Lifelines 2021

LIFELINES

The Year of the Nurse Continues

There is no slowing down during a pandemic

COLLEGE OF NURSING

PHILOSOPHY VISION

The College of Nursing’s philosophy is congruent with that of the Medical University of South Carolina and guides the education, research, and practice of nurses and other health professionals in an interprofessional health sciences center. This philosophy embodies the concepts of nursing, health, person, and environment. The faculty believe that the discipline of nursing is both an art and a science focusing on the optimization of health and holistic wellbeing across diverse populations within global communities. Our core values guide the integration of education, scholarship, and inquiry to advance knowledge and practice framed by a collaborative interprofessional model of care.

MISSION

The Medical University of South Carolina College of Nursing will be a preeminent leader in nursing education, practice, and research to improve the culture of health and quality of life.

In an interprofessional environment that is respectful, inclusive, transformative, innovative, and sensitive to a changing fiscal climate, the College of Nursing is committed to promoting health through:

• Providing evidence-based nursing education

• Generating, translating and disseminating scientific knowledge

• Leading excellence in practice

CORE VALUES

INTEGRITY

• Demonstrate honesty, ethics and moral strength in every aspect of personal and professional life

• Ensure equity and fairness

• Uphold organization standards of conduct, policies, and procedures

INNOVATION

• Advance the profession of nursing through research, practice, scholarship and life-long learning

• Seek and embrace new and bold opportunities to ensure fiscal responsibility while ensuring the college’s growth potential during stable, as well as, unstable financial climates

IMPACT

• Shape and re-envision the nursing profession by providing cutting edge education and experiential learning opportunities

• Act intentionally to achieve significant and influential outcomes for our global society

• Transform health care through collaborative leadership, policy, and advocacy

INCLUSIVITY

• Embrace and promote diversity

• Celebrate individual talents and strengths

• Create and promote an environment of belonging where people feel empowered, respected, and valued

LIFELINES

Executive Editor

Linda S. Weglicki, Dean, College of Nursing

Editor

Beth Khan

Photographer Josh Goodwin

Contributors

Sharon Bond

Debbie Chatman Bryant

Leslie Cantu

Bryce Donovan

Lisa DuBois

Carrie Cormack

Catherine Durham

Theresa Kelechi

Sharon Kozachik

Anahita Modaresi

Caroline Wright

PROUD TO BE A NURSE

It does not seem so long ago when nurses worldwide began to celebrate the Year of the Nurse and Midwife in January 2020. I remember feeling a great sense of pride and gratitude that I belonged to a profession that engaged in shaping practice and research and, by extension, patient outcomes in ways that transcend not only our institutions but also in the discipline of nursing itself.

Now, as we begin 2021, I still feel this sentiment more poignantly than I could ever imagine nearly one year ago. In the earliest days of this unprecedented pandemic, I recall moments when nurses were hailed as heroes. I thought, "We are not heroes. This is what nurses do every day, and this is what nurses have always done."

However, over these past many months, the overwhelming stories of nurses and their actions, as they faced daily new challenges of the coronavirus, have been nothing less than heroic. Nurses have been and continue to lead the way through this pandemic. Their unending stamina, resilience, empathy, and gentle care can be seen at the bedside, in community health settings, in public health and educational environments, in clinics, and in the "war rooms" of hospitals and health care systems.

In this issue of Lifelines, we reflect on 2020 and share stories marked not just by one but by two historic parallel evolving crises: the worldwide COVID-19 health and economic pandemic and racial injustices occurring throughout the United States. Both terrible and traumatic events highlighted the college's struggles as it sought new and innovative approaches to meet its tripartite mission of education, research, and patient care. Last year's events also pushed us to find ways to combat structural racism and remain true to our core values that embrace inclusivity, equity, integrity, diversity, respect, and an environment of belonging.

College of Nursing 99 Jonathan Lucas Street Charleston, SC 29425 nursing.musc.edu

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Over the past 12 months, I witnessed so many people doing extraordinary and innovative things. Our faculty, staff, students, college alumni and friends, and community partners demonstrated tremendous flexibility, strength, and compassion as they stepped up in so many different ways. The magnitude of their support and response to mitigate risk and transcend new ways of living, engaging, teaching, learning, and protecting, required adaptability, imagination, and grace.

The MUSC College of Nursing, no matter what, will continue to exercise our thoughtful and forward-thinking approach and pause when we need to navigate the multifaceted challenges which have transformed many of the ways we carry out our mission and priorities.

Alumni and friends, I encourage you to stay connected, share your stories, and remain safe and well throughout 2021!

Linda S. Weglicki, Ph.D., R.N. Dean and professor Medical University of South Carolina College of Nursing

Interviews conducted by Lisa Dubois and Anahita Modaresi in May 2020 have been edited for space and clarity.

Year of the Nurse gains new meaning during the pandemic

The World Health Organization (WHO) designated 2020 as the "Year of the Nurse & Midwife" well before the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted our lives. As days and weeks turned into months, the important role that nurses have in difficult health care crises like these become so pronounced and valued. But how fitting that the designation is today. No one would have predicted the same year Florence Nightingale would have celebrated her 200th birthday; we would also witness a health care crisis like none other in modern times.

Nightingale's pioneering efforts more than 167 years ago led to health care reforms and models used today. She established standards for sanitation, identified the value of data to inform care, and decreased mortality associated with preventable diseases - all of which are foundational to limiting the spread of disease. All were important then and just as important today as we address the many health challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.

These unprecedented times have challenged many nurses, especially those serving on the front lines. Countless nurses have sacrificed their own mental and physical health, as well as time with their family, and sadly, some have lost their lives while putting others before themselves. Nurses understand there’s an element of danger to their job, especially when dealing with a virus that scientists are still trying to figure out.

In the pages that follow, you will read about two nurses who served on the front lines in New York City in March and April 2020. Both are graduates of the college, but who are at different points in their nursing careers. Caroline Wright, a 2018 BSN graduate, is a critical care nurse in Charleston and felt the calling to take her skills to where they could be best used at the time. Catherine Durham is a 2012 DNP graduate with 21 years of nursing experience. She is the assistant dean of the DNP program and a captain in the U.S. Navy Reserves.

Both nurses are heroes, as are the countless others who have and continue to rise to the occasion by serving and caring for others during times of adversity.

In their own words...

In April 2020, Caroline Wright, BSN ‘18, an ICU nurse at MUSC Health, volunteered to serve in the COVID-19 unit of Long Island Jewish Medical Center, New Hyde Park, NY, the U.S. epicenter of the pandemic at the time. Wright describes the importance of teamwork and the need to improvise, given limited resources in health care crisis situations. Wright notes the important role she took on for ICU patients during this time – that of support as a surrogate family member, because loved ones could not be present during the final moments of life. Her view from the frontlines is heartbreaking and unfiltered. Yet, she feels valued and believes she has skills to do what others can't.

When you first walked into the Long Island Jewish Medical Center, were you prepared for what you saw?

You know, I wasn't prepared for the reality of the situation. I had this idea in my head but when I walked into that unit, I was in complete shock. At the time, at MUSC Health, we had two COVID positive patients in the entire hospital. When I arrived in New York, I walked into this big room with over 60 COVID positive patients. The beds were on top of one another and just a foot or two apart. Patients were on ventilators and all alone. No family members were present. Some patients were on 9 or 10 drips at a time. I was in shock. I will honestly never forget that moment. I knew it was going to be bad, but I had no idea. It was overwhelming, and to think that was just one unit. The rest of the hospital was converted into multiple other makeshift COVID ICUs. It took creativity, as they

converted areas like the PACU and the cath lab into an ICU to meet the demand of so many who were so ill. It was so insane. I had no idea and honestly, if people saw what I witnessed every day while I was there, they would not be leaving their homes or worried about wearing a mask.

What was the difference between your ICU experience in Charleston and your experience in a COVID unit in NYC?

Everything I learned went out the window because it was a completely different situation. You had to adjust and be flexible. The management was different than how you would typically manage an ICU patient. I couldn’t get caught up on things which we typically focused on, such as charting. Of course, we charted the important vitals, but the hospital management knew our priority was the patient. Also, there were a lot of

new medications and I was not used to administering them. Since I was a new employee, I was constantly asking people questions about how things are done. I'd ask, "What's the protocol for this and that?" The response usually sounded like, “Well, it used to be this, but now just do your best.” Many hospital policies had to be modified or changed just to allow us more time at the bedside with the patient.

How was the management of the patient different?

Since I was in a COVID unit, all the patients had respiratory issues, so the way we managed them was different. For example, we would lay patients on their stomach to help improve oxygenation. These patients also required a lot more sedation than typical ICU patients. Normally, we would have a patient on one or two sedation meds. These COVID

patients were on four or five, making it difficult to get them off of the drips. Weaning them off the vents was extremely hard.

What do you think would be helpful in terms of training nurses?

