James Mattson

I met Claudia Lai, RN, PhD, four years ago, via e-mail. She was making plans to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, East Africa, in September 2006 to increase awareness of Alzheimer’s disease and raise funds to combat the disorder. I asked if she would write an article about her experience for Reflections on Nursing Leadership (RNL). She consented but asked that I refrain from publicizing the trip until she found out if she made it to the summit.

It seemed a reasonable request. Although ascending Kilimanjaro is technically not difficult, its 19,341-foot peak reaches more than 16,000 feet higher than Tai Mo Shan, the highest elevation in hilly and mountainous Hong Kong where Lai, a former member of RNL’s International Advisory Board, serves as associate professor in the School of Nursing at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. (Her specialty is gerontology.)

Day 6: Going for the summit on World Alzheimer’s Day, 21 September 2006

The altitude, low temps and occasional high winds of Kilimanjaro make any attempt to reach its summit dangerous. (About 10 climbers and an unknown number of porters die each year, and fewer than 40 percent make it to the top of Uhuru Peak, Kilimanjaro’s highest elevation. Most turn around at Gilman’s Point, about 300 meters short of Uhuru.) Well, Lai did make it to the top of Uhuru Peak and we published her report, “Upward and inward,” in the Fourth Qtr. 2006 issue of RNL.

Lai recalls in that article the uncertainty and anxiety she felt prior to the climb. “Could I really make it? Would I become a burden to other members of the team? Would I get altitude sickness and my attempt to climb to the top be in vain?” Her trepidation wasn’t based on lack of climbing experience. She loves to hike and had already “hiked” in Nepal. (I’ve never been to Nepal, but from what I’ve read and from a conversation I had on a plane with a minister of agriculture from that Himalayan nation, my impression is that, anytime you go for a hike in Nepal, you’re climbing!)

Claudia Lai atop Uhuru Peak

As I stated earlier, Lai did make it to the top of Kilimanjaro and realized that her fears were unfounded. Reflecting on the experience, she wrote: “One important lesson I learned is that one should not be held back by fears and worries. If you allow them to threaten and deter you, you may never find the true extent of your potential. ... The perceived difficulty may be real or imagined, but I will never find out for sure unless I try.”

More recently, Lai has faced and is facing new mountains. She mentions one of them in a recent RNL article, “If we could see through their eyes.” Her mother is showing early signs of dementia and Lai, with her knowledge of gerontology, knows what lies ahead—for her mother and for her. “I ... know that I will be tested on whether I can live up to what I preach,” she writes. “These tests will appear along the path in my trajectory as a caregiver, not only to test me, but also to teach me.”

Recently, I asked Lai to write a blog for RNL, and she graciously consented. She will initially share her recent experience in climbing another mountain, the mountain called Cancer. Like her other climbs, the journey taught her important lessons—lessons that affect her work as a nurse and lessons she wants to share with you. I hope you become a regular follower of her blog, Gero Nurse.

It’s easy to become a follower. Just click on “Follow” in the right-hand column of her blog. If you’ve already registered as a follower of another blog, click on the appropriate icon for signing in—Google, Twitter or Yahoo! If you haven’t signed up as a blog follower before, click on the text that reads “Don’t have any of these? Create a new Google account,” and respond to the prompts. It’s easy and it’s free.

You don’t have to sign up as a follower, however, to be a regular reader of Lai’s blog (although I encourage you to show your support for her blog by making it official). Just enter http://www.gero-nurse.blogspot.com in your browser and you’re there. Better yet, access her blog when you’re checking out recent postings in Reflections on Nursing Leadership. When you’re in RNL—and I hope you consider signing up for an RSS feed—click on the link to Lai’s blog. It’s located, along with other RNL blogs you may want to follow, in the right-hand column of the home page. RNL