Sara Gabriel

Founding President of NAINA

Sara Gabriel was born in Kerala, India and became one of the first-generation migrant nurses from India to come to the United States. She graduated in 1972 with her Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing and a midwifery certificate from Vellore Christian Medical College & Hospital, in Tamil Nadu, India, a world-famous medical college & missionary hospital founded in 1902 by an American female physician. She credits the Christian principles in her education to influencing the way she became a servant leader later in her career. Her first job after graduation was at the School of Nursing at Sir Sunderlal Hospital in Varanasi, India. Within a year, she married and followed her husband to Chicago where she started her U.S. nursing career in 1974 in a small community hospital as a graduate nurse, pending license.

“Starting in nursing in the 70s was not an easy task for the majority of immigrant nurses. To pass the RN licensing exam was almost impossible for many nurses. The language barrier, the lack of resources, and lack of acculturation all stood in the way of finding a job. There were very few Indian nurses and mainstream American nurses did not know much about Indian nurses and vice versa. It was not easy, Indian nurses had to prove themselves above and beyond to get a chance in leadership roles, especially in private hospitals. Slowly we shared our life stories, cultural norms and values and started the process of acculturation in this country. “

Gabriel successfully passed her NCLEX nursing exam at the end of 1974 and obtained her first job as a staff nurse in the same hospital. She enrolled in Loyola University for her Master’s in Nursing in 1981 and was one of the first foreign educated Indian nurses in the program. After completing her graduate studies in nursing, she started her leadership journey as a staff development instructor in Mount Sinai Hospital in Chicago in 1984 and shortly after began a role as a Physician Assistant in General Surgery in Cook County Hospital. She then subsequently worked as a clinical nurse specialist in critical care and then as a nurse manager. She was appointed to coordinate a new angioplasty program and in 1986 had the opportunity to coordinate a new open-heart surgery program in the hospital.

“In 1990, I was selected in the small team of experts from County Hospital to reopen the closed private Provident Hospital in Chicago as an extension of the Cook County Hospital. It was an amazing experience, and I was fortunate to be involved and learn all aspects of hospital administration. The hospital reopened in 1993 and I was promoted as an Associate Director of Nursing and later became the Director of Nursing at Provident Hospital.”

As Director of Nursing, Gabriel felt the need to become more proficient in finance and budgeting and completed her Master’s in Business Administration from Olivet Nazarene University in 1994. A new Cook County Hospital building was built for over 350 patients in 2000 and whole hospital services were relocated from the old building to the modern new building, named John H Stroger Hospital. She worked on this project almost three years to open the hospital and later joined as an Associate Administrator and reported to the hospital director. When the new HIPPA rules came into law in 2003, Gabriel was appointed to develop the hospital wide program, educate the whole hospital staff, and implement and monitor staff compliance of the law. She was also put in charge of setting up a new bed control system to manage ER patient flow and created efficient utilization and management of hospital beds. Gabriel received the Legacy of Caring award with Dr. Jean Watson in 2006. She retired from her nursing role in 2007, though she still holds an active RN license.

Photo source Sara Gabriel

Founding of National Association of Indian Nurses of America (NAINA)

Indian nurses realized the need to organize with the first generation of Indian nurses in the 1970s — 80s. The Indian Nurses Association in Chicago was one of the first six states to form an association and Gabriel became the founding member and second President. The existing state chapters united and formed the National Association of Indian Nurses of America (NAINA) in 2006, of which Gabriel became the Founding President. The goal was to “unite all Indian professional nurses under one umbrella, be a voice for them, give them the opportunities to become proficient in public speaking, to develop leadership skills, proficient in writing and publishing, be recognized among the mainstream American professional organizations and be visible. The opportunities were not there so we decided to create our own platform to show case our nurses.” The first national educational conference, a three-day event in Chicago, drew 400 nurses from all over the country and NAINA also joined National Coalition of Ethnic Minority Nursing Organization (NCEMNA).

In 2007 the Academy of Health at Georgetown University received a grant from the MacArthur Foundation to study the unethical practices of recruitment of foreign educated nurses in the United States. Gabriel was selected to be part of the national team with other stakeholders from every healthcare field to be part of this project. Later this project was incorporated as a nonprofit 501c3 organization known as Alliance for Ethical Recruitment of Foreign Educated Nurses. They developed ethical standards for recruitment of foreign educated nurses for the recruitment agencies to comply. Her contribution and participation enabled a permanent membership for NAINA on the board of this organization. The project was presented in the International Council of Nurses in Durbin, South Africa in 2009 and Gabriel was one of the panelists. Since then the alliance has become separate Division of CGFNS and NAINA continues to be a member of this new Board.

Gabriel was also elected for a second time as the fifth term President of NAINA (2015–16). From six chapters, they grew to 16 and they obtained academic partnership with Grand Canyon University, Chamberlain University, and Walden University. They also started a separate forum for Advanced Practice nurses to provide additional support and create a national data base of all Indian APRNs. Gabriel is currently one of the board members of NAINA. NAINA has become an international organization, recognized by other professional organizations both in the United States and India.

Watch Sara Gabriel’s Nurses You Should Know Video here.

Further Reading

Learn about nursing education in India here.

Donate to organizations to help India during this wave of Covid-19 here.

Learn about the National Association of Indian Nurses in America here.

Sources

The information above was sourced from Sara Gabriel.

Learn More

To learn more about inclusion in nursing and be part of the national discussion to address racism in nursing, check out and share the following resources:

Know Your History

• Nursing CLIO to engage with historians and scholars committed to deep work around historical accuracy in healthcare and nursing.
• American Association for the History of Nursing to attend monthly webinars on topics of nursing history, view the calendar here.

Examine Bias

• NurseManifest to attend live zoom sessions with fellow nurses on nursing’s overdue reckoning on racism or to sign their pledge.
• Breaking Bias in Healthcare, an online course created by scientist Anu Gupta, to learn how bias is related to our brain’s neurobiology and can be mitigated with mindfulness.
• Revolutionary Love Learning Hub provides free tools for learners and educators to use love as fuel towards ourselves, our opponents, and to others so that we can embody a world where we see no strangers.

Support & Advocate

• National Coalition for Ethnic Minority Nurse Association to stay engaged with topics relevant to nurses of color.

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