Teaching flexibility. In New York, we didn't have all the resources and supplies that were needed or that I was accustomed to using. I learned to make do with what I had and repurpose things. I learned how to stretch things beyond its typical usage and to use my best judgment and assess the situation. Physicians stressed that, too. Physicians really valued our opinions because they knew that we spent the most time with the patients. They encouraged us to speak up when we saw something unusual or if any major changes were needed for our patients. The role of the nurse was different. I felt the physicians really valued us.

Did you have any moments when you thought this is why I do this?

I was starting to question all this. These patients were the sickest of the sick and unfortunately the success rate with taking patients off a ventilator and extubating them was not very high. Many ended up being re-intubated, so we didn't get to see a lot of the positive side for those we cared for. Patients don't get discharged from the ICU. Before that happens, the patient goes to a step-down unit, consequently the ICU nurses do not see a lot of positive

“ I am used to times in the ICU before COVID where loved ones gather and share a beautiful, bittersweet moment. Here death is cold, lonely and tragic so I held their hands and told them they are loved."

outcomes. However, I had a mother who had just given birth. She was COVID positive and intubated, so I was prepared for things to end tragically. Two weeks later, we took the tube out and the mom survived. It was phenomenal. Later, she was able to FaceTime with her baby. I can't imagine what she went through - to give birth and be away from her baby. It was pretty amazing. We tried to keep these moments fresh in our memories to help us push through and visualize the happy endings.

Was your nursing training helpful? What could have helped you prepare for this?

I don’t know how you can really prepare for something like this during a pandemic, but one thing that stood out for me was the teamwork. Maybe that could be strengthened back home? I'm usually someone who tries to do everything myself, but in these types of situations you really have to use the resources you’ve been given, and support from others. For example, as I was gowned up and in an isolation room, I couldn't go in and out, so I had to reach out for help. I made signs of what was needed that could be read through the window by another nurse who was charting outside the ICU.

Nurses from other areas in the hospital served as resource nurses. It worked great because trained nurses could innovate. They would draw all of our labs, turn our patients and do many of direct nursing

care functions to support us. It was a huge relief to have that assistance and support. They were all very well qualified and trained and were so amazing about jumping in and knowing what needed to be done and doing it. Another thing we did was prone patients (turn face down). They used PACU nurses to create a proning team so when the physician wanted a patient proned you would call and a group of five PACU nurses would arrive. Just having those type of resources to eliminate some of the stress was huge.

The things we learned in textbooks can only take you so far in these difficult events. I had to apply the basic principles we learned in order to problem solve and figure out a different solution. It wasn’t only what I learned in nursing school that had to be adjusted, but even things I learned as an ICU nurse, I had to do differently. But what remained constant was reaching back to the basics of what I learned in school like the principles of ABC airway breathing circulation. The basics don’t change. This is what we train for. This is that moment. It's a once-in-a-lifetime thing. Everything we read about in the textbook combined with basic skills we are able to adapt and put to good use.

nder military orders, Cathy Durham, DNP '12, APRN, FNP-C, arrived in New York on March 6 to meet her team of 121 nurses from around the United States who were deployed to New York City, the coronavirus U.S. epicenter at that time. Three days prior, Durham was tagged to provide a leadership role on a mission to bring help and hope to thousands of New Yorkers. Durham is a Captain in the U.S. Navy Reserves and a senior nurse executive for Operational Health Support Unit Jacksonville that encompasses 133 reserve nurses from South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and Puerto Rico. She joined the team in NYC to provide senior nurse leadership for a group of nurses mobilized from all over the United States. Military leadership felt medical assistance was critically needed in 11 hospitals across the city swamped with COVID positive patients. Durham and her team answered their call to duty.

What was your reaction when you first arrived in New York and realized the severity of the situation?

Before I was deployed, I remember thinking 40,000 ventilators was an overreaction because we live in the United States. How could this be necessary? We were all a little wary because we didn't know what the situation was going to look like. Sure, we saw images on television, but was it really out of control?

The first hospital we went to was Bellevue, the oldest hospital in the U.S. It was full of incredibly sick patients. They had expanded their ICU services, but they weren't bursting at the seams. It wasn't hemorrhaging. They were busy, and they just needed a few more nurses.

The second site we went to was Elmhurst Hospital. I was with two physicians and another nurse to perform a needs assessment. From our first encounter with the hospital's nursing supervisor, we knew things were different there. In my 25-year career, I've never seen that many patients in an emergency department and they were all COVID positive. The gurneys were three deep against the walls and into the hallways.

As a nurse, I'm used to providing comfort for sick patients, yet I found it challenging to convey empathy with only my eyes because the N95 mask covered half my face. I could see the look of fear in their eyes. Their panic-stricken eyes were so hard to see. My physician colleague said that the patients' faces reminded him of photos of prisoners in concentration camps during World War II. The faces in that emergency department will never leave my mind and my heart.

When the four of us walked out of the hospital, we didn't speak. We were still digesting what we saw. When we returned to the command center, we had a decision to make about which providers to send to these hospitals. There's a risk of sending our team

members into a COVID hospital, but we were really honest with them and managed their expectations. Our nurses and physicians handled this situation with such grace.

A month later, Elmhurst was no longer hemorrhaging and almost back to baseline in regard to their numbers. Elmhurst has an incredible staff. They smiled when they met us and engaged in conversation. Even though they had to compartmentalize their stress, they were very thoughtful in our discussions. All of the hospitals I worked in had an incredibly resilient group of people.

Some of the Elmurst staff got emotional when we first walked inside in uniform. A few days later, when we went back to check-in, the CEO pulled us aside to tell us he had received lots of emails from staff. He said the thing that resonated most for him was the messages like, "when we saw the people in uniform coming in, it was the first day that we felt safe." That was pretty humbling.

What was your role while in NYC?

For the first five days, along with my physician counterpart, I was to call hospitals and create a needs assessment. From the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), we knew which hospitals had the highest volume of ventilated patients and the greatest need. We told the chief nursing officers and chief medical officers that we were ready to embed a team into their hospital system if they needed us.

We performed needs assessments at five hospitals within 48 hours. One thing we looked for was adequate staffing. For example, one site did not want any med-surg nurses because they had too many. But they were in dire need of ICU nurses and critical care nurses because their ventilated patients had grown by 400% in two days. We were able to get them the type of nurses they needed from our pool. Another site had the right mix of nursing

personnel and was open to taking more med-surg nurses.

We also implemented a team nursing model where we paired an ICU nurse with an OR nurse. The pair could take three patients instead of just two. The OR nurse also operated as a "runner" to get supplies for the ICU nurse. At each site, we tried to match and leverage our assets as best we could. We managed expectations and understood what each hospital needed. We continued with site visits and checked back at sites where we embedded our people to see how they were doing. By the end of April, we had 217 nurses and physicians embedded in seven sites.

As a senior nurse executive, when I wasn't doing administrative duties at the command center in a hotel, I rotated to a different clinical site every two days. I worked the bedside in ICUs with one of the nurses on my team. I haven't been an ICU nurse in 21 years, so many things changed, but I was there to serve the ICU nurse. If they needed something, I was going to get it.

At the bedside, there's an opportunity to mentor and counsel. Very few ICU patients in the hardest hit hospitals are being discharged so some days were notably hard, and it was important to me to offer support to those nurses.

What made this situation more difficult than other highpressured situations you've encountered?

The racial and economic health disparities in this country were evident in the patient population that I saw in New York. Many of the patients needed to work to provide for their families, which prevented them from coming into the hospital until they were really sick. Also, many of the patients didn't have primary care providers that were managing their symptoms early on.

Another hard thing had to do with the patient's family since they were not able to come inside the hospital. Families were not able to see how rapidly their loved one was declining. This made it very tough to have conversations with family members about end-oflife care. Family members were and still are having to make tough decisions about life-saving measures very quickly.

We used tablets to help engage family members via FaceTime so that they could see their loved ones, work with the health care team to make decisions on their health, and at times be with them in their last moments, but it was hard for both the families and the staff. We had some psychiatric mental health providers on our team to help both patient families, patients and staff and augment the native hospital resources.

As a nurse educator and someone who was on the frontlines, what do you think is a critical need in nursing education? From an educational standpoint, a critical need is to incorporate more public health into our education. Take a look at how nurses engage in public health aspects and how we can manage that. During this emergency, both physician and nurse were asked to work on teams outside their comfort zone. It was important to

create systems to support that work such as team nursing and to support people working outside their specialty. One team member stated, “we have two jobs here; be kind and be flexible” and that phase was repeated many times.

If all health care professionals, nurses, in particular, could go back to our foundational roots and think about how you assess a patient. What are the basic principles of pathophysiology? Then we can come from a place of being flexible and kind to each other and work as a team to address the patient's needs and put aside what we think is our assigned role. We're all health care providers on the same side. I think we need to frame our education around that understanding.

