Ann Hirschman Schremp, the "grandmother of street medics"

Her Step Forward

Ann Hircshman Schremp considers herself a true dandelion. Born in Staten Island NY in 1946, her earliest activism was with her mom and grandmother supporting women's health choices. Ann skipped 7th grade and spent much of high school at the United Nations. After a year at Wagner College then Bayonne Hospital School of Nursing, Ann then attended University of Miami Family Nurse Practitioner program and has been a NP ever since. She became more involved with protests and activism after she graduated.
Ann worked with the Medical Committee for Human Rights (MCHR) and with others helping to invent and train Street Medics. In addition to healthcare and public health, Ann also worked with anti war veterans since 1967 and has been on the board of Vietnam Veterans Against the War. At the age of 64, she attended University of Liverpool online and got her Masters of Public Health in 2010.
Protests have been part of who Ann Hirschman Schremp is, since before she was born: she made her first appearance in the spring of 1946, still in her mother’s womb, at a protest for birth control rights for women.
Growing up, Ann’s mother and grandmother taught her to always do what she thinks is right, and deal with the consequences afterward. But life taught her lessons too, like an experience with an African American friend in 1963 that really opened Ann’s eyes to white privilege and why it’s critical to use that privilege to help others. In fact, during the Civil Rights movement, Ann started marching with a group of brave medical professionals who were there not only to provide medical services to the protestors, but to also add gravitas to the movement, with their professional titles and dressed in white medical coats - an uncommon practice at the time. Their effort was an example of doing something that is right, even when it’s not popular, and the work also highlighted that there was not enough medical presence in the street with protestors. So, Ann and a few others from the group sat down one night to write what would become the first course for street medics in New York - work that is still part of the street medic courses taught all around the country today: an effort that led to Ann being known as “the grandmother of street medics,” as reported by The New York Times.

Joining us to share her story, Ann opens up about being an activist at all times, the healing power of several different communities coming together in support as she fought breast cancer, and her book idea of life lessons learned growing up in New York.