**MEDIA ADVISORY FOR TODAY AT NOON** - One Year Later: Tribute to Nurse Freda Ocran at Jacobi Medical Center

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 28, 2021
Contact: Carl Ginsburg | carl.ginsburg@nysna.org | 917.405.1060

Freda Died of COVID - Her Work Spoke to the Urgent Need for Healthcare Justice

Bronx, NY - Freda Ocran, RN, mother of three and spouse of Joseph Ocran, also a nurse, was one of the first members of the New York State Nurses Association to die from the COVID-19 virus.  On March 28, 2020, Freda passed away and her fellow nurses and other healthcare workers mourned her loss.  The psychiatric nurse was 50.  Now, one year later, we remember her and what she brought to so many lives.

Freda will be remembered today, Sunday, March 28, at 12:00 Noon.
WHO: Colleagues and family of FREDA OCRAN
WHAT: A tribute to the life of an extraordinary public hospital nurse
WHERE: Jacobi Medical Center, 1400 Pelham Pkwy S., Bronx (in front of Building 1)

Freda's devotion to patients and co-workers was extraordinary.  The NYC public hospital system in which she devoted her career — where undocumented patients and those without health insurance are admitted — remains the model of what a caring society should be.

A native of Ghana, Freda studied nursing while raising three children in the Bronx, earning her degree in 2004. "She was a professional nurse who put patient and staff needs above her own," Dinah Bampoe, RN, told the Washington Post. Like thousands of nurses in New York, she came to work knowing that a virulent, deadly virus was loose.

Freda's oldest child, Kwame K. Ocran, will speak as well as other family and friends. Fellow nurses from Jacobi Medical Center and the New York State Nurses Association will share their memories, too. Also expected to speak are: Assembly Member Nathalia Fernandez (AD-80); Roberta Todd of the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition, Charmaine Ruddock of Bronx Healthreach, and Anthony Feliciano, Commission on the Public's Health System.

As the COVID virus continues to aflict and kill New Yorkers, support for public services could not be more critical. Nurses, other caregivers, community and religious advocates, public health experts and elected leaders are banding together to stop cuts to vital services, including NYC's public hospitals. Support for NYC H+H hospitals is a healthcare justice imperative.

###

The New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) represents more than 42,000 members in New York State. We are New York’s largest union and professional association for registered nurses. For more information, please visit nysna.org.