User:Drmmatty/Joan Craigwell

Joan T. Arrington Craigwell, RN, MSN, MA is a retired flight nurse Captain in the U.S. Airforce who holds a Bronze Star Medal for her service during the Vietnam War. She is best known for her service as a nurse during the Tet Offensive in January 1968 in the Vietnam War. She helped to organize the first Stand Down to support veterans experiencing homelessness, ran San Diego Veterans Outreach Center, worked as a psychiatric nurse and a professor at MiraCosta College, and served as a head nurse supervisor at a Vascular Open Heart surgery unit. She is in the San Diego Women’s Hall of Fame. She currently lives in Carlsbad, CA.

Education and Personal Life
Joan T. Craigwell was born in 1937 in Demopolis, Alabama, where she and her family experienced blatant racism throughout her childhood. Craigwell earned her Bachelor of Science in Nursing in 1960, despite discrimination against African Americans in the educational system. She joined the U.S. Airforce in 1961. She first served as a flight nurse on a C141 after training at the United States Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine. She was stationed at both the Clark Air Base in the Philippines and Republic of South Vietnam. She was the Head Nurse Supervisor for triaging during the Tet Offensive, where she was in charge of setting up nursing units. She worked in the Quonset hut hospital at Cam Ranh Bay Base. She was honorably discharged as Captain, after she was unable to extend her tour.

She later went to graduate school in Southern California, where she earned a Master of Science in Nursing and a Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology. Through her work, she seeks to advance care for veterans, especially for those who experience PTSD.

Awards
Bronze Star Medal

National Disabled American Veterans Commanders' Award

Congressional Black Caucus Veterans Brain Trust Award

Congressional Distinguished Service Award

San Diego's phenomenal women in medicine and health

Media
She has written poetry, including the poem "Dark Angel," which focuses on her time as a U.S. Air Force triage nurse during the Tet Offensive of the Vietnam War. This poem is featured in Radical Visions: Poetry by Vietnam Veterans.

Craigwell has been featured in North Coast Calvary's Interview Special.

Craigwell was interviewed for PBS SoCal View from Cam Ranh Bay Airbase: One Nurse's Story .