I know there were some legal questions around this line of thinking. Am I going to be sued if I have to be a med-surg nurse because I'm really an OR nurse? Am I going to be sued for working outside of my scope of practice? I'm one nurse to 15 patients. It's supposed to be one to eight, so I'm not going to be able to do all these things that I was told to do. We have to educate students on what it means to respond in an emergency and the ethical requirements. The American Nursing Association and the American Medical Association have statements on the ethical responsibilities in an emergency and a pandemic. So, we need to emphasize these ethical responsibilities in our education.

Being a nurse in a pandemic begins with understanding the public health aspect, but also knowing how to be a team player. We may not need a labor and delivery nurse during a viral pandemic, but you're still trained as a nurse, so let's leverage your skills and educational preparation and maximize them in this pandemic setting.

This was an incredible experience, and I was really proud to be there. I'm proud to be in nursing. I'm humbled by being part of a profession that is adaptable and is incredibly resilient. I will forever be grateful to have witnessed the many nurses I worked with who possess these attributes. I think if you don't look at this as glass-halffull and take the wins from it, you lose out.

Dr. Cathy Durham (left) with College of Nursing alumna, Sadie Treleven, BSN, R.N., at Harlem Hospital in May 2020.

Celebrating Midwives

A

brief

history

of the Nurse-Midwifery Education Program at the MUSC College of Nursing from 1973 to 2009

By Sharon Bond, Ph.D., CNM, FACNM

For 138 years, the MUSC College of Nursing has achieved exceptional milestones educating trailblazing nurses who serve the health care needs of families, communities and populations; nurses who change what's possible through nursing care. One milestone worthy of a look back is the history of the nurse-midwifery educational program, from 1973 through 2009.

In mid-20th century South Carolina, the outlook for women giving birth, especially in rural areas, was bleak. Many families lived in extremes of poverty, lacked plumbing, electricity and access to health services. Perinatal statistics at the time depicted a sad state of health for women, ranking South Carolina as having the third-highest rate of maternal and infant mortality in the United States.

During these years, especially in the Lowcountry, many women received care by the "granny," or grand midwives, women whose faith, experience and wisdom called upon them to give compassionate assistance to women birthing at home during a time when hospital care was unaffordable. In 1950, about 100 grand midwives licensed by the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) assisted in 15,799 births registered in South Carolina.

Many grand midwives acquired their knowledge about birthing at the Penn Center in Beaufort, South Carolina, and some county health departments. Maude E. Callen, certified nurse-midwife (CNM) and graduate of Tuskegee University, taught at the Penn Center from 1944 to 1964, and assisted more than 800 women in giving birth in Berkeley County. Each year, Callen taught six-week initial training courses and a two-week refresher course to grand midwives. Callen is a well-recognized hero in South Carolina and the recipient of many awards, including an honorary degree from the Medical University. Her work was tenderly portrayed in W. Eugene Smith's photo essay published in a 1951 issue of Life Magazine.

By 1970, the MUSC College of Nursing and the MUSC Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology began exploring the feasibility of bringing a certified nurse-midwife (CNM) education program to the Medical University. Lawrence Hester, M.D., then chair of the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, recognized that using registered nurses in an expanded role was necessary to meet the demand for services and improve perinatal statistics. Marcia Curtis, Ed.D., then dean of the College of Nursing, understood that a

strong education program could prepare nurses as midwives and supported the philosophy promoted by the American College of Nurse-Midwives (ACNM).

Initially, it was necessary to establish a family-centered, comprehensive service to provide patient care in outpatient and hospital settings. A successful nurse-midwifery practice was essential for future student education. In 1971, Carmella Cavero, CNM, fellow of the American College of NurseMidwives (FACNM) and then ACNM president, was recruited by Curtis to plan and direct the service. Cavero quickly recruited other certified nurse-midwives to the College of Nursing. Within 18 months, the CNMs managed a busy practice, providing family planning services and care to pregnant women at multiple outlying clinics with oversight and collaboration from the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology. Once this viable service was evident, it became time to advance the education program.

In 1974, a certificate program was implemented, followed by a master's degree in nursing curriculum in the maternalchild track five years later.

Nurse-midwifery practice, especially in outlying rural clinics, was not without its challenges. Since advanced practice nurses did not yet have prescribing authority, CNMs found it necessary to track down physicians at the hospital to sign prescriptions. Paper prescriptions for antibiotics and other medications were then forwarded to patients by postal mail. Fortunately, health departments were able to dispense prenatal vitamins and treat certain infections.

In 1977, Helen Varney Burst, CNM, FACNM, a graduate of Yale University, became director of the nurse-midwifery program at MUSC. The college was fortunate to have Burst on board. Not only was she the president of the ACNM, but in 1978 she released the first edition of her textbook, Varney's Midwifery, regarded as the gold standard for nursemidwifery education in the United States. Cavero and Varney are pioneers and living legends to midwives everywhere.

Faced with budget shortfalls in 1981 and a need to turn out more BSN-prepared nurses in the face of a critical shortage, Curtis realized she might be forced to discontinue the nursemidwifery program. The tenacious nurse-midwifery faculty and students sought to protect their program. They won the support of Lowcountry state legislators, specifically Rembert Dennis, Arthur Ravenel, Dewey Wise and W. Paul Cantrell. These representatives understood the impact of nursemidwives on the health of mothers in their districts and persuaded the state Legislature to finance the program for another two years. The South Carolina March of Dimes was also an invaluable supporter of nurse-midwifery education.

It was the vision and foresight of Lawrence Hester, M.D., Curtis and Henry Heins, an MUSC obstetrician and gynecologist, who championed for nurse-midwifery in South Carolina. Through their leadership, the academic

program and practice grew and contributed to improving the state's perinatal statistics.

Indeed, low income, uninsured women cared for by nurse-midwives birthed substantially fewer low birthweight babies. Between 1979 and 1980, the rate of low birthweight babies in South Carolina was 8.9%. During that time, MUSC midwives completed 13,250 prenatal visits and 1,102 births, reducing the rate of low birthweight infants born to women in their care by almost half (4.8%).

Pope Francis credits a nurse with having saved his life when he was just 20 years old. He said, "A great woman, brave too, to the point of arguing with the doctors." He suggested that "midwives might have the most noble of all professions."¹ I think he might be right.

“The College of Nursing honors and celebrates the pioneers, leaders, and graduates of MUSC CON NurseMidwifery education program. They have been a critical part of history and improving the health of so many South Carolinians,” said Dean Linda S. Weglicki.

1. Hattrup KN. Pope: Midwives might have the most noble of all professions. Aleteia. January 21, 2020. https://aleteia. org/2020/01/21/pope-midwives-might-have-the-most-nobleof-all-professions. Accessed January 29, 2020.

Acknowledgements:

Brooke Fox, MUSC University archivist, Elizabeth Bear, Ph.D., CNM, FACNM, Marjorie McManus, CNM, E. Jean Martin, CNM, Carmela Cavero, CNM, FACNM, Charleston Post & Courier

Sharon Bond, Ph.D., CNM, FACNM, retired in 2014 as an associate professor in the MUSC College of Nursing. She graduated from the College of Nursing's nurse midwifery program in 1983, master's program in 1992 and Ph.D. program in 2009.

Original MUSC College of Nursing Nurse-Midwifery faculty (photo circa 1973): Bottom row, left to right: Harriet Simpson, Carmela Cavera, and Norma Pacenta. Top row, left to right: Margaret Ann Corbett, E. Jean Martin, and Anne Malley.

Jumping in feet first

As a Mid-Westerner, I grew up believing the saying, “If March comes in like a lion, it will go out like a lamb.” COVID-19 has forever changed that saying for me; March 2020 started relatively normal and ended with escalating uncertainty due to the novel COVID-19 pandemic. The impact of the COIVD-19 pandemic affected the MUSC College of Nursing last spring, when the university instituted a modified operations directive. While challenging, our faculty quickly responded as we transitioned face-to-face courses in our accelerated BSN program to online delivery with the goal of keeping our students progressing towards an on-time graduation. For example, Dr. Berry Anderson, associate professor, incorporated peer-to-peer education by forming small student discussion groups using Blackboard Collaborate, a comprehensive online learning tool. He then brought the entire class into a single virtual session to engage in richer discussions. Dr. Shannon D’Alton, instructor, and Dr. Melanie Cason, assistant professor and simulation program director, implemented interactive virtual clinical learning experiences. These activities allowed students to complete a case study, meet in small groups to discuss case specifics and ancillary course content, and come together as a larger clinical group to engage in a clinical case debriefing session. The esprit de corps and can-do attitudes of our faculty, staff, and students make me proud to be a member of the MUSC College of Nursing family.

Sharon Kozachik, Ph.D., R.N., FAAN Associate Dean for Academics

Sharon Kozachik, Ph.D., R.N., FAAN, joined the college in March 2020 as an associate professor to teach in the doctoral programs. Before moving to Charleston, she was an associate professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing, one of her alma maters. Kozachik was named the Interim Associate Dean for Academics in June 2020 when Gigi Smith, Ph.D., R.N., was selected to serve as associate provost for MUSC’s Education Innovation and Student Life effective July 1, 2020. To read more about Dr. Kozachik, please see page 24.

