Name: Agatha Uglesich

Social Justice Group: Health: Maternal Death Rate in NYC (C)

Date of Fieldwork: January 8, 2025

Name of Organization and person (people) with whom you met and their title(s):Jenna DiMarino, School Nurse

What I did and what I learned about my topic, activism, social justice work or civil and human rights work from this fieldwork:

On January 8th Paige and I met with Jenna DiMarino, the school nurse for the lower and middle school at LREI. We asked her about her previous experiences in nursing. She shared with us that she used to work at a hospital in the pediatric ICU. She would work with children from as early as right when they were born, all the way until they were eighteen years old. We asked her if she had witnessed or heard about patients facing discrimination while she was working at the hospital. Jenna told us “I have been lucky that I haven’t worked with anyone that I feel has been discriminatory…I think that’s something that as we’re progressing, we get a lot better at…but I have heard stories, for sure”. She also mentioned that older teenage patients and mothers, specifically from minorities, have shared with her that previously their pain had not been handled properly or that this was the first time they felt comfortable and attended to. Jenna shared so much knowledge with us. Something that resonated with me is the fact that some adolescents and adults have never felt comfortable and heard from doctors or the people who were taking care of them. Based on the things Jenna told us, I am interested in talking to organizations that can share even deeper information with us. This interview was extremely beneficial.