Nurse Rosemarie Riddell saw beyond the stigma of HIV/AIDS

published on September 10, 2013 in The Globe and Mail

Stories of gay men in the United States falling victim to a wave of mysterious illnesses were already rife when cases began showing up in 1983 at St. Paul’s Hospital in downtown Vancouver. It was the beginning of the AIDS epidemic.

Irene Goldstone had just taken over as director of nursing for the hospital’s medical wards. She recalls those days as a terrible, frightening time, with patients and health care providers alike struggling to combat severe symptoms almost never seen in the non-elderly.

“There was this feeling of hopelessness,” says Ms. Goldstone, noting the disease was invariably fatal. “We didn’t know what we were dealing with.”

As the hospital closest to the city’s vibrant gay neighbourhoods, St. Paul’s quickly became a treatment centre for AIDS patients. And it was there that Rosemarie Riddell, a remarkable nurse with a relentless, no-nonsense drive to improve patient welfare, made her mark.

She came early to the cause of HIV/AIDS patients and stayed with it for nearly 30 years, until forced to leave by illness. When she died July 12 in North Vancouver at the age of 66, Ms. Riddell left a nursing legacy that was exceptional in the challenging field of ministering to those with the devastating virus. Her record was not in the realm of medical breakthroughs or St. Paul’s renowned B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS. Hers was at the bedside, where nurses are key, and where the patients she oversaw were among society’s most stigmatized.

Rod Mickleburgh
The Globe and Mail
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Nurse Rosemarie Riddell saw beyond the stigma of HIV/AIDS

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