Serving Country & College:
battleground nurses — supporting our armed forces
T
win sisters and Mount Nursing alumnae Elizabeth ScannellDesch ’72, PhD, RN, OCNS, FAAN and Mary Ellen Doherty ’72, PhD, RN, CNM, are well-versed in the triumphs and hardships of the military nurse: They coauthored two books revealing the stories of U.S. military nurses who served in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, Nurses in War: Voices from Iraq and Afghanistan (2012) and Nurses After War: The Reintegration Experience of Nurses Returning from Iraq and Afghanistan (2016). The books greatly benefit from the sisters’ collective experience both in the military and as pillars in the field of Nursing. Scannell-Desch just retired as the associate dean for Baccalaureate Nursing Programs and a professor of Nursing at Rutgers University, a former Mount Nursing professor and department chair, and a decorated retired Air Force officer with 25 years of service. She rose to the rank of Colonel, command nurse executive at USAF Headquarters in the Pentagon. Doherty is a certified nurse-midwife and an award-winning professor of Nursing at Western Connecticut State University. She teaches nursing students at the undergraduate, masters, and doctoral levels. But back in late 1960s and early 1970s, Scannell-Desch and Doherty were only at the start of their careers, working towards a bachelor’s degree in Nursing at the Mount. The sisters were some of the earliest gradu-
14
DONOR IMPACT REPORT
Mary Ellen Doherty ’72, PhD, RN, CNM and Elizabeth Scannell-Desch ’72, PhD, RN, OCNS, FAAN
ates of the college, and some of the first to benefit from the demanding Nursing program founded by the Dominican Sisters. “The MSMC Nursing program was the most rigorous and well-designed program one could imagine,” said Scannell-Desch. “I sailed through my MSN program at University of Pennsylvania and my doctoral program at Georgia State University be-
cause the Mount prepared me so well. The Mount program gave me the academic and clinical tools to be successful as my career blossomed in the US Air Force.” Doherty added that “I fell in love with maternal-newborn nursing while at MSMC. Birth has never ceased to amaze me even after being a nurse-midwife for over 30 years and 2,000-plus babies later. Now, I plant the
seeds of midwifery in my nursing students." The World Health Organization has designated 2020 as ‘The Year of the Nurse and Midwife.’ A large part of their joyful memories of the college revolve around the lifelong connections they made with their professors and their classmates. “The Mount faculty became role models for life, and that included nursing as well as arts and sciences faculty,” explained Scannell-Desch. “Sr. Leona DeBoer, Sr. Barbara Bohny, Dr. James Cotter, and Dr. Edith Lessor hold special places in my heart. I still have my English book from Dr. Cotter’s class.” For Doherty, her most memorable professor was Sr. James Elizabeth, who now goes by Sr. Leona DeBoer, OP. “She was a trailblazer, a visionary, and a quiet leader in Nursing,” said Doherty. “She was progressive in her thinking and wanted to prepare nursing students for the realities we would face in our chosen career after graduation. She challenged us academically and clinically, and we all rose to the occasion. She inspired us to work hard, think critically, and embrace a holistic philosophy when caring for families.” She added, “I made lifelong friends at MSMC. Linda Fabbri Keithley ’72 and I roomed together for all four years, and she sat next to me at my daughter’s wedding reception in 2015. Other close friends who I still keep in touch with are Anne Wolff Rich