PIVOTING IN A PANDEMIC

How the College of Nursing came together to ensure student success

Nurses continue to demonstrate time and again why the nursing profession is consistently rated by Americans as among the most honest and ethical among Gallup's list of professions. This belief has continued to be true throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, as news stories reported and honored nurses serving on the frontlines in cities across the United States. It is a phenomenal time to be a nurse, and perhaps it is why the college is seeing a continuing interest in those seeking a nursing career.

Due to the economic downturn and possible financial issues facing incoming student applicants, it was expected that applicants and admitted students would be forced to either defer enrollment or even withdraw from fall 2020 classes. However, after the country saw how essential nurses' contributions are to the health care system, the College of Nursing saw no slow down or waning interest in the number of outstanding applicants to our undergraduate or graduate programs. In fact, the college enrolled more students last fall than it did previously in fall 2019, which was a record-breaking year as the college's largest incoming class.

Witnessing the resolve, strength, resilience, and bravery of nurses who have been committed to providing care on the front lines throughout the coronavirus crisis seems to be inspiring people to want to pursue a career in nursing. For colleges of nursing and students enrolled in nursing programs during a pandemic brings a unique set of challenges, including different ways of learning such as active engagement in an online learning environment as well as the ongoing difficulties in access to clinical experiences so that students continue to receive required direct patient care opportunities.

In March 2020, the college developed a contingency plan that had faculty reimagining new education models for their educational programs. With the assistance of the Nursing Technology Center team, BSN faculty and students quickly transitioned from in-person classes to online courses. Fortunately, the college has many years of experience in delivering quality education in a virtual world. Actually, the College of Nursing was one of the first nursing schools in the country to offer web-based nursing education to meet students' changing learning needs when its Ph.D. program went online in 2003. Over the years, the DNP and RN to BSN programs evolved into an innovative online format. Before the novel COVID-19 pandemic, all of MUSC's nursing courses were online, except for the accelerated BSN program.

Undergraduate faculty who were unaccustomed to online instruction were propelled into a world of distance education by mid-March. With the outstanding support of the college's technology team and faculty already familiar with online teaching, these educators became pros at web platforms such as Collaborate, Panopto, and TurnItIn. Faculty quickly learned that with some minor adjustments, such as providing students with a weekly overview, students could achieve course objectives a week at a time.

"The collaborative process in which faculty and students worked together to ensure the ongoing success of our

Wacademic programs is commendable," said Felesia Bowen, Ph.D., DNP, APRN, FAAN, assistant dean of undergraduate programs. "The entire college community has been so supportive of our students."

Staff also became adept at many online tools they had never used before. For example, the Student Services team began to use Microsoft Teams, a communication and collaboration platform that offers a variety of ways to communicate, such as chat, video meetings, and file collaboration tools, as a way to synchronously connect with other team members other than the traditional email system. Since

Teams worked in the workplace, they began using it with enrolled students and prospects to create and keep open lines of communication. Additionally, Student Services designed an online orientation for new ABSN students, host frequent student-faculty townhalls, and continually update FAQ's on the college's website. Even when changes were occurring daily, keeping students informed was critical in alleviating any anxiety regarding their education during this unprecedented time. The college continues to be committed to taking bold steps to create an inclusive and quality nursing education model fit for the future.

PALLIATIVE CARE INITIATIVE

hen the World Health Organization designated 2020 the International Year of the Nurse and Midwife, nurses rejoiced for the recognition yet had no inkling of how prophetic that designation would soon be. Nurses on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic endlessly provide care and comfort to patients, connecting patients with their families through video chats and FaceTime, and bolster one another's spirits while navigating the myriad health care challenges faced during this unpredictable time. In addition to the many contributions made by nurses to promote a culture of health, the pandemic highlighted ways to improve the health care experience for patients and their families.

One thing that has been glaringly apparent over the past year is equitable access to palliative care. Underserved populations are among the most severely impacted by COVID-19 and have a disproportionately higher number of COVID positive diagnoses and associated deaths. Access to palliative care ensures that a sufficient number of educated clinicians, who are prepared to address the palliative care needs of patients and families, is not only available but are met. A recent study by the S.C. Palliative Care and Quality of Life Study Committee found that nearly 54% of South Carolinians who died in 2018 would likely have been eligible for palliative care.

Years before the pandemic spread around the globe, the college began planning a new program that would prepare advanced practice nurses to specialize in care for people with serious illnesses. The college felt it was hugely important that advanced practice nurses could obtain expertise and gain a deeper understanding of the physical, psychological, spiritual and social needs of patients and families who are living with chronic and serious illnesses.

Through a generous gift from the David R. and Margaret Clare Foundation, the College of Nursing developed a post-master's Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) in Lifespan Palliative Care program that began enrolling students in fall 2020. A first of its kind program in the U.S., this doctoral-level palliative care track will meet the growing palliative care needs locally, nationally, and globally by increasing the number of advanced practice nurses it puts into the workforce.

"We are preparing advanced practice nurses who will provide evidence-based and compassionate care across the health continuum, from the point of diagnosis of a serious or life-limiting condition through supportive end-of-life care," said Carrie Cormack, DNP, APRN, lead faculty for palliative care education in the College of Nursing.

This program could not have come at a better time. Amid so much suffering due to the pandemic, palliative care nurses have been given an incredible opportunity to help and serve others while giving patients and family members an added layer of support that they so badly need these days.

Keeping in touch during a pandemic

The new normal has touched every individual in a different and unique way, and that holds true for our researchers and research participants engaged in several studies being conducted at the College of Nursing. Keeping in touch was imperative to make sure research trials would continue to run smoothly and researchers could uphold the responsibilities inherent in research that involves human subjects.

Protecting the safety of both the study participants and team members directly involved in data collection was one of our major priorities. The College of Nursing Office of Research was vigilant in keeping up with new regulations that were coming in daily from key university and federal officials such as the National Institutes of Health. It was important to pass this information along to our researchers, and to problem solve any challenges they faced in the transition from face-to face data collection procedures, to the new online formats.

For example, all of our study teams adapted to using virtual platforms to maintain contact with study team members and their study participants. Initially, these communications through constant barrages of emails were overwhelming and difficult to keep up with. However, after a conversation with Dr. Martina Mueller, the concept of Lunch Breaks emerged. Lunch Breaks created a forum in which CON researchers and study team members could keep in touch via an online forum during a weekly informal chat held Fridays at noon. These well attended chats, allowed us to discuss national and MUSC research updates, new available resources, and how to navigate challenges that would suddenly arise.

One significant outcome was the development of a COVID impact questionnaire. With input from several researchers and study team members, we created a questionnaire to standardize information across our studies. The influence of factors such as access to medical or mental health care and food, reduction of income or lost jobs, or increased responsibilities caring for loved ones are factors known to affect health and potentially, study results. This team effort has resulted in a data repository available through the Office of Research for use in future trials and may help explain the impact of COVID-19 on current and future study results.

As we move forward, the success of our community research at the CON can be summarized by our motto: We are keeping in touch.

Teresa Kelechi, Ph.D., R.N., FAAN Associate Dean for Research

WHAT ABOUT THE CAREGIVERS?

Researchers tackle caregiver stress in high tech ways

I magine you awaken each morning, anticipating your day will be occupied with caring for someone who is unable to care for themself. Perhaps it is your 28 year-old-son with a new spinal cord injury or your spouse who has Parkinson's disease, or maybe it's your elderly neighbor who depends on you to shop for groceries and drive her to her physician. Whatever your situation, your day will often be filled with stress and anxiety.

The day-to-day caregiving stresses contribute to the high emotional, physical, and financial tolls affecting the quality of life of the 65 million individuals who provide unpaid care and services for loved ones. These family members, friends, neighbors, and community advocates offer more than $470 billion annually in unpaid services such as feeding, bathing, shopping, preparing meals, laundering clothes, and transporting individuals who cannot care for themselves. Many also provide complex medical and nursing tasks. More than half of caregivers report they do not have a choice about performing these caregiving tasks. The burden is enormous.

It is no surprise that some of our researchers in the College of Nursing understand these challenges with many acting as a caregiver at one or more times in their lives. Over 75% of the currently funded studies conducted by the College of Nursing faculty involve caregivers. Two, in particular, stand out, and both are principal investigators and scholar scientists.

Shannon Phillips, Ph.D., R.N., and Leigh Ridings, Ph.D., both received a K23 Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Career Development Award to individually study the unique needs of caregivers of children, adolescents, and young adults.

Phillips, a former pediatric critical care nurse and associate professor, recognizes the helplessness families experience when faced with caring for children with a complex medical condition. Her research focuses on adolescents and young adults with sickle cell disease and their families. She received her award from the National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR) to develop an intervention using mobile health technology (mHealth) that helps adolescents and young adults up to the age of 18 transition to take care of themselves.

