks: 'I literally live in heaven'
When Marian Barry's mother died in 2014, the Arizona nurse knew she needed a change. For years, her life had revolved around taking care of her aging parents and working as a cardiac nurse just outside Phoenix. A colleague suggested travel nursing — well-paid work that would let her explore the country. After three months in Alaska, Barry knew it was the life for her. She sold her house of 16 years in Mesa, bought an RV she named Myrna, and roamed the Western US, working in a slew of hospitals and meeting all sorts of people along the way. She "absolutely loved" being a nurse and thought she'd work well into her golden years. But when the pandemic hit, that changed. Watching countless patients suffer and die without family at their bedside was agonizing. "It was hell. It was horrible being in the hospital," Barry said. After 30 years of nursing, she started thinking about retirement. She'd stayed in some national and state parks while travel nursing and noticed that the park employees and volunteers she'd met seemed remarkably happy. So, she applied for a seasonal volunteer gig at Diamond Lake in Oregon. "After coming out of working the first 15 months of COVID in hospitals, it was like, 'Oh my gosh, I'm in nature. This is amazing. No mask, no PPE,'" she said. Now, she's a full-time so-called "work-camper," living and volunteering in parks with other itinerant folks like her, many of them also retirees. She spends her days kayaking, biking, and orienting visitors in the parks. She's letting her nursing license expire next year. "I just cannot imagine going back to any kind of stressful job," Barry, now 71, added. Barry is part of a much bigger trend. Work-camping in America's parks is a long-established lifestyle, particularly for older people in need of low-cost living or adventure, or both. But as Americans live longer and face rising housing costs on fixed or low incomes, it's only becoming more attractive. Living off Social Security Barry made good money as a nurse, but she doesn't have much in savings. So she lives off her monthly $2,972 Social Security checks. She's managing for now and is even splurging on a rental car for the summer. Living in an RV is pretty cheap. At the campgrounds, she gets a free full hook-up — including water, electricity, and sewer — in exchange for her work. She says it's been easy for her to live in a tiny space because she's "never been a things kind of person." And she spends much of her time outside. For the past four years, Barry has spent October through April at Pahranagat National Wildlife Refuge in Nevada, 90 miles north of Vegas, and May through August at Beaver Creek State Natural Area on the coast of central Oregon. She takes September off for vacation. She loves the dramatic landscapes and has become a wildlife enthusiast. "I literally live in heaven," Barry said. "I absolutely love my life." She says she doesn't get lonely because she's made friends with her fellow volunteers and employees. And she spends her days chatting up visitors. "I like to talk to everybody," she said. Barry has become particularly popular in Oregon, where a beloved breed of blackberry, the marionberry, is grown. Locals and park visitors get a kick out of her name. "Every day when I say what my name is, they're like, 'Oh, I'll never forget that,'" she said. "I'm like a celebrity here." One group of fans brought her a marionberry pie. Barry, who never married or had kids, hopes to keep living in the parks in Oregon and Nevada for the rest of her life. Her siblings and other family members are scattered across the country. She jokes with one of her nieces, who lives on a farm in Indiana, that if she ever loses the ability to live independently, she'll park her RV in a field on her property and live out her days there. "Honestly, I have no long-term plan, that's just a fun thing to think about," she said.
Times
22-04-2025
- Health
- Times
Amplify the voices of teens with cancer, says Sarah Ferguson
The founders of the charity Teenage Cancer Trust, Myrna and Adrian Whiteson, used to tell me when I started working with them 35 years ago: never forget that in the three minutes of your speech, a teenager will be diagnosed with cancer. That statistic never left me and I often reflect on the fact that the clock never stops on the disease. My father and stepfather both died of it and I have gone through two diagnoses. It's incredibly important to me to seek to amplify the voices and experiences of people with cancer who receive less attention, whose voices are not listened to and who can be overlooked. One group consistently neglected by those developing health plans and policies is teenagers and young adults with cancer. The impact can be devastating. Before 1990, when the trust was established, there was no such thing as specialist cancer care for teenagers and young people. Consequently, they would find themselves receiving treatment not tailored to their age, on wards with people decades older than them, or on children's wards where they might not even fit in the bed. I have been honorary patron since then, opening many of its units, and seen how its fundraising and campaigning has revolutionised care for young people. The units across the UK, combined with the growth of age-appropriate treatment and care, have made a significant difference to survival rates. • Sarah Ferguson: 'a cancer diagnosis feels like a death sentence' However, as most cases of cancer occur in people over 50, they find themselves in a system that isn't designed with young people in mind and continue to suffer huge disadvantages. The trust's #AndYoungPeople campaign aims to help change that by ensuring the government tackles three key issues in the National Cancer Plan for England. These are of equal importance in the devolved nations. This first issue is the need for faster diagnosis. We all know how important early diagnosis is but in the 2023 National Cancer Patient Experience survey nearly half (48 per cent) of teenagers and young adults diagnosed reported that they had to see their GP three or more times before referral — the highest level of any age group. Those patients I meet speak of being 'fobbed off' by health professionals, not being referred despite presenting multiple times with classic symptoms. The consequences can be tragic. To speed up diagnosis, the trust is calling for support and training for GPs and healthcare professionals to increase their awareness of symptoms in young people, and public health campaigns to raise awareness of the five main signs and symptoms. The second thing that must improve is access to clinical trials. Sadly, in the UK, cancer kills more teenagers and young adults than any other disease. Many are missing out on the chance to take part in clinical trials, leaving them unable to access innovative new treatments that could increase their chances of survival. While difficulty accessing trials impacts patients of all ages, young people are uniquely disadvantaged. This is because they are more likely to experience rare cancers or are too old to take part in paediatric trials and too young for adult trials. We must find solutions to these challenges and save more young lives. The third area is access to mental health support. A trust survey of psychologists found that 87 per cent don't feel that national provisions meet the needs of teenagers and young people with the disease. It is our duty to help amplify their voices and ensure they are not overlooked. That is why I am supporting Teenage Cancer Trust's #AndYoungPeople campaign, why I have signed an open letter to Wes Streeting, calling for action and why I urge you to do the same.
