|
 |
| |
From the Alumni President
Another one for the history books
Making a HealthConnection
She's got the beat |
|
| |
|
|
| |
News:
|
1970s
1980s
1990s
2000s
Faculty/Staff
News
|
Deaths:
|
1930s
1940s
1950s
1960s
1970s
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
CLASS
NOTES |
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
1970s
|
|
 |
Lynn
Sarafian Anderson, 72N, 74MN, of Omaha, NB, is running
for the Nebraska State Legislature. She names health care, education,
and economic development as her priorities. She was a nurse at the
University of Nebraska Medical Center from 1976 until her retirement
last year. |
|
| |
|
|
 |
Mary
Stroud Erickson, 70N, 71MN, of Carrollton, GA, retired
last June after 30 years on the faculty with the Department of Nursing
at the University of West Georgia, where she was
an associate professor. |
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
Dr.
Susan Harper, 74N, 77MN, 91T, was appointed director of
pastoral care at the Hutcheson Medical Center in Chattanooga, TN.
She is an ordained Church of God minister and has been at the center
since 2001, serving as hospice chaplain and hospice volunteer coordinator. |
|
| |
|
|
|
 |
Dr.
Rosanne Pruitt, 74N, was named director of the School of
Nursing at Clemson University, where she has served on the faculty
for 16 years, including 10 years as a graduate coordinator. Pruitt
is a family nurse practitioner whose research interests include
community health and policy evaluation. Among her goals as director
is the creation of a doctoral program in nursing focused on genetics
and health care disparities. |
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
| |
 |
|
|
From
the Alumni President
 n
February 21, 2006, more than 200 alumni, supporters, and friends
toasted the future of caring at the School of Nursing Centennial
Celebration held at Druid Hills Golf Club. This event was
the capstone of an exciting year of
celebration—a year of looking back at our first 100
years while making plans for the next 100 years. One of the
most exciting parts of the celebration was looking around
the room at the faces of our students who represent the future
of the nursing profession. These students are the scholars,
leaders, and innovators of tomorrow, and they will be facing
challenges all their own.
As a society facing a severe
nursing shortage, one question we have been forced to ask
ourselves is, “Who will be there to care?” Department
of Health and Human Services statistics tell us that by the
year 2020, we will face a shortage of 1
million nursing professionals. That number, while intimidating,
may not become real until we have the very personal experience
of reaching out for a caregiver for an aging parent or a sick
child and finding no one to answer that call.
Emory’s School of Nursing
is in a unique position to lead the way in finding solutions
to this impending global crisis. These solutions will be found
in the classroom, at the bedside, in the research lab, in
interdisciplinary and international partnerships, and right
here at the School of Nursing. Our students, well grounded
in the principles of scholarship, leadership, and social responsibility,
will join the ranks of the more than 10,000 Emory nurse leaders
who have come before them and who continue to answer, “I
will be there to care.”
Sally T. Lehr, 65N, 76MN
President, Nurses Alumni Association
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
1980s
|
|
 |
Mary
Gullatte, 81MN, director of nursing for patient oncology
and transplant services for Emory Hospitals and the Winship Cancer
Institute, won the 2005 Book of the Year Award from the American
Journal of Nursing (AJN). Gullatte edited Nursing Management:
Principles and Practice, published by the Oncology Nursing
Society (ONS). AJN called the book an “outstanding resource.”
It is the first ONS publication to receive the honor. The book provides
an in-depth review of general and oncology nursing management principles
to guide the practice and development of nurse leaders and managers.
“I am truly humbled and honored,”
says Gullatte. The award “is a reflection of teamwork, collaboration,
and commitment to the profession of nursing and the patients we
serve.” |
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
Suzanne
(Kuehn) Mason, 87N, of Dacula, GA, is a part-time remote
advice line nurse for Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. Mason
works from home. She and her husband, Greg, have five children. |
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
Kimberly
Baillie Wood-ward, 88N, of Franklin, TN, is a research
nurse at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. She is studying
RSV (respiratory syncytial virus, the most common cause of bronchiolitis
and pneumonia among children age 1 or younger) as related to maternal
atopy (mothers with allergic diseases suchas hay fever or asthma).
