A Hero in the "Village" of Baltimore

By Kelly Brooks-Staub
Photo by Chris Hartlove

For people of all ages in East Baltimore communities—from toddlers to octogenarians—faculty member Lori Edwards is a familiar and welcome sight.

A member of the Community Public Health Department, Edwards was named the 2007 Nurse Hero by The Daily Record for her work in Baltimore’s communities and her leadership of the school’s Community Outreach Program. Each year, the program educates, trains, and places more than 150 dedicated student nurses as community volunteers in more than 40 community agencies that pro-vide extensive health-related services to the most underserved people in Baltimore.

Edwards’ programs include Project HEAL, which aids struggling families with small children in the African-American and Hispanic communities, and the Amazing Grandmothers project, which provides support for grandmothers raising their grandchildren due to family substance abuse, a major issue for Baltimore City.

“My lifelong dream was to work in a village in a remote part of the world,” says Edwards, MPH, BC, APRN, RN. “The fact that I am able to walk down the street of East Baltimore and run into one of the families that I have worked with and be warmly greeted makes me feel like I am in that village.”