A l u m n i N e w s
Nancy Naucke Buist
From
the Alumni President
According to the Gallup
Organization’s most recent Honesty and Ethics Poll, nearly three-fourths
of Americans considered nurses’ honesty and ethics as very high or
high. It was the first time that the Gallup organization had included
nurses in its annual poll. What a wonderfully positive statement about
nursing!
Nevertheless, the critical nursing shortage has received national attention
for several years. Many are concerned about what will happen as “baby-boomer”
nurses retire and leave considerably fewer nurses in the health care system
to care for our growing elderly population.
To help fill that void, the Nurses Alumni Association (NAA) Executive
Alumni Board is taking a proactive approach to recruitment and retention
of our colleagues. Our strategic plan includes the “Shadow-a-Nurse
Day” program, which connects an undergraduate with a nurse role model
in the student’s area of interest. Students choose from a large list
of registered nurse volunteers in a variety of clinical settings throughout
Atlanta. The program provides flexibility to accommodate the busy schedules
of both students and volunteers.
The NAA board has been active in student recruitment gatherings to demonstrate
our ongoing commitment to future nurses. Our alumni have supported students
for many years by volunteering as preceptors, lecturers, and resources
for clinical activities and research. We want to continue to be a valuable
link for students to the nursing community.
Our participation in the Annual Fund and the 1520 Project also typifies
our commitment to students. As a result of the 1520 Project, the Alumni
Auditorium has been named in our honor, a visible symbol of our support
for the new School of Nursing building. What an exciting time of change
and opportunity as we celebrate our new building on the Emory campus.
Come join us! The fun is just beginning.
Nancy Naucke Buist, 88MN
President, Nurses Alumni Association
Talk
to the President
NAA President Nancy Naucke Buist can be reached at (404) 843-3127 or by e-mail at nbuist@home.com.
Rite
of Passage
In May, Amber Nobles (left) and Melanie Lutz joined the legions of Emory
nursing graduates who are members of the Nurses Alumni Association. They
are pictured here before the pinning ceremony, which takes place before
graduation. The roses they are holding were placed in a vase during the
pinning ceremony, symbolizing their oneness as graduates on similar paths
in nursing.
School
Spirit
Each fall, the School of Nursing offers two class prizes during Alumni
Weekend: the Reunion Cup for the reunion class that makes the largest
total gift to the school and the Spirit of Nursing Trophy for the class
with the most participation. At Alumni Weekend 2000, the Reunion Cup went
to the Class of 1965, and the Spirit of Nursing Trophy was awarded to
the Classes of 1955 and 1960. Here, Assistant Professor (clinical) Sally
Lehr, 65N, 76MN, proudly displays the Reunion Cup plaque for 2000.
1950s
Dorothy Stewart
McGahey, 55N, has relocated to Tallahassee, Fla. After years of working
as a labor and delivery nurse near Orlando, she and her husband, Joseph,
56T, are helping prisoners transition back into society.
1960s
Room
for Improvement
Penelope
Shafer Wright, 65N, is not about to rest on her laurels, even after winning
the President’s Award for Excellence in Teaching at the School of
Nursing at the University of Alabama-Birmingham (UAB). Wright, an associate
professor specializing in pediatric oncology, won the prestigious award
last year.
“I like sharing what I know, whether it’s teaching students
or parents or patients,” she says. “My contact with students
and pediatric clients is the best part of my job.”
In addition to teaching, Wright is a pediatric nurse practitioner with
a local Head Start program and a scientist with UAB’s Comprehensive
Cancer Center, where she has studied the quality of life of parents with
sick children. Surprisingly, she found that their quality of life remained
strong, despite the emotional and financial challenges they face. “I
was in awe at the adaptability of human beings, of parents,” she
says.
While Wright views her teaching award as “a career pinnacle,”
she aims to do more. “I want to continue to improve on what I already
do and what people have been kind enough to say I do well.”
1970s
Mary Lide Chapman,
70N, 95MN, currently works at St. Joseph’s Hospital of Atlanta
in the medical/surgical intensive care unit.
