Happenings
Joanne
Brown Ellington, 61N (left)
and Carolyn K. Holder, 81MN (right)
The Class of 1951 received double honors during Alumni Weekend, winning the Reunion Cup and the Spirit of Nursing Trophy for their participation in the Annual Fund. Those present included (from left) Caroline Clements Rael, Jacquelyn Moody Lindberg, Beverly Hossler Sigman, Ree Mills Howe, and Betty Daniels.
Two Distinct Nurses Shine at Alumni Weekend 2001
The two women who
received top honors during Alumni Weekend 01 are outstanding nurses who
have enjoyed very different careers. The Nurses Alumni Association recognized
Joetta Ann (Joanne) Brown Ellington, 61N, with the Award of Honor for
distinguished service to the nursing profession and Carolyn K. Holder,
81MN, with the Distinguished Nursing Achievement Award for distinction
in nursing practice.
When Ellington came to Emory in 1958, she was set on becoming a nurse
missionary. After graduating in 1961, Ellington worked as a pediatric
nurse at Grady Memorial Hospital while preparing to go into the mission
field. In 1964, she and her husband, John, were assigned to Africa as
Presbyterian missionaries. They spent more than 20 years in Zaire, Congo,
Senegal, and the Ivory Coast while raising four children.
During that time, Ellington dedicated herself to meeting the physical
and spiritual needs of people, focusing on maternal and children’s
health. She established and maintained well-baby and children’s health
clinics, providing nutritious, low-cost food; immunizations; sanitary
and nutritional education; and general adult care.
While Ellington served in Africa, another Emory nurse came into her own
in the hospital setting. Starting as a staff nurse in the coronary care
unit at Emory University Hospital in 1977, Carolyn Holder worked while
completing her master’s degree at the School of Nursing. Now a nurse
practitioner, she is the clinical coordinator for the Medical Division
of Nursing at Emory Hospitals.
Holder’s list of accomplishments began early as she developed expertise
in critical care. She is often asked to teach classes in advanced cardiac
and pulmonary care. Her data collection on patients requiring ventilation
has resulted in changes in practice, and she leads rounds weekly on those
patients.
In 1997, Holder developed and implemented protocols and teaching materials
for patients receiving Flolan therapy for pulmonary hypertension. As a
result, she has coordinated several conferences and served as lead teacher
on this therapy, which in Georgia is only available at Emory.
The fact that Holder and Ellington have excelled as nurses in different
environments is a tribute to their caring spirit and initiative. “I
had a fabulous education at Emory. Everyone in my class deserves the same
award, and so do our teachers and instructors,” says Ellington. “They
wanted us to be the best caregivers we could be.”