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Nancy Cameron inspires anyone who gets discouraged trying to launch a good idea.

Nancy is an emergency room nurse in a large, critical care hospital in a major, Midwestern city. Five days a week, beginning at seven in the morning, she tends to an unending string of people who are very sick, very hurt or very close to death, working in a high-pressure environment that "ER" depicts only partially.

A typical day? Nancy may be triaging a severely injured patient before moving immediately to attach life support on man who arrived complaining of chest pains and collapsed with a heart attack. A child brought in by her distraught mother after the girl fell off her bike and suffered a potentially life-altering head injury; Nancy has to assess the child's condition while calming the girl's mother. Her lunch break is interrupted when three EMS wagons arrive with seven people severely injured in a three car accident.

It's like this eight hours a day. By the time her shift ends, Nancy is physically exhausted and mentally drained. For most, crawling home to bed would be all they had left.

But Nancy isn't most people.

In 1999, she worked swing shift, getting off at 11PM. Driving home through skid row, she'd see homeless people sleeping in parks, under bridges and in bus shelters. As the weather chilled, she wondered how they stayed healthy. What if they catch cold or a flu? If they're diabetic common among alcoholics how are they monitored and where do they find insulin?

Nancy's concern grew as winter arrived. While celebrating the New Millennium with friends, a light bulb went on in her head: Organize nurses to provide basic, free health care on the streets at night.

Nancy told colleagues her idea. Everyone thought it was terrific but few were willing to go onto skid row streets at night, approaching potentially dangerous people. Besides, many asked, where will you get supplies?

Nancy remained undaunted. If necessary, she'd do it herself. She explained her plan to the hospital's nursing director and chief administrator, asking for donated bandages, aspirin packets, diabetes tests, cold medicine, sanitary napkins and other basic items such as a stethoscope, thermometers and a blood pressure reader. Within weeks, the hospital agreed to donate supplies for one month.

On the night Nancy started, the safety question nagged at her. After her shift ended and she reached the target area, it was midnight, cold and it was just her on the streets.

Remembering most

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