Claire, nominated by her manager, was chosen for the Volunteerism and Service award for her work in Nicaragua, Haiti, and Sierra Leone.
The reception, for Claire and several other Northwestern nurses who were regional GEM finalists in other categories, was scheduled for at 1 pm at the hospital, which gave us plenty of time to go out for brunch beforehand.
Claire and Miguel walked 15 minutes from their house in Logan Square to meet us at our hostel and from there we walked through Wicker Park,
Tommy had the goat-cheese omlet,
Claire had a vegetarian bagel,
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After brunch we headed downtown to the hospital via subway,
The reception was held in an atrium overlooking Lake Michigan.
There was a table full of yummy hors d'oeuvres,
Claire was honored by hospital management and representatives of Nurse.com,
Claire also emphasized that the countries most vulnerable to outbreaks of deadly diseases are those in which large segments of the population lack access to health care. She encouraged us to be mindful of the importance of the state of our health care system when we vote.
I suggested that we walk back to Wicker Park and have dinner at a Thai restaurant called Penny's, which plan sounded fine to everyone else.
So we returned to Wicker Park via the 606, which is the name of a recently completed elevated walking trail along an old elevated train line.
We descended the 606 at Wicker Park,