Helene Jones, 70MN, of Brandon, Miss., retired in May 1999 from
her position as director of staff development at the University of Mississippi
Medical Center. During her career, Jones has served on the Mississippi
School of Nursing faculty, where she received tenure; as a faculty member
at the University of Tulsa School of Nursing; and as director of staff
development at Hillcrest Hospital in Tulsa. Among other honors, Jones
received the Mississippi District 13 Nurse Educator II Award in 1993.
Since retiring, she is spending more time with her grandchildren and traveling.
US Air Force Colonel Linda D. Siegel, 75MN, retired from 23 years
of active military service in May 1999. At that time, Siegel held multiple
positions as deputy commander, surgical operations squadron, and deputy
chief nurse executive at David Grant Medical Center of Travis Air Force
Base in California. At Travis, Siegel assisted senior leadership to five
surgical divisions and assured maximum wartime readiness of 300 nursing
personnel and medical support of worldwide combat and humanitarian contingencies.
Since receiving her MN in critical care-pulmonary nursing from Emory,
Siegel has accrued 18 years of experience in critical care nursing, three
years as chief nurse of a 100-bed tent hospital, two years in ambulatory
care administration, three years in aeromedical evacuation, and a combined
six years in nursing administration and executive leadership roles. Siegel
also served as critical care consultant to the Pacific Air Forces command
surgeon from 1989 to 1990, and in 1991 she was selected as outstanding
military airlift command field grade nurse.
Siegel holds national board certifications in advanced nursing administration
and emergency flight nursing. Since the late 1970s, she has been an active
American Heart Association-certified instructor in both basic life support
and advanced cardiac life support.
Siegel’s decorations include the Air Force Meritorious Service Medal
and Commendation Medal as well as the Air Force Achievement Medal and
Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation. Both were awarded for her voluntary
assistance in a US Marine helicopter crash in Seoul during 1989 multinational
exercises.
Now living with her husband in their home overlooking Puget Sound, Siegel
says she enjoys retirement but adds that it may be short-lived because
nursing is a job she loves.
Jere Ziffer Lifshitz, 76N, is a health communications specialist
and president of Miami-based Prime Health Consultants, which provides
marketing, education, and web development services for various clients,
including health care organizations, university teaching hospitals, pharmaceutical
companies, medical journals, and start-up health care ventures. Prime
Health also provides site management in clinical research, and Lifshitz
is an approved provider of nursing clinical education credits.
She and her husband, Fima, recently co-authored a chapter on "Failure
to Thrive" in Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition in Clinical
Practice.
Marbury T. Stegall, 78MN, of Atlanta was reappointed to the Georgia
Board of Nursing, State Examining Boards Division.
Married: Jill Bianchi, 79N, to Robert Langham, on December 1, 2000,
in Houston. The couple resides in Sante Fe, N.M.
Sweet
Reward
At
the American Public Health Association Meeting in Boston last fall, Marcia
Stanhope, 71MN, received the 2000 Public Health Nursing Creative Achievement
Award for more than 33 years of service on behalf of low-income and homeless
patients. She has worked primarily through the University of Kentucky
College of Nursing, where she serves as associate dean, director of continuing
education, and professor.
Stanhope developed and now manages the Good Samaritan Center for Health
Promotion and Illness Prevention, which provides health education and
clinic services to much of eastern and central Kentucky’s vulnerable
populations. Recent graduates of the UK College of Nursing and Nurse Practitioner
Program staff the center, along with UK faculty. Together, they cared
for more than 50,000 patients in the center’s first two years of
operation.
In 1986, Stanhope was awarded a Division of Nursing grant for a nurse-managed
center that provides health care to more than 5,000 homeless patients
annually.
Stanhope has written two books, including Community and Public Health
Nursing. Now in its fifth edition, the textbook received the American
Journal of Nursing Book of the Year Award in 1984 and 1992. Case
Studies in Community Health Nursing Practice: A Problem-Based Learning
Approach, which she co-authored, received the American Journal
of Nursing Book of the Year Award in 2000. In June, Stanhope delivered
the Hugh P. Davis Lecture at Emory’s nursing school.
