Alhambra, California, is a town named after Washington Irving’s collection of stories and essays, Tales of the Alhambra, which in turn was inspired by his visit to the Moorish castle, the Alhambra,  located in Grenada, Spain. Alhambra, California is the birthplace of Barbara Vinson O’Grady.  Her story is an inspiration, and in turn the decisive turn that her life’s path took was inspired by another’s story.

As a young girl Ms. O’Grady looked up to one of her mother’s friends. It was this woman’s example that led her in the direction toward becoming a nurse. Later, when Barbara was a senior student nurse working at Los Angeles County General Hospital she admitted a 13-month old child with a high fever who was severely dehydrated. The parents asked her if their baby was seriously ill. She informed them that he was indeed very ill, and she and the doctor started him on a water IV as well as attempting to reduce the fever through cool baths. Tragically, in spite of all of their efforts, the child died. As she was charting the infant’s history she noticed the child has been admitted twice before with bacterial gastroenteritis – the condition that had caused the child’s death. Ms. O’Grady told the doctor that it was a crime that the child’s parents weren’t instructed on how to prevent this type of gastroenteritis, which was mainly a matter of the safe handling of food. The doctor informed her that there were public health nurses who went into homes to teach mothers how to avoid infection in their children. The young Ms. O’Grady decided right then that she would spend her career in public health nursing. Throughout her life, prevention has been her main focus, at this moment it came into sharp focus. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Public Health Nursing from the University of California, Los Angeles. Some years later she went on to achieve a Masters of Science in Nursing from the University of Minnesota.

Her readiness to try new approaches in the delivery of healthcare services to vulnerable populations combined with her ability to convince policy makers to support improvements in the system allows her star to shine brightly. Barbara Vinson O’Grady’s ray of light has become a source of inspiration for others.

Ms. O’Grady established the Barbara O’Grady Excellence in Public Health Lecture Fund in the School of Nursing at the University of Minnesota. This fund provides an annual award for excellence in practice. The award is presented at an awards banquet with a speaker focusing on innovations in public health nursing. I’ve mentioned the hand that gives, but in the other hand she holds the several awards she has received. These awards are too numerous to list here but among them are: The Innovative State and Local Government Initiatives Award given by The Ford Foundation and Harvard University, Distinguished Leadership Award bestowed by The National League for Nursing, and The Outstanding Achievement Award from the Board of Ramsey County Commissioners. One of her most recent awards was being recognized by the University of Minnesota School of Nursing’s 100 Distinguished Alumni for her multifaceted nursing career including leadership of the Ramsey County Public Health Nursing Service which established care for the immigrant Hmong population and developed close working relationships with public and private organizations to provide comprehensive, safe care for clients in the community.

Prior to her retirement Ms. O’Grady worked as the director of Ramsey County Public Health Nursing Service where she led highly qualified staff of 9 public health nurse clinicians and 53 public health nurses who all made a difference in their client’s health. During her career, she was a frequent speaker at conferences, classes and seminars on the challenges for nursing in the changing health care delivery system.

As rewarding as her profession has been Ms. O’Grady is doubly fortunate to have a rewarding family life. She has made her home in Santa Ynez, California and is currently married to John Prebish. Barbara has five children with her deceased husband, Joseph Putnam O’Grady. Her eldest son, Joseph Putnam O’Grady, Jr. is a physician, son Jeffrey Vinson O’Grady is a minister, son Kent Noble O’Grady is a major with the Minnesota Highway Patrol, daughter Kimberly Simemson is a financial advisor with University Healthcare System and daughter Kathryn Mauer is an emergency room nurse. Ms. O’Grady is the proud grandmother of 13 grandchildren and one great-grandchild. When tending to her own needs, two of her choice interests are traveling and reading.

Barbara Vinson O’Grady can be found on the Madison Who’s Who Directory, where she is looking forward to networking with you.