From the Alumni President

I'm delighted to welcome you to the new Emory Nursing magazine. I hope this publication will serve as a springboard for your continuing involvement with the School of Nursing.

On the inside back cover of each issue (print version) you will find a calendar of upcoming events: Class reunion activities for Alumni Weekend, Commencement, talks by distinguished lecturers, etc. Be sure to jot these dates down in your personal calendar, or clip the back cover for easy future reference.

For information on other events--such as activities planned for alumni and students by the executive board of the Nurses Alumni Association--you can always call the Office of Development and Alumni Affairs at (404) 727-6998 or log on to the nursing school's new World Wide Web site.

At the centerfold of this issue are some detachable postcards that will make it easy for you to stay connected. Use the one called "Keep In Touch" to send in professional or personal information you would like the school or your former classmates to know about. Future alumni profiles or class notes for the magazine will be pulled from these cards.

By using a second card, called "Pass It On," you can help a promising nursing student apply to Emory. This card entitles a potential student to a waiver of the normal $35 application fee; he or she simply returns the card along with a completed application in lieu of the fee. A third card allows you to submit your nominations for two important awards presented each year during Alumni Weekend, the School of Nursing's Distinguished Nursing Achievement Award and the Award of Honor.

I hope to have a chance to talk to you soon about the new alumni magazine and any ideas you have for it or the Nurses Alumni Association. Please be in touch, and be sure to seek me out this September 26º28 at Alumni Weekend!

Until then,
Anne Bigelow, 74OX, 76N
President, Nurses Alumni Association

Jule Hallerdin, 93MN:

In 1990, after a divorce, I started life over and came to Emory," says Jule Hallerdin. "So many people said, 'Do you realize you'll be 45 when you finish your master's?'

"I told them that, God willing, I'd be 45 anyway, so I might as well have my master's. I think if there's anything you want to do you should do it, no matter how old you are. In fact, I'll probably eventually get my PhD."

Hallerdin, who became an RN in 1969 and an ob/gyn nurse practitioner in 1976, is the founder of Wellness Concepts, a company that brings educational health promotion programs to businesses. Formerly the director of medical affairs for Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Hallerdin is now assistant professor and director of faculty practice at Johns Hopkins School of Nursing and sees patients at Planned Parenthood of Maryland two days a week.

Once a month, Hallerdin flies to Atlanta to tape segments dealing with various women's health issues for WAGA-TV's "Good Day Atlanta" morning talk show. She also frequently participates in panel discussions on health topics for "The Bottom Line," a program produced by WBAL-TV in Baltimore.

"It's important for nurse practitioners to have variety in their role and in their lives," she says. "It's easy to get burned out when you see patients five days a week. You need to find a way to diversify--it helps you last longer in the health care field."

Lynette Wright, 74MN:

Working with children with birth defects in the 1960s and 1970s made me realize there must be a better way to approach prevention and treatment," says Atlantan Lynette Hunter Wright. "That sparked my interest in genetics."

A past president of the International Society of Nurses in Genetics, Wright says she loves sharing her excitement about the field with the graduate students she teaches at the School of Nursing. (Beginning in 1998, she will also teach undergraduates.)

In addition to teaching, Wright owns a genetics education firm, Richlyn Associates. A certified genetics counselor, she travels throughout the Southeast, consulting with nurses, multi-disciplinary health care teams, and physicians.

Gene therapy holds enormous hope for people with rare disorders and common ones as well, she says. "All nurses need to study genetics, regardless of their practice area."

Patsy Getz, 54N, 58MN:

A clinical nurse specialist who works in patient/family education and nursing education at Emory's Center for Rehabilitation Medicine, Patsy Getz was honored last fall by the Association of Rehabilitation Nurses at its international conference in Seattle. Getz had served for the previous four years on the association's board of directors and received the group's first Nurses Educator Award in recognition of her work in advancing rehabilitation nursing care through education development and mentoring.

"I love rehab," Getz says. "Our job is to work with patients and families and teach them well so that patients can continue rehab at home. To meet the needs of the current health care environment, we've had to re-engineer our program to accomplish our goals in less time. Five years ago, for instance, stroke patients stayed in rehab for about 37 days. Now, the average stay is 18 days."

Getz has taught for nine years in the School of Nursing and has worked at Emory in a wide range of clinical roles before specializing in rehabilitation medicine. She has also presented prevention and management courses for the elderly at Emory's Senior University. Last fall, she was the first teacher for a new stroke outreach program sponsored by the American Heart Association that trained stroke survivors and their families as volunteer counselors for recent stroke victims and their loved ones.

As much as she has enjoyed her career, Getz says she's never tried to convince anyone to be a nurse.

"It's a personal decision," she says. "But it's a wonderful profession and very exciting--especially these days with advanced practice. The changes in the health care system are a wonderful opportunity for nursing to shine at what it does best."

Getz will retire from Emory this summer. She'll play golf, fish, travel, work on her cross-stitchery, enjoy her two grandchildren, and do some volunteer nursing. "I'm sure I'll stay busy," she says with a laugh.

Cheryl Dittman-Potter, 77MN:

Cheryl Dittman-Potter lost her battle last July with metastatic breast cancer, but through some creative gift-giving her family has seen to it that her memory will live on. Generous donations from husband Tony Potter and daughters Victoria Potter and Merika Gambaro have made possible an annual oncology lecture at the School of Nursing as well as the creation of a rooftop garden at Emory's Crawford Long Hospital.

Dittman-Potter, who also held a bachelor's degree from Michigan State University, had worked since 1992 as a nursing researcher for Emory School of Medicine's dermatology department. Her husband notes that although oncology was not his wife's specialty, she developed a great appreciation for oncology nursing during her illness.

"A year before she died, when we knew we were getting to the end of her fight, we talked about what we could do in her memory that would be meaningful," he recalls.

"Cheryl believed the partnership between the clinical and academic sides of nursing should be emphasized. She was also interested in making sure nursing education really prepares people for the field. We thought the best continuing contribution we could make in her honor was this annual lectureship in oncology."

The new fund, says Dr. Debbie McGuire, Edith Honeycutt chair in oncology nursing at Emory, "creates an opportunity to bring a nationally recognized leader in cancer research and/or patient care to the campus each year." The inaugural lecture was delivered April 1 by Dr. Frances Marcus Lewis, professor of family and child nursing at the University of WashingtonºSeattle, who spoke on "The Child's and Family's Journey with the Mother's Breast Cancer."

Cheri's Garden

As a patient, Dittman-Potter spent much time at Crawford Long. Although she enjoyed visiting the hospital's solarium, her husband says she often expressed her wish to go outside and see the stars or watch the sun rise.

That wish can come true for future patients, thanks to another far-sighted gift of the Potter family.

Almost 3,000 square feet atop the hospital's eighth floor will be turned into a garden with trees, shrubs, flowers, and a pond with running water. The space--to be called "Cheri's Garden"--will be maintained in perpetuity by the Potter gift. Work on the garden should begin by the end of the year.

Reprinted from Emory Nursing, Spring 1997

For more general information on The Robert W. Woodruff Health Sciences Center, call Health Sciences News and Information at 404-727-5686, or send e-mail to hsnews@emory.edu.