She returned to work after many years as a stay-at-home mom. |
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
| |
 |
|
| |
Another
one for the history books |
|
|
 rank
Creegan wasn’t
trying to make history when he came to Emory. Originally from
New Jersey, he held a biology degree from Manhattan College
in New York City. He just wanted to do something other than
teaching.
As an Emory nursing student
from 1965 to 1968, Creegan was the only male undergraduate
and became the first male BSN student to graduate from Emory.
(The first male graduate student was Lt. Keith Howard Taylor,
63MN, now deceased.)
After completing his BSN, Creegan
served three years with the U.S. Army. Although the Vietnam
War was raging, he was sent instead to South Korea for one
year. “During basic training, I was in a whole platoon
of male nurses, so we weren’t unusual there,”
he says. “I asked for psychiatric nursing, but they
put me in the operating room. It turned out I liked it and
have spent most of my career as a surgical nurse, after getting
my surgical training in the Army. By the time I was in Korea,
I was assisting on surgical cases—doing procedures not
typically performed by nurses in the 1960s.”
Creegan knew nothing about Atlanta
or Georgia when he came to Emory in the mid-1960s. Forty years
later, he’s still in the area. After leaving the Army,
he became the operating room supervisor at Hall County Hospital
in Gainesville, north of Atlanta on Lake Lanier, where Creegan
is pictured.
“A lot goes into the job,”
he says. “You work closely with the patients. You also
work with administration, since you are involved in budget
planning. You’re in charge of the pre-op and post-op,
and supervising the surgical team—including a group
of surgeons who aren’t always easy to work with. You
have to be strong to keep it all under control.”
In 1977, Creegan joined Lanier
Park Hospital in Gainesville, first as the director of nursing
service. “We had the fun and challenge of opening a
new hospital and I enjoyed the job, but after 11 years I wanted
to get back to the OR,” he says. Creegan remained with
Lanier Park, a private 124-bed facility, for 11 more years
until 1999.
Looking for a setting with a slower pace, he went to work
for Chestatee Hospital in Dahlonega as the OR supervisor.
“I went from 400 cases a month by 60 surgeons to 120
cases a month by 10 surgeons,” he says. “I felt
like I was semi-retired.”
Fully retired since 2003, Creegan
is enjoying life back in Gainesville, where he has a grown
son and daughter and helps care for his 1-year-old granddaughter.
What his young charge doesn’t know yet is that her grandfather
happens to hold a place in Emory nursing history.
—Carol
Pinto
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
1990s |
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
Patricia
R. Harris, 91MN, of Decatur, GA, started her own case management
business to provide medical supplies to an impoverished hospital
in Kenya. Harris is a clinical nurse specialist in mental health
and gerontology.
Born: To Margaret
Othersen Wooten, 91N, and her husband, Rudi, a son, Nicholas
Watson, on July 26, 2004. Nicholas has two sisters and a brother.
Born:
To Emily (Niehaus) Messerli, 94N, and her husband,
Adrian, 93C, a daughter, Katherine (Kate) Monica, on June 15, 2005.
She joins her sister, Mia Caroline. Messerli is taking a break from
oncology research. The family lives in Lexington, KY.
Born: To Laurie
(Lee) Buschini, 98N, and her husband, Mark, a daughter,
Isabella Arie, on Dec. 7, 2004. Buschini is an adult nurse practitioner
with Nephrology Associates of Northeast Florida in Jacksonville.
Born: To Kimberly
Clapp Ludlum, 96Ox, 98N, and her husband, Nicholas, 99C,
a son, Stuart, on May 26, 2005. Ludlum is a cardiac care ICU nurse.
The family lives in Oakton, VA.
Born: To Michelle
Arrascue Ossman, 98N, 01MSN, and her husband, Eric, a daughter,
Catalina Nora, on April 18, 2005, in Atlanta. She joins her big
sister, Sofia.