1980s
Nerissa Partain
DeLisle, 81N, of Powder Springs, Ga., is working at Surgical Assisting
Services, Inc. For 10 years, she has taught laparoscopy, traveling extensively
in the United States, Canada, and Australia. She and her husband, Robert,
have a son, Christopher, who is 5.
Captain Mary Lambert, 81MN, now serves as director of the Office
of Military Liaison and Veterans Affairs with the US Department of Health
and Human Services in Washington, DC. Prior to her appointment last fall,
Lambert was chief of training and education for the Division of Immunization
Services with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.
Anna Hollingsworth, 82N, 85MPH, of Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, has been
re-elected president of the American Massage Therapy Association, Hawaii
Chapter. She maintains a private practice in therapeutic bodywork, established
in 1995, and teaches massage and bodywork classes.
Lauren Osiason Blum, 83N, graduated from Columbia’s Pediatric
Nurse Practitioner Program in 1989 and now works in Westchester County,
N.Y. She lives there with her husband, Paul, and three children: Liana,
Eliza, and Nathan.
Angela Cole, 88N, 90MPH, has left her position as managing director
of Sandler Science in New York City and started her own medical communications
and marketing consulting practice. Cole specializes in consulting services
for women and nonprofit agency managers.
Stephanie Olive Mason, 86Ox, 88N, and her husband, Timothy “Lee,”
86Ox, 88C, have relocated from St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, to Fayetteville,
Ga. Since graduation, Mason has worked at Atlanta's Crawford Long Hospital
and in Michigan, south Georgia, and the Caribbean. She has come full circle
back to Crawford Long, where she works on Unit 21. Mason’s husband
works in Henry County as an assistant solicitor. Their two sons, Brandon
and Patrick, are active in baseball and Boy Scouts, and their daughter,
Kelsey, practices ballet and tap.
Born: To Theresa Turner Eady, 85Ox, 87C, 89N, and her husband,
Jonathan, a daughter, Rachel Nora, on June 27, 2000. Rachel was welcomed
home by her older sisters Jessica, Michelle, and Kathryn. The family resides
in Oxford, Ga.
The
Best of Both Worlds
Charli
Vogt, 87MN/MPH, specializes in Neuro Emotional Technique.
I
have a foot in both worlds—the world of integrative/complementary
medicine and traditional American medicine,” says Neuro Emotional
Technique (NET) specialist Charlene “Charli” Vogt, 87MN/MPH.
NET practitioners believe that emotions are embedded in the body at a
cellular level and use muscle testing to determine the original cause
of patients’ illnesses.
Before receiving her dual master’s degree from Emory, Vogt developed
a passion for integrative medicine while attending New York University.
In 1999, she established her own alternative healing practice in Decatur,
Ga., where she gives patient consults and holds educational seminars on
integrative medicine.
“Because physicians are still learning about integrative medicine,
I’ve experienced some resistance in the general medical community
to anything that smacks of alternative or integrative health care,”
says Vogt. “I’ve told patients that the only way I would work
with them with herbs would be if their physician and I worked together
so that they were adequately supervised.”
Vogt primarily sees patients in her private practice but is also an herbalist
in the Integrative Medicine Department at DeKalb Medical Center, established
in 1999 as an extension of its Wellness Center.
“My main clientele at DeKalb and in my private practice are men and
women with chronic conditions who are seeking out adjunctive and alternative
therapies,” says Vogt. “I get some referrals from physicians,
the majority of whom know me as a certified nurse midwife, but the majority
of my patients are self-referred.”
1990s
Born: To Terri
Wise Harper, 90N, and her husband, Byron, 83M, a son, Elias William
Fletcher, on July 16, 2000. Elias was welcomed home by his older brother,
Caleb, and two sisters, Marisa and Charis. The Harper family resides in
Fayetteville, Ga.