One of the most challenging aspects of this transition period, which until this time, has had a high involvement of caregivers (parents, grandparents, even siblings), is the caregiver's ability to make the transition while facilitating their child to self-care.

Phillips notes that this process is much more complicated in children with complex conditions like sickle cell disease. During her earlier studies, she developed an application (app) with Julie Kantor, M.D., that aimed to help caregivers and children monitor their condition, recognize early symptoms that predicted a pain crisis, and improve communication with the health care team. They soon realized caregivers were struggling to assist their older children towards achieving independence and were experiencing worrisome stress about their children.

The app, with input from children and parents, helped parents see how their adolescents were managing and improved communication through the app. One caregiver believed this communication helped bring down her stress level as well as her child's. Another parent was so pleased with the ability to read information with his soon-to-

be adolescent about how best to selfmanage pain. That way, the adolescent could now problem-solve and take better care of himself.

Finally, some caregivers used the app to teach others outside of the parentchild dyad, particularly grandparents, about the disease. The app was seen as a useful technology to help children take care of their sickle cell disease and reduced caregiving stress by assisting caregivers in feeling empowered to support their child better.

Ridings, a clinical psychologist and assistant professor, is the most recent recipient of a K23 reward, of more than $740,000 from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), to study a scalable mHealth resource to facilitate behavioral and emotional recovery after pediatric traumatic injury.

Anguish is a word often used by caregivers of 300,000 children who sustain a sudden traumatic injury from animal bites or car accidents in the U.S. each year. In Riding's study, caregivers are aged 18 years and over and consider themselves the primary caregiver of an injured child. Her intervention is designed to address highly prevalent traumatic stress disorder and depression in caregivers and children.

According to Ridings, 40% of caregivers develop a mental health concern in response to their child's injury. This correlates with their child's emotional recovery following the traumatic event.

"Unfortunately, there are very limited resources for caregivers who often face sometimes lengthy hospitalizations, changes in employment, and other stressors," said Ridings.

The technology Ridings developed enhances coping skills and provides information on how to talk to children after the injury and what to expect, primarily focusing on keeping things normal immediately following the injury. The intervention starts quickly while in the hospital and helps parents cope through the first 30 days of recovery.

Ridings will work towards tailoring the intervention, providing a more personalized approach to meet the unique demands of each caregiving situation, and help caregivers manage during an extremely stressful time to improve emotional health recovery.

The College of Nursing is proud of this exciting work that will advance caregiving science and improve caregiver quality of life.

Re-envisioning faculty practice during COVID-19

The uncertainty and disruption brought on by the coronavirus did not escape higher education institutions. Last year, colleges and universities were forced to reckon with the long-term reality of faculty, students, and staff's inability to return to our "normal" routines and class schedules until COVID-19 vaccinations were widely distributed.

For health care institutions and the nursing profession, that concern was even more pronounced since faculty competencies in the clinical setting and our students' training in the practical application of clinical skills are foundational. The College of Nursing and faculty practices were not immune to this unpredictability due to many challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. A key question became how to alleviate the anxiety and face the unknown with more confidence?

The mission of faculty practice partnerships is to create opportunities for faculty members to maintain clinical competence, fulfill certification requirements, and share expertise with other health care providers and students beyond the classroom’s learning environment. These interprofessional partnerships with hospitals and community-based agencies support the education and development of a well-trained nursing workforce to meet the primary, acute, chronic, and transitional care needs of our community both locally and globally.

When faced with challenges, as nurses and interprofessional care teams, we rise to meet them. In health and health care, nurses are extraordinary influential leaders who negotiate the moment and expand our boundaries to lead through change. History has taught us – those who refuse to evolve dies. The coronavirus' unprecedented and unpredictable situation presented us with an opportunity of a lifetime that we can either meet with a glass half empty or glass half full attitude. We in the College of Nursing choose the latter. As faculty leaders we are, as we have over the past year and will continue to do so, determined to expand our boundaries, seek innovative solutions, and lead changes as we never have before.

Debbie Chatman Bryant, DNP, R.N., FAAN Associate Dean for Practice

MEETING THE MOMENT

COVID-19 pushed our health care systems into reinventing care delivery models to accommodate patients as we never thought it could.

In the wake of COVID-19, telehealth technologies and the remote delivery of care have played essential roles in today's health care. By eliminating physical boundaries and using virtual care instead, providers are able to drill deeper into the services they provide to their patients, specifically at-risk populations.

Due to the pandemic, mental health experts believe many children are in this at-risk category. Isolation, contact restrictions, and stress due to the economic shutdown have inflicted a shift to children and young adults' psychosocial environment. Psychiatric mental health providers had to adjust their practices to quickly accommodate shelter-in-place orders so that patients were not left ‘in the wind’ when mental health services were needed most.

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, one in five children and adolescents experience a mental health problem during their school years. Examples include stress, anxiety, bullying, family problems, depression, a learning disability, and alcohol or substance abuse, and serious behavioral concerns, such as self-injury and suicide, all of which are on the rise. According to the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institute of Health, children and teens who visited emergency rooms for suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts doubled between 2007 and 2015. However, the availability and access to mental health services for at-risk youth, particularly during these unprecedented times, are at critical capacity.

Pilot Program

But there is hope. In 2016, MUSC Children's Health opened a first-of-its-kind medical clinic at Meeting Street Elementary at Brentwood in North Charleston that offers parents the convenience of an on-site clinic. The school-based health center has a full-time nurse practitioner who can diagnose conditions, order x-rays and lab work and write prescriptions, as well as a pediatrician who sees patients once a week.

As a way to offer comprehensive health right where kids are, the College of Nursing partnered with the health center last year to establish a mental health program. Joy Lauerer, DNP, APRN, PMHCNS-BC, an associate professor and a skilled mental health practitioner, was a champion of this initiative.

Prior to COVID, the program used telehealth technology during school hours to address a child’s mental health and behavioral needs. Orienting children to telehealth visits proved simple because they are familiar with technology and are comfortable communicating virtually. However, when COVID began to spread, the school closed in early March 2020. This put therapy and services on pause for many who relied on this clinic.

Knowing that these visits could easily be replicated at home, MUSC providers could continue with visits using a virtual telemedicine platform called Doxy.me. By connecting through Doxy.me using computers, Lauerer is able to connect virtually by inviting parents via text messages to join the visit.

"Using telehealth demonstrates that the mental health community is there to assist families with the support many families need during these unsettling times," Lauerer said. Initially, the emotional responses of children to COVID-19 was one of both anxiety and fear associated with not fully understanding what it meant to quarantined. The lack of a structured schedule and the comfort of interacting with peers and teachers proved stressful for many children. As the uncertainty of the COVID impact persisted, children and families reported problems of disengaging from online gaming, decreased physical activity, and difficulty sleeping.

Lauerer found that many children were also experiencing a profound loss from a lack of peer support, interaction, and

other recreational activities. One 11-year-old patient confided, "sometimes I feel like there is no reason to get up in the morning."

This experience also serves as a learning tool for our MUSC DNP students. Before COVID, DNP students in the psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner track worked in the school clinic. They prepared children and parents for the telehealth visits and worked closely with Lauerer to conduct comprehensive assessments and psychotherapy. This preCOVID experience aided our DNP students to quickly transition to the use of telehealth as others struggled to provide this important care.

Telehealth technology has turned the home quarantine and stay-at-home orders into an opportunity to see a glimpse of a child’s home life and environment for some mental health experts. The virtual telehealth visits allow the provider to see the home environment so they can fully appreciate the family's ecology and work dynamically within the family system to affect change.

This program is an example of how we continue to expand, transform, and innovate to meet the needs of our faculty, students, and most especially the vulnerable populations in the community we serve. Vulnerable, at-risk populations already face significant social determinants of health disadvantages to include the lack of private or public transportation, service inequity, and unaffordability, to name a few. When faced with uncertainly and disruption, our faculty and students are meeting the challenge with this innovative product as well as expanding nursing professional practice across the health system to connect clinical, professional, and care delivery services.

STRONGER THAN EVER, STRONGER TOGETHER

Diversity and inclusion has always been a central part of the tripartite mission of the College of Nursing, but 2020 was different. We witnessed a virus ravage the entire globe. We witnessed the disproportionate impact the coronavirus had on minority communities, and we witnessed police brutality in Black communities. These events have created a pandemic within a pandemic, but the silver lining in all this chaos is that it has led to increased engagement, reflection, discussion, and action.

In an effort to promote a healthy cultural climate within the college, an initiative out of the college's Diversity and Inclusion Council was created in late 2019. The Diversity and Inclusion Champions of Excellence, or DICE, is a group of faculty and staff, whose purpose is to weave diversity into the dayto-day workflow of the college by supporting diversity initiatives, acting as a resource, fostering a tolerant and accepting work environment, and promoting training and collaboration between other MUSC diversity organizations. The DICE group meets monthly and is chaired by Tonya Hazelton , a project coordinator in the college's research office.

