Congratulations Andrea.

Congratulations Andrea. You covered your debt friend, this publication is something you owed us to the nursing group and to yourself. (MMT)

This work, ,https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrea_Salda%C3%B1a amalgamates more than 50 years of professional practice in the field of Public Health Andrea Saldaña Rivera, as well as countless life experiences in Mexico and other countries.

Trend is not destiny.

Acuciosa, Andrea includes information from four generations, the family settings where the province, the lots, farms, cornfields and the daily life of the inhabitants of the time are clearly perceived and recreated.

Years ago, I heard the phrase "trend is not destiny." However, I think that, for Andrea Saldaña, this statement does not add up. Literary work, personal life and his brilliant professional career prove it.

Origin of his vocation.

Studying nursing was not a fortuitous event. The decision, without her knowing it, was made from a very young age. A story reflects, very much in his style, his early vocation towards this discipline.  

The midwife – Andrea says- “I entered the house with a black briefcase. When he left, he had already left a newborn ”. His parents' explanation was“ that's how your little brother arrived, in the briefcase ”. She decided that “when she grew up, she wanted sell children, like the midwife ”. He concludes after the remembrance "I think that genetics and the environment combined to propel me towards this profession."

Dual affect.

Her parents repeated that from that first pregnancy of their mother, they were expecting a boy, but she arrived. He assumed games, attitudes, clothes and activities of "male" assignment (marbles, spinning top, billiards, dominoes, horseback riding, pants) and others of "female" assignment (care and attention of siblings, of housework). In this way, did you hope to have the approval and affection of both of you? The difference in the training of his brothers, especially at that time, was due to gender reasons.

Gender and feminism.

Like many colleagues, she faced discrimination for being a woman and being a nurse. A discipline that, according to the canons of the time, was labeled as dependent and subdued. He resisted and fought these injustices, almost always successfully. Possibly this marked him. His strong and firm character took these events as opportunities to strengthen himself. Eventually, she achieved greater assertiveness in handling each circumstance, thanks to her training in subjects such as gender, human rights, managerial training and managerial development.

Nursing Oath.

Answering as it is, it qualifies as obsolete the speech in some paragraphs supporting with brief replies. PIt suggests updating such an important document by inserting two sentences to the Nursing Oath (drawn up in 1893). Lfirst, the rescues from the Oath of military nurses "the spirit of constant improvement, for the benefit of the Society and the Homeland" since it corresponds to current premises. 

The second are two lines of the authorship of Diana Bañuelos, which should not be missing in any Oath "I will not allow any prejudice of religion, ethnicity, political ideology, social level, illness or other condition to interfere with the performance of duty."  

Areas of Public Health

The graduate degree in Public Health gave him a different perspective. He discovered that the scope of action of this specialty is 360º. Identify a large number of paths to direct your steps. He toured some. Wherever her concerns, her ability and circumstances required and led her.

The hospital showed her, among others, the biological, social and legal problems, due to which women lose their health, their freedom or their lives, in the face of a voluntary pregnancy or as a result of violence, abortion, whether spontaneous or induced, and others. pathologies. 

Purposes or utopias.

Take advantage of unexpected opportunities in several countries to intervene in health problems, gender equality and human rights. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4O2F-6gf7BU&t=48sAt the same time, he finds the way to his own professional fulfillment. He wonders if ehe fact of continuing with activities in the field of Public Health is perhaps a proof of their addictive capacity and he comments:

“The purposes and sometimes utopias that guide public health have a lot of romance. Could it be that, like love, the entire process is manipulated to promote even chemical reactions capable of influencing our formation? Could it be that everything was part of the same? ”. (Sic)

… It's scorching ice.

"I considered that public health could also be defined with the words with which Quevedo spoke of love" ... it is scorching ice. It's frozen fire. It is a wound that hurts and cannot be felt ”(Sic)  They were decisive, for the direction that his life took, incredible opportunities for realization that were presented to him from his native state of San Luis Potosí to the international level.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWu-tTFPN74

Survivor or victim.

He tells us verbatim about these terms: “Today I understand that being a survivor includes seeking an objective explanation of the crises experienced. Manage by herself, take control of her life, strengthen self-esteem and review with greater confidence the options for the future… ”(Sic). He strengthened this ability on several occasions, it is clear to us from reading this work.

Personally, I think that one can do the life project that they want and that, finally, it is life itself that will take us through different paths, this is the case of the author, a member of the Mexican Society of Public Health, who recognized in 2009 with the Sanitary Merit Medal to our excellent friend.

Maternity without Risks, among others.

She ventured into the fight for gender equality, women's access to their reproductive health, the defense of human rights, the elaboration, promotion and consolidation of a design of comprehensive post-abortion care and the promotion for a Maternity without Risks, as a member of this group since 1993. 

Their roles encompass the family sphere as daughter, wife, partner, friend, mother and grandmother. It is a clear example of the life of a woman, also a nurse. 

It captures the attention and transports us, in each of its chapters, to the place and moment it describes. We can visualize the events as if they were a film projection. The characteristics of the different countries, their culture, their natural beauties and the lacerating problems of their population. You are especially sensitive to them, as well as the various activities you do.

His love of poetry.

Tireless reader, in love with poetry. Passionate about her work, as much as literature, she bears fruit in both fields. In addition to technical publications, he has to his credit those of poetry, essays, short stories and interviews. Some awarded at the national and state level. Now he surprises us with this biographical book. In addition to bringing out the sensitivity of its author, the modest attitude, without triumphalism, that has always distinguished her is present.

Finally

Perhaps without intending to, the author seeks that this work represents a contribution to the construction of the historicity of a group: nursing. I'm not the one to give advice, but I think I can afford a recommendation to colleagues: writing our story is a message that we can read between the lines in this autobiography.

I thank Andrea, Public Health Nurse, poet, writer but above all dear friend, for the opportunity to be a commentator specifically on this work. We will undoubtedly identify ourselves and also share many points of view.  

(1) EESP Miraldeyi Morales Trinidad. (+). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rZMDF-RGa8 Literary analysis of the autobiography of Andrea Saldaña Rivera in its 1st. edition. (2012).