Married: Lauren Mason, 91N, and Michael Gueriera, in July 2000,
in Winter Park, Colo. Mason is trained as a sexual assault nurse examiner
(SANE) and coordinates the SANE program at St. Anthony Hospital in Denver.
She has also started her own consulting firm for health education programs.
Sharon Waits, 92MN, was named a clinical instructor in the Brenau
University nursing department. She and her family live in Lawrenceville,
Ga.
Born: To Elaine Van Dyke-Padgett, 93N, and her husband, David,
a son, Joshua Tyler Padgett, on May 18, 2000. The family resides in Smyrna,
Ga., and Padgett is studying full time at Kennesaw State University to
earn her MBA in finance.
Married: Clarice Whitlock, 93N, 99MN, and Ed Wasmuth, on October
14, 2000. The
couple resides in Norcross, Ga., and Whitlock is an adult nurse practitioner
with Evercare.
Born: To Jennifer Morton Snow, 94N, and her husband, Craig, a son,
Jonathan William, on January 24, 2000. Snow received a master’s degree
from the University of Central Florida and is now a family nurse practitioner.
The Snow family resides in Melbourne, Fla.
Married: Jennifer Jaxon, 95N, and Christopher Jones, on Oct. 23,
1999, in Eufaula, Ala. They recently relocated to South Korea, where Christopher
serves as a pilot with the US Air Force.
Jim Deshotels, 96MSN/MPH, is director of mission development for
Daughters of Charity Services of New Orleans. His job includes clinical
practice, ghost writing, grant writing, pastoral care, policy and program
analysis, and occasional manual labor. His time at Emory could not have
prepared him better.
Born: To La-Shawn Sherice McConney, 94C, 96N, and her husband,
Chudi Adi, a daughter, Chinelo Sekani, on April 1, 2000. A clinical nurse
with Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Barbados, McConney maintains her home
address in Miami.
Married: Barbara Ann Vaughan, 97N, 99MSN, of Cartersville, Ga.,
and Matthew Terry, on April 29, 2000. Vaughan works as a pediatric nurse
practitioner at the Cartersville satellite of Children’s Healthcare
of Atlanta.
Born: To Jennifer Grass Durbin, 98MSN/MPH, and her husband, Randy,
92C, 97MPH, a daughter, Audrey Nicole, on July 16, 2000. The family resides
in Pell City, Ala., and Durbin works in the pediatric intensive care unit
at Children’s Hospital in Birmingham.
Kevin Lee Callaway, 97Ox, 99N, works in the cardiovascular intensive
care unit of Emory University Hospital.
Still
in Love with Nursing
Amy McGinness Speers, 90N, of Westminster, Colo., has recently become
a telephone triage nurse after developing a latex allergy. “My new
job allows me to use my Emory education and still be able to breathe,”
says Speers. She considers herself lucky to be able to continue using
her nursing skills despite her allergy. Many nurses who develop latex
allergies are forced out of their chosen profession entirely.
Studies indicate that 8% to 12% of the 7.7 million people in the US health
care industry have work-related latex allergic reactions. This number
has markedly increased since the 1980s. The Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention suggest that one reason for this increase may be workers’
increasing reliance on latex gloves to prevent the transmission of HIV,
hepatitis B, and other infectious agents. Because of increased demand,
some glove manufacturers have inadvertently produced more allergenic gloves
because of changes in raw materials, processing, and manufacturing procedures.
The more often a worker is exposed to latex, the more likely it is that
he or she will develop a latex allergy. A mild contact allergic reaction
can cause symptoms ranging from sneezing and difficulty breathing to severe
shock. In Speers’s case, she experiences severe asthma attacks when
exposed to airborne particles of the protein present in latex products
and must wear a medical alert bracelet at all times.
“One of my biggest fears is that if my son needs to be in a hospital
for any reason, from stitches to something more severe, I won’t be
able to be with him unless I’m heavily medicated,” says Speers.
Meanwhile, she is using her nursing knowledge to help others in their
time of need.
More information on latex allergies can be found at http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/latexalt.html.
