Ann Hirschman is an American

nurse practitioner A nurse practitioner (NP) is an advanced practice registered nurse and a type of mid-level practitioner. NPs are trained to assess patient needs, order and interpret diagnostic and laboratory tests, diagnose disease, formulate and prescribe m ...

and an elder of the

street medic Street medics, or action medics, are volunteers with a minimum of first aid medical training supplemented by specific protest-related training, who attend protests and demonstrations as support or mutual aid roles to provide medical and wellness ...

movement.

Early life and career

Ann Hirschman was trained as a nurse, graduating in 1967. She became a member of the

Medical Committee for Human Rights The Medical Committee for Human Rights (MCHR) was a group of American health care professionals that initially organized in June 1964 to provide medical care for civil rights workers, community activists, and summer volunteers working in Mississi ...

, where she joined a faction that expressed a moral obligation to assist the

civil rights movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional Racial segregation in the United States, racial segregation, Racial discrimination ...

. In 1969, Hirschman happened upon a

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...

political demonstration. When it turned violent, she began performing

first aid First aid is the first and immediate assistance given to any person with either a minor or serious illness or injury, with care provided to preserve life, prevent the condition from worsening, or to promote recovery. It includes initial in ...

with a kit she keeps on her at all times. Hirschman was present at the 1973

Wounded Knee Occupation The Wounded Knee Occupation, also known as Second Wounded Knee, began on February 27, 1973, when approximately 200 Oglala Lakota (sometimes referred to as Oglala Sioux) and followers of the American Indian Movement (AIM) seized and occupied ...

, where she treated a man who had been shot in the head. She has been arrested more than ten times and never convicted. Hirschman wrote an early street medic training program and trained activists to become medics. Her trainees were affiliated with

Vietnam Veterans Against the War Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW) is an American tax-exempt non-profit organization and corporation founded in 1967 to oppose the United States policy and participation in the Vietnam War. VVAW says it is a national veterans' organization ...

and the

Black Panthers The Black Panther Party (BPP), originally the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, was a Marxism-Leninism, Marxist-Leninist and Black Power movement, black power political organization founded by college students Bobby Seale and Huey P. New ...

. She trained Ron "Doc" Rosen, who started the Colorado Street Medics, one of the oldest street medic organizations in the country.

References

American nurses Living people Year of birth missing (living people) {{nurse-stub