Born: To Kate
(Bowen) Rasmussen, 98N, and her husband, Mark, a son, Thomas
Lowell, on Nov. 9, 2004. The family lives in Acworth, GA. |
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
| |
 |
|
| |
Making
a HealthConnection |
|
| |
|
|
|
 ori
McLelland, 96MSN, has quite a task assisting 130,000 callers
a year as director of Emory HealthConnection. Part of Emory
Healthcare Marketing, HealthConnection puts patients and community
doctors in touch with Emory doctors. Callers to the main number
(404-778-7777) reach one of the 12 RNs who assess situations,
answer questions, and facilitate appointments for patients.
Of course
McLelland, their manager, is also a registered nurse.
The call center recently received
a national award from HealthLine Systems Inc., a national
software developer, to recognize their innovative use of computer
software. “The software is a package used by call centers
all over the country. It provides physician referral, class
and event registration, and nursing protocols for triage,”
McLelland explains.
“We use it in a way that
tells us who is calling Emory and why, such as with the Emory
Employee Access program, which helps employees navigate the
system more quickly. We use the software to facilitate interaction—to
answer calls, get people to the right place, and schedule
appointments in a way that keeps patients happy.”
HealthConnection consists of
different help lines—not only for finding a doctor,
but also for finding services at Emory for children and the
elderly and connecting referring physicians to Emory Clinic
specialists. Last year, HealthConnection took more than 120,000
calls from consumers and 9,000 calls from referring physicians.
“We help patients find the right doctor and the services
they are looking for at Emory,” says McLelland, “so
we are constantly sending information out. But we are also
taking data in that helps us know how to better serve our
patients.”
Originally from the Chicago
area, McLelland received her BSN at Marquette University and
joined Emory University Hospital in 1992 as the head nurse
of cardiovascular surgery. Two years later, she became department
director of cardiovascular nursing at the hospital and enrolled
at Emory’s School of Nursing to complete her MSN in
1996. A year later, she accepted the position as director
of HealthConnection.
“I wanted to continue
to work in the health field and to stay at Emory, but without
the 24/7 schedule of hospital life,” she says. “It
has worked out great.”
As an indication of her capable
direction of HealthConnection, McLelland was named a fellow
in the 2006 Woodruff Leadership Academy, an elite group of
people from across Emory’s health sciences who are selected
and trained as future leaders. The brainchild of Dr. Michael
Johns, CEO of the Woodruff Health Sciences Center, the academy
began in 2003 and has included faculty and staff from the
nursing school, including Dr. Sandra Dunbar, Charles Howard
Candler Professor of Cardiovascular Nursing, also in this
year’s class.
“We recently had our first
classes on leadership theory and finance and heard Dr. Johns’
vision for Emory health sciences within the university,”
says McLelland. “It’s a wonderful opportunity
to see what other people are doing, to interact, and better
understand other entities.”—Carol
Pinto |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
2000s |
|
| |
|
|
|
 |
Eddie Gammill, 01N, 05MSN, joined Emory’s
Faculty Staff Assistance Program (FSAP) last fall. Gammill completed
his
master’s with a major in leadership in health care
and now coordinates programs in health promotion and wellness for
FSAP.
“Wellness issues are a huge
component in health care,” he says. “We want to help
people handle current health challenges with prevention and education.”
Emory employees use the FSAP to help lose weight, reduce stress,
and stop smoking, among other programs offered.
Gammill also has worked as a nurse
in the “HeartWise” risk reduction program and the emergency
department at Emory University Hospital.
Married: Brittany
Holley, 01N, 03MSN/MPH, and Wayne Newberry, on April 29,
2005, in Ellijay, GA. She is a clinical nurse educator for Children’s
Healthcare of Atlanta Primary Care. The couple lives in Tucker.
Married: R.
Tabitha (Tabby) Gerbert, 03N, and Barry Weaver, on June
8, 2004, in St. Thomas, USVI. They are both RNs and live in Ellijay,
GA. |
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
FACULTY/STAFF
NEWS |
|
| |
|
|
|
 |
Rebecca Gary has rejoined the School of Nursing
as an assistant professor in the Department of Adult and Elder Health.