2000s
Shirley Quarles
was recently promoted to the rank of colonel as well as commander of the
3297th US Army Hospital, the largest Reserve hospital unit in the United
States. Quarles completed her postdoctoral fellowship in nursing at Emory
last May.
Alumni
Deaths
1930s
Helen Jackson St.
Clair, 30N, of Chesterfield, Mo., on Nov. 30, 1999. (See
related story,“For the Love
of Nursing" in Development News.)
Anne Sanders Easterlin, 32N, on Oct. 20, 2000, at age 89. Born
in Maysville, Ga., Easterlin was a homemaker in Sarasota, Fla, where she
had lived for nearly 30 years. Survivors include two sons, a sister, and
five grandchildren.
Vera Potts Hyder, 33N, of Atlanta, on Nov. 19, 2000. She is survived
by her husband, John.
Laura Hamilton Cates, 38N, of McDonough, Ga., on March 27, 2000.
She is survived by her husband, Paul.
1940s
Elinor Miller Gillis-Holbrook,
41N, of Crystal River, Fla., on Dec. 30, 2000, at age 81. Born in
Clarksburg, W.Va., Gillis-Holbrook was a World War II veteran and a retired
nursing instructor with the Orange County Vocational School in Orlando,
Fla. She is survived by her husband, Francis, and several children and
stepchildren.
Lois Johnson Pafford, 44N, of Blackshear, Ga., on Oct. 3, 1999.
Survivors include three sons.
1950s
Margaret Hoffman
Citrenbaum, 57N, of Forest Park, Ga., on June 20, 2000. She is survived
by her sister, Gladys.
1960s
Joy Chapman Thomas,
65N, of Tucker, Ga., on April 8, 2000. Thomas graduated from Emory
after first receiving a diploma as a registered nurse at Macon Hospital
School of Nursing in 1962 and attending Georgia State. She met her future
husband at Emory, and after graduation, they both joined the staff of
McNeese State University in Lake Charles, La.
In 1968, Thomas and her husband, Joe, moved to Chicago to work with the
Ecumenical Institute’s Human Development Program. Thomas’s nursing
degree from Emory enabled her to teach with this group in the Chicago
area and with many other religious, education, and community groups across
North America. As the Human Development Program spread around the world,
she continued her mission work in Southeast Asia and Europe. While on
a mission trip to Taiwan, Thomas adopted an infant daughter, Sharon Lin.
In January 1982, Thomas returned to Emory to continue her nursing service
at the Center for Rehabilitation Medicine. She remained there until 1993,
when she was diagnosed with schleroderma. She then worked in marketing
at The Emory Clinic until June 1998, when the schleroderma developed into
permanent lung damage.
Other than her daughter, Thomas is survived by her sister, Mary Ridley.
1970s
Myra Holden Kerr,
70N, of Bristol, Conn., on Nov. 20, 2000. Upon graduating from Emory,
Kerr went on to receive her master’s degree in nursing from Boston
University. A resident of Bristol for 30 years, she was director of Quality
Assurance for Connecticut Care, Inc. Kerr was a member of the Connecticut
Nurses Association and the Connecticut League for Nursing and served on
the Professional Advisory Board for the McLean Home in Simsbury, Conn.
She also served as a captain in the Army Nurse Corps.
Survivors include a sister, a niece, and two nephews.
1990s
Brenda Ellis, 97MSN,
on Aug. 29, 2000, of breast cancer. Ellis worked in Smyrna, Atlanta, and
Marietta, Ga., with a traveling nurses’ agency before being employed
at Crawford Long Hospital, where she supervised the nurses on the 3 to
11 PM shift in the cardiac monitoring unit.
“She was caring and compassionate about the patients and about the
staff. She said they were under her wing, and she wanted to make sure
they were able to fly,” remembers co-worker Pam Graham.
In April of last year, Ellis earned her certification from the American
Academy of Nurse Practitioners. However, because of her declining health,
Ellis was unable to pursue her nurse practitioner goals.
Survivors include three sisters and her maternal grandmother.
