focus -WSS

focus

author：focus 2025-10-01 17:35:30 - browse：7

“You can’t pour from an empty cup” is what registered nurse Tara Rynders learned the hard way after two decades of work and one heartbreaking, life-threatening experience of being a critical care patient herself. Before that experience, she’d always found found that dance, play, and other types of movement helped her express and heal from the trauma she encountered and held in her body every day. After recovering from her health emergency as a patient, she brought that healing to several other nurses in a workshop, where they danced to “Eye of the Tiger,” pretended to be FBI agents, and otherwise moved their bodies, bringing them to tears, laughter, and often both at the same time.

The need for these workshops became all the more acute during the pandemic, when Rynders found herself resenting the “health care hero” language that permeated discussion of her work. Rather than seeing it as a tribute, she says, this mindset became a burden, an expectation that somehow nurses and other health care workers were more than human.

Now, what started as an experiment has become an organization called The Clinic that offers healing workshops and performances to health care workers. At Rynders’ workshops, she says, health care workers find somatic healing. I spoke with her about the workshops, how dance has long been a refuge, other ways arts can help address health care worker burnout, and policies that can support nurses.

“I love emergency room nursing so much because I love being with people in some of their most difficult times,” Rynders said. “I find it very sacred to sit with another person who’s suffering and to be able to offer presence.”

Our conversation was based on her recent First Opinion essay, “Health care systems must stop exploiting nurses’ tender hearts and begin supporting them.”

Be sure to sign up for the weekly “First Opinion Podcast” on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Play, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Previous article： FDA approval of Sarepta Duchenne genetic therapy gives me hope
Next article： Hepatitis C has a cure — but many Americans still lack access to it

hotspot

WSS

2023 STAT Wunderkinds: get to know the winners

Heart attack and stroke risk calculators need revising

Beam Therapeutics to lay off 20% of its staff, re

Medical records are filled with copy

First Opinion Podcast: Long Covid needs a new approach

The high cost of giving birth even with insurance

entertainment

focus

entertainment

Indiana Supreme Court upholds abortion ban, says state constitution gives only limited protections

Peter Hotez and the public health issue of online harassment

Sports medicine is finally prioritizing gender equality

Dobbs anniversary: the lost opportunity of abortion as health care

Novavax promises a turnaround & Lilly roils the obesity market

Pharmacists can make shortage drugs, but at what cost?

Hollywood unions extend contract negotiations for actors

Senate committee scrutinizes Medicare Advantage brokers

In Memoriam: Notable people who died in 2023

FDA gives detailed accounting of AI

knowledge

Hollywood unions extend contract negotiations for actors

Wildfire smoke exposes gaps in outdoor worker protections

Medical leaders decry Supreme Court decision on affirmative action

2023 STAT Wunderkinds: get to know the winners

FDA approval of Sarepta Duchenne genetic therapy gives me hope

State Dept. review finds Biden bears some blame for Afghanistan failures

leisure time

hotspot

focus

Wikipedia