Gary previously served on the nursing faculty at the Medical College
of Georgia. Her research focuses on the effect of exercise on women
with conditions such as cardiovascular disease, depression, and
fatigue. |
|
| |
|
|
 |
Greg
Holliday joined the School of Nursing last fall as senior
director of development and alumni relations. Previously, he was
vice president for development and public relations at Big Brothers
Big Sisters of Metro Atlanta and also worked in development at North
Carolina Children’s Hospital/Medical Foundation of North Carolina
in Chapel Hill. |
|
| |
|
|
 |
Dr.
Ora Strickland, professor in the Department of Family and
Community Nursing, co-authored the book Measurement in Nursing
and Health Research (Springer Publishing Company, 2005). “This
book is the only available textbook designed for the development
and testing of measurement instruments for nursing and is relevant
for other health disciplines,” says Strickland. “It
primarily is used in graduate programs, particularly nursing doctoral
programs.” |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
| |
 |
|
| |
She's
got the beat |
|
| |
|
|
| |
 r.
Autumn Schumacher, who
last summer completed a postdoctoral fellowship in nursing
and biomedical engineering, co-sponsored by the School of
Nursing and the Georgia Institute of Technology, continues
to earn honors for her research.
Last November, she won first
place in the Council on Cardiovascular Nursing’s Martha
N. Hill New Investigator Competition at the American Heart
Association’s annual Scientific Sessions conference.
She presented data from her postdoctoral study of the nonlinear
characteristics of ventricular fibrillation—the irregular
heart rhythm that causes sudden death.
To better understand ventricular
fibrillation, Schumacher uses a technique to photograph the
heart’s electrical activity with fluorescent dye and
an ultra high-speed camera. “After the dye is injected
into the heart, electrical current triggers the fluorescence
levels to change on the cell membrane,” she says. “The
high-speed camera then captures the electrical impulses lighting
up as they move across the surface of the heart.”
Unlike other imaging methods,
this technique actually shows electrical activity moving across
heart tissue. “The high-speed photography allows me
to make a movie that shows patterns of electrical activity
that cannot be seen on an electrocardiogram (ECG),”
she explains.
“We still don’t
know why ventricular fibrillation occurs in some people and
not others, and we’ve only been able to gather limited
information from the ECG. The purpose of my postdoctoral investigation
was to analyze the fluorescent images photographed during
ventricular fibrillation with new mathematical techniques.
Hopefully, I can learn more about how this deadly rhythm works
while developing better, smarter monitors and defibrillators.”
At press time, Schumacher
was a finalist in the Jos Willems Young Investigator Competition
during the annual conference of the International Society
of Computerized Electrocardiology (ISCE) in April, where she
gave a presentation on “Nonlinear Organization of ECG
and Optical Signals during Ventricular Fibrillation.”
“While the AHA competition was with my cardiac nursing
peers, the ISCE competition will be with my science peers,”
said Schumacher before the ISCE conference.
After completing her postdoctoral
fellowship last August, Schumacher joined the Medical College
of Georgia as an assistant professor in the School of Nursing.
In addition to starting up her own laboratory, she teaches
pathophysiology/pharmacology to nursing juniors. She recently
submitted a grant to study the effects of aging on the occurrence
of ventricular fibrillation.
“Right now the research
I’m doing cannot be done in humans, but someday I hope
it will,” she says. “This type of imaging gives
us so much more information about the heart’s electrical
activity, and these new mathematical techniques have a lot
of potential for improving our monitoring and defibrillator
technology.”—Carol
Pinto |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
IN
MEMORIAM |
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
1930s |
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
Thelma
Meeks Langston, 31N, of Augusta, GA, on Dec. 21, 2005,
at 97. She was a private duty nurse for 40 years. Survivors include
her son, James P. Langston, of St. Simons, GA; two granddaughters;
and two sisters. |
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
1940s |
|
| |
|
|
 |
June
Adams Rehm, 41N, of Sebring, FL, on Nov. 3, 2004, two days
before her 85th birthday. Among her accomplishments, she served
as an Army nurse in North Africa during World War II. Survivors
include her husband, retired Col. M.P. Rehm. |
|
| |
|
|
|
 |
Lela
Burgess Byers, 44N, of Canton, NC, on Jan. 11, 2006. Byers
devoted her career to nursing and to teaching young children. Upon
graduating from nursing school, she served as a private duty nurse,
an industrial nurse, and a hospital relief nurse at Haywood County
Hospital in Canton and taught home nursing classes for the American
Red Cross. She then taught kindergarten and directed kindergarten
and elementary education at the First Baptist Church in Canton.
