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.