DICE members serve as diversity and inclusion allies for CON faculty and staff. They also carry out initiatives that foster an environment that promotes inclusion, respect, and a safe space. Some of DICE's efforts have

included entertaining activities like a college-wide potluck lunches (before COVID), social justice BINGO, and cultural competency training.

Other activities have taken a more thought-provoking tone. One popular initiative to come out of the group is the Diversity Openness Talking Series (DOTS), a monthly meeting where faculty, staff, and students have reflective conversations about different articles, topics, or current events in a safe space. Some recent topics included the killing of George Floyd, the Emanuel movie, the removal of the John C. Calhoun statue from Marion Square in downtown Charleston, effective allyship, transgender and gender non-conforming patients, educational gerrymandering, and interracial marriage.

Another practice that is being used to promote the infusion of diversity and inclusion practices across all aspects of university business, is the attention to the MUSC Diversity statement at the beginning of every committee meeting. A similar practice has been adopted by other colleges in the American Academy of Colleges of Nursing with the goal of increasing inclusive thinking and communication. The College of Nursing understands that diversity statements alone will not improve diversity but are a part of a larger strategic plan to ensure a culture and environment that actualizes the organization's values, innovation, impact and inclusivity.

Hazelton

Illustration by Beth Khan

ADDRESSING RACIAL INEQUITIES THROUGH CRITICAL CONVERSATIONS

During the summer of 2020, COVID-19 created a dual crisis: a pandemic within a pandemic. The country witnessed the connection between the coronavirus crisis and growing racial disparities, leading to civil protests in cities including Minneapolis, Washington, DC, Portland, and Charleston. The horrific and unnecessary deaths of George Floyd, Brianna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and several other Black individuals sent shockwaves to countless Americans, including our students, faculty, and staff, who were understandably disturbed by these tragedies and the events that followed throughout the U.S.

Many minority students and co-workers could relate to the discriminatory treatment experienced by minority groups, while others felt a sense of hopelessness. Difficult and complicated conversations resulted and gave pause to institutions that required an in-depth examination of racial inequity.

Feeling the call to address the outcry of social injustice in South Carolina as well as across the country, college of nursing deans from MUSC, the University of South Carolina, and Clemson University came together to discuss what they could do for their students, faculty, and staff.

Weglicki

Linda S. Weglicki, Ph.D., R.N., Jeannette Andrews, PhD., R.N., FAAN, dean of the University of South Carolina College of Nursing, and Kathleen Valentine, Ph.D., MSN, director of nursing at Clemson University, took a hard look at their institution's values and commitment to diversity, inclusion, and equity. They listened to employees' and students' concerns, and one common theme emerged - more needed to be done.

"As nurse leaders, we must lead critical conversations that help each of us understand the forces of racial inequality and plan, intervene and evaluate our progress," said Valentine.

"...we must commit to promoting equity and engaging in more in-depth reflection and conversation, in order to find new ways to understand, honor, and strengthen respect with and for one another."

- DEAN LINDA WEGLICKI

From these necessary discussions and reflections, the deans developed a series titled Nursing Leadership Forum for Racial Equity: Critical Conversations that focused on nursing leadership and racial inclusiveness.

"The message of the series is that we can do better and should do better to address the systemic challenges and social injustices of our faculty, staff, and students of color face regularly," said Andrews.

Last November, the first panel session kicked off, with hundreds of faculty and staff from all three institutions gathering virtually to discuss the topic of essential considerations for recruiting faculty of color and featured Gayenell Magwood, Ph.D., R.N. FAHA, FAAN, a professor in the MUSC College of Nursing, as a panelist. The following month, Dean Weglicki moderated the session titled, Enhancing Career Success: Addressing the burdens of Micro-aggressions. The third live panel discussion was held in February and focused on genomics, race, and health disparities.

"As we embrace new opportunities in 2021, we will undoubtedly continue to face evolving challenges," said Weglicki. "Still, we must commit to promoting equity and engaging in more in-depth reflection and conversation, in order to find new ways to understand, honor, and strengthen respect with and for one another. Only then will we begin to overcome structural obstacles, eliminate disparities and remove barriers to health equity and that promotes the health of everyone."

KEEPING OUR ENVIRONMENT SAFE

When our students come to campus, our number one priority is keeping them safe. Whether they are coming for a simulation exercise or to pickup their nursing kits and stethoscopes you can be rest assured that we have precautions in place to protect the health of our students, faculty and staff.

CON OPENS TWO PROGRAMS TO ADDRESS CRITICAL NEEDS

MUSC offers country's first DNP in palliative care

The Medical University of South Carolina College of Nursing was approved by the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education to offer the country's first known Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) degree with a palliative care concentration. The new online program was created to meet the growing demand for health care providers who are equipped with the knowledge and skills to effectively manage care for individuals and families living with a serious illness. This unique program focuses on the value of palliative care as a basic human right and the care of individuals with life-threatening, progressive illnesses, emphasizing respect for patients’ and families’ beliefs, values, and choices.

The post-master’s Doctor of Nursing Practice in Lifespan Palliative Care program meets the needs of advanced practice nurses who want to gain a deeper understanding of the physical, psychological, spiritual, and social needs of patients and their families who live with a serious illness from the time of diagnosis through end of life and bereavement. The curriculum, designed to be completed in five semesters, will prepare the graduate to use analytical methods to improve quality and safety in healthcare systems through organizational leadership, systems thinking, and practice management in palliative care.

Palliative care is the practice of providing symptom relief from serious and/or life-limiting illness while promoting and improving the quality of life for both the patient and their families. Often confused with hospice or end-of-life care, palliative care is a central part of treatment and support, based upon unique expertise, delivered at any time during the trajectory of a serious or life-limiting illness. The goal is to prevent and ease suffering and improve quality of life.

“We listened to our students, and many working nurses who expressed the need for advanced education and training because they feel they are not adequately prepared to lead and direct the treatment of complex health challenges faced by those who need palliative care,” said Linda Weglicki, Ph.D., R.N., dean of the College of Nursing. “Last year, there were only 219 certified palliative care nurses and 104 physicians board certified in palliative medicine in South Carolina. It is clear that more doctorally prepared nurses are needed to serve our state’s growing aging population, and those who are facing diagnoses associated with serious and life-limiting illnesses.”

Graduates of DNP in palliative care program will not only learn how to communicate effectively with their patients and families, but they will become experts to others on how to successfully integrate palliative care into the standard of practice of health care for those who are suffering due to serious illness while focusing on the quality of life or relief of pain and suffering.

New mental health certification helps address a critical need

The MUSC College of Nursing continues to address the mental health challenges in South Carolina and around the country by opening a new post-graduate certificate program. The new online Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP) – Lifespan Certification aims to address critical shortages of mental health care providers in this state and beyond. The certificate program also includes two new innovative courses focused on neuroscience, psychopharmacology, and psychotherapy.

The PMHNP certificate allows advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) to provide a continuum of mental health treatment, support, recovery, and prevention services across the patient's lifespan. It also will allow APRNs to expand their scope of practice by attaining a second certification in psychiatric mental health, in addition to their primary care or acute care certifications.

Joy Lauerer, DNP, APRN, a psychiatric mental health clinical nurse specialist and associate professor, is lead faculty of the program. "The new post-MSN PMHNP certificate program will integrate innovative aspects of telemedicine, palliative care, and care for rural disadvantaged at-risk populations," she said.

The need for qualified mental health professionals in the United States has never been greater. According to the American Psychiatric Nurses Association, one in every five adults in the U.S. experiences a mental health condition in a given year. In addition to the growing need for mental health services, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Health Resources and Services Administration predicts the field of mental health will be 250,000 professionals short of the projected demand by 2025.

The part-time program, which takes four semesters to complete, is available to APRN licensed primary care or acute care certified nurse practitioners and certified clinical nurse specialists in psychiatric-mental health. The post-masters PMHNP certificate program will prepare qualified nurses to sit for the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner certification exam. For more information about the PMHNP Lifespan Certification contact Dr. Joy Lauerer at lauerer@musc.edu

CON WELCOMES NEW ENDOWED CHAIR

Last November, Kathleen O. Lindell, Ph.D., R.N., ATSF, FAAN , joined the College of Nursing as the Mary Swain Endowed Chair in Palliative Care. Lindell began her 30-year nursing career as a pulmonary clinical nurse specialist at the University of Pennsylvania Lung Center, where she participated in developing evidence-based programs to advance the health of patients with lung disease.

Most recently, she was an associate professor of medicine and nursing at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. During this time, Lindell directed patient support and education at the Dorothy P. & Richard P. Simmons Center for Interstitial Lung Disease in the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, becoming

the first nurse on the faculty at the Pitt School of Medicine in the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, & Critical Care Medicine with a joint appointment in the School of Nursing.

