March 10th is NWGHAAD (National Women's and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day), and this is also Women's History Month, so I would like to tell you about one woman in particular who was called "the Cemetery Angel". Sounds like quite a name, doesn't it? Cemetery Angel? Interested?
Her name is Ruth Coker Burks, and she considers herself to be an unlikely advocate. A single mother and real estate agent in Arkansas, she had no medical background or training. She was just visiting a friend in the hospital in 1984 when she saw a red door, and nurses drawing straws to see who would have to go care for the patient. She sneaked into the room and met Jimmy, her first patient. Since that day, she has spent 30 years caring for people who have been abandoned by their families and even medical staff. Continue reading...
