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In memoriam Barbara Lawson Boston RN WHNP IBCLC
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Some people you encounter for a day, others you remember for a few months, and others influence you for a lifetime. I have been blogging recently about “making change” in your own practice and in your institution, “leaning in” to your career, and “finding a way” to accomplish things even though the odds may not be in your favor. All of those things Barbara did daily in her practice as a lactation consultant, a woman's health nurse practitioner and integrative medicine specialist. She was always up to date on the latest research, willing to go the extra 10 miles for her patients and had a cheerful word for everyone.
Those of us who worked at Georgetown University Hospital in the Lactation Center and Milk Bank in the 1990’s formed a special bond: Barbara Boston, Silvia Ochs, Karen Rechnitzer, Maire Hewitt and I. Though none of us are still working at Georgetown, we have worked together in various configurations at several local hospitals and lactation centers. Some of us have moved away and come back during the intervening years. But our group endured. When Barbara lived in Switzerland or Denver, she always returned to speak at the Lactation Consultant Training Program.
Perhaps many of you reading this remember Barbara and her lectures on sexuality. Always funny and always right on point with a deep understanding of the impact on the family. Thank you, Barbara, for all you have given to everyone you have influenced.
Barbara died April 28 after more than a year of cancer treatments.
Comments
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Thursday, 01 May 2014
Barbara "met" through correspondence when we were both in administrative jobs with La Leche League International. She was living in the Philippines and I was living in Taiwan. This was in the late 1980s. When my fifth child was born prematurely, Barbara was one of the team of Lactation Consultants who helped me- and that is how we met in person for the first time.
I am so sorry to hear of her death. Barbara left the world a better place!
I only worked with Barbara a handful of times as an intern, but I immediately saw her as someone who could teach me a lot. She didn't pull any punches and watching her work with mothers was an inspiration to me. I will strive to honor her legacy by practicing the things she taught me.