Associated Press
18-04-2025
- General
- Associated Press
Shaping the University of Miami's artistic landscape
Coral Gables, FL, April 18, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The late Myrna and Sheldon Palley's lifelong connection to the University of Miami began when Myrna was a student in the School of Education and Human Development, and Sheldon in the Miami Herbert Business School, later, the School of Law. The couple married in 1956, built successful careers, and raised three children in suburban Miami-Dade County. Staunch advocates of the arts, they stayed deeply engaged with their alma mater—Myrna as a past president of the Lowe Art Museum's Friends of Art and Sheldon as a member of the Citizens Board, Friends of Theatre, and Friends of Art, among other endeavors—and with the greater South Florida community. The Palleys also shared a decades-long passion for collecting art glass, which led to the creation of the Myrna and Sheldon Palley Pavilion for Contemporary Glass and Studio Arts at the Lowe. Opened in 2008 and funded in part by the couple's $1.7 million gift, the Palley Pavilion houses the couple's world-class collection of more than 130 glass artworks, plus other glass and ceramic works by a range of renowned artists. Beyond the Lowe, the Palleys established the Myrna and Sheldon Palley Glass Artist Lecture Series in 2018, bringing internationally acclaimed glass artists to campus and fostering meaningful dialogue about the evolving landscape of contemporary art. They were also instrumental in establishing the art glass program in the Department of Art and Art History in the College of Arts and Sciences and were generous supporters of the Department of Theatre Arts, Miami Athletics, and the School of Law. Myrna Palley passed away in 2020, and Sheldon Palley died last year. Their children, Lisa, Donna, and Kevin, continue to honor their parents' legacy at the University. On April 6, as a prelude to the University's Centennial Celebration, the Palley Family gathered on the Coral Gables Campus for the official unveiling of a monumental abstract sculpture that is among the most visible manifestations of that legacy. A gift from the family, Lady, by the late American sculptor John Henry, is a strikingly angular, red-painted metal sculpture more than 40 feet tall. It stands on a section of lawn next to Lakeside Village, facing the Lowe and Palley Pavilion across Stanford Drive. At the unveiling, Josh Friedman, senior vice president for development and alumni relations, hailed Lady as a 'magnificent piece of art.' Crediting Tola Porter, the Lowe's assistant director of learning, engagement, and technology, with the metaphor, Friedman compared Lady to the University's students, with 'feet planted on the ground and an arm pointed toward the sky.' 'As our community celebrates the University's first century, we want to ensure that every person who has left their mark on the U is remembered and celebrated,' Friedman said. 'It is fitting that today we commemorate this wonderful gift from the Palley Family, which enhances our campus landscape, [and which] will be here for our second century.' Leonidas G. Bachas, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, recalled his first interactions with the Palleys when he joined the University in 2010. 'They were the first donors I met, and I could tell that they had a passion for art and for our students,' Bachas said. 'Art is so important. We are not going to have a great university if we don't have a strong arts program and a great museum. We have the best university-based museum of art glass, and that's all because of the Palley Family.' Jill Deupi, Beaux Arts director and chief curator of the Lowe Art Museum, noted that Myrna and Sheldon Palley embodied the original meaning of the word philanthropy, which derives from the Greek word for 'love of humankind.' 'Through their deep and sustained love of humanity and, by extension, the communities about which they cared so deeply—both on and off the University's campus—Myrna and Sheldon Palley embodied the philanthropic ethos,' Deupi said. 'The mark that they have left on the University of Miami and the Lowe Art Museum, like the legacy that they have passed down to their remarkable family, is a high-water mark toward which we can all aspire.' 'Myrna and Sheldon Palley thought it important to share, and share they did: of themselves, their time, and their blessings. Lady embodies all that and more,' said their daughter, Lisa Palley. 'She enhances the University's physical space and amplifies one's emotions upon seeing her, a beneficent presence, there to welcome and watch over everyone and broaden everyone's experiences while on the University of Miami campus. Lady has come home.' Attachments Megan Ondrizek University of Miami 3052843667 [email protected]