Her research funding focuses on palliative care knowledge and preparedness in patients with advanced lung disease and their family caregivers. Lindell's work has been published in 37 peer-reviewed publications. She is actively involved in the American Thoracic Society and the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation (PFF) and served on the Board of Directors of both organizations. Presently, she is a member of the PFF Medical and Scientific Advisory Committee.

Lindell graduated from the St. Francis General Hospital Professional School of Nursing with an associate degree. She continued her studies at the University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing, where she earned her BSN, MSN, and Ph.D. degrees.

KOZACHIK NAMED ASSOCIATE DEAN FOR ACADEMICS

In April 2021, Dean Linda S. Weglicki named Sharon Kozachik, Ph.D., R.N., FAAN , associate dean for academics and associate professor for the College of Nursing after Gigi Smith, Ph.D., R.N., was selected to serve as associate provost for Education Innovation and Student Life for MUSC.

Kozachik teaches in the doctoral programs and is dedicated to educating the next generation of care providers to ethically address the complex challenges of pain in the context of the opioid crisis.

Prior to joining the college, Kozachik held the position of provost fellow at the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing and received excellence in teaching awards from the Maryland Nurses Association and the Johns Hopkins University Alumni Association.

Her research interests include the bi-directional relationship between sleep perturbations and pain and the role of hypothalamicpituitary-adrenal axis stress responsivity and proinflammatory cytokines in precipitating and perpetuating pain and sleep disturbance co-occurrence. Her research was funded by the American Nurses Foundation, the Oncology Nursing Foundation, and the National Institutes of Health. Kozachik co-chairs the Palliative and End-of-Life Expert Panel for the American Academy of Nursing and also served the academy as a site evaluator for the Middle States Commission on Higher Education and through her work supporting diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

Kozachik earned her Ph.D. in nursing from Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing, her MSN from Michigan State University College of Nursing and her BSN from the University of Michigan-Flint School of Nursing.

NEW FACULTY AND STAFF

Mary Evelyn Armstrong, MA, CRA, PMP, assistant dean for finance and administration

John Bian, Ph.D., associate professor, statistician

Simone Chinnis, DNP, MBA, APRN, FNP-C, instructor

Alexis Cunliffe, M.Ed., student recruiter

Kristin Laudenslager, education technology specialist

Alexis Nagel, grant writer

Marcelaine Reneau, Ph.D., APRN, instructor

Leigh Ridings, Ph.D., assistant professor

Precious Simmons, Ph.D., R.N., instructor

Elizabeth Snyder, DNP, APRN, FNP-BC, instructor

Kimrey Stump, Student Services program coordinator

Christina Beall-Sullivan, DNP, APRN, FNP-C, instructor

COLLEGE OF NURSING'S STAFF OF THE YEAR

The College of Nursing Staff of the Year award is given twice a year to recognize a staff member who makes exceptional contributions to the college and strives to embody MUSC’s values of compassion, collaboration, respect, integrity and innovation. In fall 2019, Tonya Hazelton, project coordinator for TACHL, received the bi-annual honor that is voted on by faculty and staff. Hazelton has been a part of the college’s research team for four years and MUSC for 14 years. “Receiving this award is truly an honor. I work with so many amazing people here at College of Nursing and I feel humbled to have been nominated from among my peers. They are the ones that inspire me every day,” Hazelton shared.

In the spring of 2020, Madleine Scully, graduate program coordinator, was named college’s Staff of the Year in July 2020. Scully has only been with the college a short while, but already demonstrated excellence in her work and contributes to a positive work environment. She brings a hard-working, service-focused and dedicated mindset to her role on the Student Services team. “I was not expecting this at all. I appreciate this honor and recognition so much,” Scully said during the remote CON Assembly meeting.

Meredith Kerr, a financial technician, was the recipient of the staff award in fall of 2020. Kerr, who has been with the college for more than 20 years, is proficient in knowing MUSC policies, state procurement code, and federal regulations and makes her an invaluable source to handle all procurement aspects, including travel. She works tirelessly to help faculty and other MUSC departments find solutions and contributes to a positive work environment.

ACCOLADES

Tonya Hazelton and Carolyn Page, both received a 2020 President Values in Action (VIA) award. In December, Hazelton was he recipient of a VIA award in the category of respect by MUSC President David Cole. A few weeks later, Dr. Cole presented Page with a VIA award in the category of compassion. The VIA award recognizes five deserving employees who demonstrate, at an institutional level, one of MUSC's five values of compassion, respect, innovation, collaboration, and integrity.

Cathy Durham, DNP, APRN, FNP-C, was elected to the Fetter Healthcare Network's Board of Directors.

Terri Fowler, DNP, APRN , Tonya Hazelton and Whitney Smith, DNP, APRN , were selected to participate in MUSC's Advanced Leadership Program that will develop highly effective senior leaders in academic health care.

Emily Johnson, Ph.D., was awarded the College of Health Professions Alumni 2020 Outstanding Achievements in Research Award.

Amy Smith, MSN, R.N., received the Maralynne D. Mitcham Interprofessional Fellowship that prepares MUSC faculty and staff to successfully assume new roles in interprofessional education,

research, practice, or administration. Her proposal is to create a high-fidelity COVID-19 simulation scenario that involves multiple patients at end-of-life.

Angela Stanley, DNP, APRN-BC, PHCNS-BC, NEA-BC , was one of six honorees at MUSC’s Black History Awards program presented by the Office of Student Programs & Student Diversity and the six colleges of MUSC.

FACULTY PROMOTIONS

Stephanie Armstrong, Ph.D., R.N. - promoted to assistant professor

Felesia Bowen, Ph.D., DNP, APRN, FAAN - promoted to assistant dean of undergraduate programs

Catherine Durham, DNP, APRN, FNP-C - promoted to assistant dean of graduate practice programs

Kasey Jordon, Ph.D., R.N. - promoted to assistant professor

Moby Madisetti - promoted to research director

Susan Newman, Ph.D., R.N. - promoted to assistant dean of the Ph.D. program

Kristen Poston, DNP, NP-C - promoted to assistant professor

Melody Reibel, Ph.D., R.N - promoted to assistant professor

Angela Stanley, DNP, APRN-BC, PHCNS-BC - promoted to assistant professor

Hazelton

Scully

Kerr

NURSING INSTRUCTOR SHINES LIGHT ON HUMAN TRAFFICKING

By Leslie Cantu

Human trafficking is the fastest growing criminal enterprise in the U.S., said Stephanie Armstrong, R.N., Ph.D., assistant professor in the MUSC College of Nursing.

It’s easy to see why, at least for those with no moral code.

“Once a criminal sells guns or drugs, they have to replenish their supply, but people can be continually exploited,” Armstrong said.

Armstrong’s work focuses on the intersection of human trafficking and health care. She wants to help health care professionals learn to recognize the signs that someone is a victim of trafficking and then know what to do about it. And that’s not easy, she acknowledges. Extricating someone from a human trafficking situation is complex, as the victim may be trapped in place by family ties, threats to their own or a loved one’s safety, mental trauma or substance abuse. Victims also need extensive services afterward to help them reintegrate into society – services that are not always available.

But Armstrong is motivated by her passion for health equity and vulnerable populations, a sense of purpose that was instilled in her at the beginning of her nursing career.

Actually, Armstrong didn’t start out in nursing. She was a management consultant who worked on business process re-engineering. But she’d always had a love of anatomy and physiology, and she was a naturally nurturing person. She went back to school to become a nurse and began working in women’s health with new moms in northern Virginia.

Eventually her alma mater asked her to teach some clinical classes, and she discovered a love for teaching. Now, she teaches women’s and infants’ health at MUSC in the College of Nursing, as well as special sections on human trafficking.

“I teach students early in the semester about trafficking, and almost every semester, I have someone identify a victim while they’re in their women’s health clinicals,” she noted. She’s also developing an interprofessional elective course on human trafficking for students of all six MUSC colleges.

Armstrong said human trafficking is a hidden crime that is all around us. Even the experts can’t say with certainly how many victims there are because of its shadowy nature. And although there has been more media exposure of this crime of late, there still remains much misinformation and misunderstanding of it.

“We’re definitely seeing more in the news – and that has been excellent in that it’s bringing about more awareness –but I don’t think people really understand how trafficking happens or who traffickers are or how to identify victims,” she said.

She likened public awareness surrounding human trafficking to the understanding of domestic violence 30 years ago. The two primary forms of human trafficking in the U.S. are sex trafficking and labor trafficking; of the two, sex trafficking attracts more attention. But labor trafficking can often be found in areas that require a lot of lower-paid workers, like those in the tourism industry or farm work.

She mentioned the visa system for low-skill seasonal or temporary workers, like housekeepers, landscapers, theme park or resort workers and restaurant staff, which she said can leave workers vulnerable to unscrupulous employers. Visas are valid only for a specific employer, so a worker who finds the work environment isn’t what was promised can’t just pick up and get a job across the street with another employer.