Byers held several positions with the Opportunity Corporation of
Madison-Buncombe Counties, serving as a Headstart classroom teacher
and teacher in charge of day care, as a nurse and social services
director, and as a home-based teacher and coordinator of home-based
teachers for both counties. She also taught demonstration classes
for the Asheville Child Development Program in a three-state training
program for Headstart workers.
Byers was active in a number of organizations,
including the American National Red Cross Nursing Service and the
North Carolina Kindergarten Association, for which she served a
term as president. Survivors include a daughter, two sons, seven
grandchildren, and nine great-grandchildren. |
|
| |
|
|
|
 |
Helen
Castine Rowe Carson, 48N, of Statesville, NC, on Oct. 14,
2005, at 79. A retired nurse, she is survived by her husband, Sidney
Carson. |
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
1950s |
|
| |
|
|
|
 |
Judith
(Judy) Davis Jones, 51N, of Social Circle, GA, on Sept.
12, 2005, at 74 after a courageous battle with ovarian cancer. She
moved to Atlanta from Scranton, PA, to attend nursing school at
Emory. Survivors include her husband of 50 years, Charles H. Jones.
Judith played an active role in his engineering firm, Jordan, Jones
& Goulding, Inc., and the tree farm they owned. They lived in
Atlanta until his retirement in 1999, when they moved to White Oak
Farm in Social Circle. Other survivors include a daughter, two sons,
eight grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren. |
|
| |
|
|
|
 |
Ruth
Bertha Melber, 51N, of Floral City, FL, on Oct. 27, 2005,
at 83. One of eight children, Melber and most of her siblings grew
up in a children’s home in St. Petersburg, FL. During her
47 years as a nurse, she was head nurse at Emory University Hospital
and also served with hospitals in New Jersey, Florida, and Mississippi
and with the State Health Department in West Virginia. In Atlanta,
she was an assistant professor at Emory in the School of Nursing
and was chief nurse for the State of Georgia Department of Health
& Rehabilitation, Division of Public Health. Survivors include
a brother and three sisters of Jacksonville and Floral City, FL,
and a niece. |
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
Rose
Marie LeBlanc Moore, 53N, of Cleveland, GA, on July 7,
2005. Survivors include her husband, James Moore. |
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
1960s |
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
Angela Bryant Forrence, 62N, of Peru, NY, died
unexpectedly on June 24, 2005, in nearby Plattsburgh. She was 68.
Born into a military family, Forrence was much involved in the POW-MIA
movement. She was a psychiatric nurse who contributed to community
mental health services in many ways, including as a board member
of the Behavioral Health Services North in Plattsburgh. Survivors
include her husband, Roger Forrence; a daughter; two stepdaughters;
two step-sons; one granddaughter; a brother; and a sister.
Dorothy G. Bell, 69N, of Garden City, GA, on Aug.
17, 1998, at age 73. She was married to Marion D. Bell. |
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
1970s
|
|
| |
|
Lorene
Newberry, 76N, of Marietta, GA, on Jan. 14, 2006, of cancer
at 50. Newberry was a clinical nurse specialist with WellStar Emergency
Services and responsible for six emergency centers. She edited the
most recent versions of Sheehy’s Emergency Nursing,
regarded as the bible of her specialty. Newberry was instrumental
in developing Kennestone WellStar Hospital into a trauma center
in 1987, then a new concept for Atlanta hospitals. She moved to
Kennestone in 1982, after working in Grady Memorial Hospital’s
emergency room.
In 2004, Newberry received WellStar’s
lifetime achievement award, the system’s highest honor. “Lorene
was considered the top in her field,” said Tarey Ray, senior
vice president of nursing for WellStar. Survivors include two sisters,
a brother, her stepfather, six stepsisters, and two stepbrothers.
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
