How important are our origins, our roots? Do they become weaker or stronger the farther back they go? Fire is the origin of stone; does the stone still feel the fire deep down in its core? Gladys Mouro is American born, a Pawtucketer, a Rhode Islander, with a mother who is originally Lebanese. Ms. Mouro visited Lebanon with her mother when she was a young girl. The thrill of going to her mother’s homeland didn’t leave her after her visit ended, so at 17 she made the decision she would study nursing in Lebanon. Gladys is a woman of intense focus. She sees with clarity what she wants. She sees with clarity what is needed to obtain it, and though the world may be falling apart around her, she will see her goals through to completion. In June 1976, Mouro received her BS in Nursing from the American University of Beirut; but, because of the war, there was no usual cap and gown regalia and commencement ceremony. Later she was awarded an AUB grant to pursue an MSN at the University of Pennsylvania. In addition, she received an Honorary Doctorate Degree for Human Leters from Muhlenberg College in Pennsylvania. On returning to Beirut, degree in hand, she was appointed Director of Nursing Services. Her early career almost exactly coincided with the Lebanese Civil War, which began in 1975 and ended in 1990.

Since the hospital was located in a part of western Beirut that was in the thick of the fighting and was better equipped than any other hospital in Beirut to treat the wounded, this placed Ms. Mouro at ground zero of a conflict that killed 150,000 people, wounded hundreds of thousands of others, and made the hospital itself a frequent target for the contending sectarian militias. Ms. Mouro wrote a book about her experiences, An American Nurse Amidst Chaos. The book describes how the war made the medical center in effect not only a field hospital, but also a target. Wards and clinics were blasted by artillery shells. Car bombs exploded outside the entrance and in the parking lot. A woman suicide bomber waiting with a chocolate box on her lap killed seven people in the hospital lobby. Patients pulled guns on hospital staff from under pillows. Overstressed nurses committed suicide. Heavily armed militiamen rushed through the hospital ordering doctors and nurses to attend first to their wounded comrades, fighting gun battles in the corridors, and shooting rivals dead in the wards.

In 1994, the Lebanese Government awarded her the Silver Order of Health. And in 1995, she was appointed to the position of Assistant Hospital Director for Nursing Services of the Medical Center. In April 2003, Ms. Mouro addressed an audience of 2,000 American nurse executives gathered at the conference of the American Organization of Nurse Executives that was held in New Orleans. Speaking to them at length on her experiences in leadership during and after the war, she received a five-minute standing ovation and was honored with the organization’s Nurse Executive Award for the U.S. “It was a magical moment,” she says, “truly the most memorable event of my life. From the Ministry of Health she received an award for her achievements in Patient Care and Nursing in Lebanon. This was one of two awards she received from the  Ministry of Health. The second award came this year when she won the 2010 Ministry of Health Award for promoting the practice of Nursing in the country after achieving Magnet Designation, the first hospital in the Middle East to do so. A Magnet hospital is one that has met the specific standards set forth by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC). These standards define the highest quality of nursing practice and patient care. She has been appointed as Magnet Commissioner for the Middle East. She is a Madison Who’s Who Woman of the Year, and she has been selected in the Who’s Who of Lebanon as Woman of the Year.

Understandably, Mouro has no time for hobbies, but she swims and religiously exercises at a gym four times a week. She maintains the spirit of an adventuress and loves to travel. On the subject of family she has her mother and two brothers, about the rest she says, ”Now, I look back sometimes, see how I missed out on the opportunity to get married and have a family, perhaps to advance my career or make a little more money elsewhere, and I ask, ‘Did I do the right thing?But then I remember what we achieved here, and I know with certainty that if the same situation arose again, I’d be the first to volunteer.”

As for how she feels about her impressive performance as a nurse who rose through the ranks to reach the top, she says: “I am proud of being persistent, determined and passionate in my drive to achieve the highest level of excellence at the institution I have devoted my entire career and life to. It is a dream come true.”
Gladys Mouro can be found on Madison Who’s Who where she is looking forward to networking with you.

www.aub.edu.lb