“If they leave that employer, then they are in the country illegally. They have to stay with that employer to be here legally. So the system needs some reform to help prevent this type of exploitation,” she said.

Armstrong has also advocated on Capitol Hill for a bill that would expunge a victim’s criminal record if the person was being trafficked at the time and was forced to commit crimes by the trafficker. Already, 44 states have such laws at the state level, according to the U.S. Department of State’s 2019 Trafficking in Persons Report.

"The reason this bill is so important is that in order for survivors to move forward and beyond their exploitation, they need to be able to make money in the legal job market, so they need employment. And it’s very difficult to obtain employment if you have a criminal record,” she said.

But Armstrong is primarily focused on how health care professionals can address human trafficking. She works with HEAL Trafficking, an international multidisciplinary group that looks at human trafficking from a public health

perspective. There, she serves on the group’s research and education and training committees and was also selected to serve on a new committee to update the HEAL Trafficking Protocol Toolkit.

“One of my missions is to see that all hospitals have a human trafficking identification and response policy and protocol in place,” Armstrong said. She found South Carolina hospitals lacking in such protocols when she surveyed them for her doctoral dissertation in 2018.

Between 50% and 88% of trafficking victims seek health care at some point during the time they’re being trafficked, providing an opportunity for intervention – if a health care provider recognizes the issue.

Armstrong said health care workers might observe physical signs of torture or abuse, like chunks of missing hair, missing teeth or bruises in various stages of healing. People who are being trafficked generally endure poor living conditions and may have food or sleep taken away as punishment; because of these conditions, they’re particularly susceptible to communicable diseases.

Providers might also notice that a patient is unwilling to make eye contact or looks constantly to a companion to provide all the answers. Increasingly, Armstrong said, traffickers are using technology to control their victims.

“The patient will come in and have their phone on speakerphone, and the trafficker will be listening to the entire interaction with the provider while they may be sitting in the parking lot,” she said. “It’s really important for health care providers to know this so they can try to separate the individual not only from an accompanying person but from any technology devices as well.”

Knowing how to respond can be tricky.

“We have to remember that our wheelhouse as health care professionals is to offer medical care and the opportunity for assistance – if they’re ready to receive it,” she said. “Not everyone is ready to leave their situation because there could be confounding factors.”

Those factors could include threats of harm to family members if the victim attempts to leave. A female victim might also have had a child with the trafficker.

Once they escape the trafficking situations, victims have extensive needs ranging from basic necessities like housing to help for severe mental trauma. Armstrong said the Tri-County Human Trafficking Task Force is working to understand what local community service providers offer, where the gaps are and what can be done to fill those gaps.

It’s important for health care providers to understand how to provide trauma-informed, survivor-centered care so that they do not retraumatize victims and can help them to overcome the shame and stigma of their situations, she said.

Armstrong thinks back to her younger self. She was 19 –young, blonde, pretty and naive. She was working retail in Virginia when a man came in and told her he was working

on a movie that was filming locally. He asked her for help to find a dress for his wife to wear to the wrap party. Armstrong spent an hour helping him browse. He didn’t buy anything but returned later, saying that because she had been so helpful that he’d love to invite her and a friend to the party and would send a limo to pick them up.

Armstrong was excited. “I was like, ‘We’re going to meet all these celebrities!’” she recalled. Luckily, an older and wiser co-worker suggested they get some information from the film company. After some phone calls, they discovered the movie he’d mentioned was actually being filmed in Mexico at that moment. Needless to say, Armstrong didn’t go to the fictitious party. She doesn’t know what might have happened had she gone, but she has her suspicions.

“Whatever it was, it wouldn’t have been good getting in a limousine where you can’t get out.”

But she realized how easy it had been for that man to get her to believe him and even to trust him. She understands how people can be deceived and fall prey to traffickers, particularly children.

Armstrong thinks it’s important that South Carolinians understand just how pervasive trafficking is in this state.

“It’s really throughout the state. It’s across the country. It’s everywhere, unfortunately.”

FORMER PH.D. STUDENT (NOW INSTRUCTOR) RAVAGED BY THE DEATH OF DAUGHTER FINDS A WAY TO PERSEVERE IN THE FACE OF ADVERSITY

BY BRYCE DONOVAN

It took a moment to register. Was it her phone ringing? A quick check of the time – just after 5 a.m. Another ring.

Caller ID: Unknown number. Not good, she thought.

Marcelaine Reneau answered with a whisper and what she heard on the other end of that call changed her life forever. Her 32-year-old daughter Saskia had been killed by her boyfriend. There had been an argument, the voice on the other end said. He ran her over in his car. Police said he fled the scene. Time stopped for Reneau.

“It’s that call you dread as a parent. But you never think it will actually happen to you.”

Saskia’s boyfriend would later tell authorities that they had a fight, he was angry and was trying to leave. Her death was an accident, he said.

“I do believe it was a horrible, terrible mistake,” Reneau said. “Maybe it’s self-

delusion. Maybe I believe him for my own peace of mind. But driving off and leaving? How heartless is that? I felt that that’s what he should be punished for.”

Saskia’s boyfriend was sentenced to two years in prison.

“There was no real satisfaction in that because it didn’t bring my daughter back,” she said. “It was just a really horrible thing to happen. His life, I’m sure, will never be the same again. But neither will ours.”

Left behind were twin 12-year-old girls, their lives completely uprooted. Everything they knew changed in an instant. Suburban Virginia was swapped out for the rural Midwest. They would live with Reneau’s sister and her husband in Kansas.

Reneau, a then-54-year-old nurse practitioner specializing in pain management at the Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center, went into counseling.

“I had to come to grips with everything,” she said. “I felt like I wasn’t as sensitive to my patients anymore. I was like, ‘Who cares that your knee hurts? I lost my daughter.’ I thought, ‘I’ve got to get a grip on this.’”

Forging a path

Reneau’s parents met while her father was stationed in Germany. She grew up there, going to what she calls “the American schools” before moving to the states at 16 to finish up in Virginia. It was during her senior year that she got pregnant.

“Back then, when girls got pregnant, they were dismissed from school,” she said. Eighteen, raising a child on her own and being forced to repeat the 12th grade was more than she could take. She decided to get her GED diploma and move on.

The next few years were tough. There were several jobs along the way. While working as a paralegal, she asked herself the tough question: Is this how I want to keep living my life?

The answer was a resounding no, so once her daughter was old enough to go to school, Reneau decided to do the same. At 25, the single mother reinvented herself. She applied to Riverside School of Professional Nursing in Newport News, Virginia. In 1993, she graduated as a registered nurse with a job working in the ICU at Riverside Regional Medical Center.

“When you’re the newbie, you get the night shift,” she recalls of that first nursing job. “And part of my duties was to bathe the patients. I know it sounds weird, but it was actually something I loved because I felt like that was where

Marcelaine Reneau, back row, second from right, celebrates Mother's Day with her family in 2015. This would be the last time she enjoyed the holiday with her daughter Saskia, back row, far left. Photos provided

I could give some tenderness. I could be gentle. That’s a very vulnerable time for people. It just reinforced that I was doing something I loved.”

Changing perspectives

Though her surroundings changed many times in the decades that followed, her career path did not deviate. There was another daughter. A stint back in Germany. A son. A move to San Antonio. It was there, in Texas, that she shifted from working in the ICU to the ER.

What stuck with her the most from that time was the undocumented immigrants who came in desperate, sick and oftentimes unable to communicate their needs.

“That really gave me an insight into what it’s like to live like that,” she said. “I held a baby who almost died in my arms from meningitis. The mom couldn’t speak English, but she trusted me to take care of her child. That job was a good reminder that nursing is such a trusted profession.”

In 2004, she moved to Hawaii. While working in Oahu, she went to school at

night and earned her Master of Science in nursing.

“Believe it or not,” she said, “that was my first traditional university setting. It was incredible. I said to myself, ‘One day I’m going to be a professor."

Triumph over tragedy

Two years later, she was back in Germany. While there, she earned her Master of Nursing degree. For the next eight years, Reneau worked on a military base in Heidelberg, Germany, until the prospect of being closer to her kids and grandkids – many of whom were back in the U.S. – brought her back. This time, she landed in Charleston.

While working at the VA hospital, she decided to pursue her Ph.D., with the goal of landing the teaching position she had dreamed of since leaving Hawaii. She was accepted into MUSC’s College of Nursing program. Less than one year into the three-year program, she received that fateful call about her daughter’s death.

“It was a nightmare,” she said. Though she was shattered

emotionally, by some miracle, her schoolwork didn’t suffer. She toughed it out and continued her studies without taking any time off.

“A tragedy like that can ruin a person. Tear a family apart. But I sought and accepted serious counseling because I wasn’t going to let that happen,” she said. “I needed to be able to function and be a good mom to my other kids.”

It took time, but about a year and a half later, Reneau felt as though she had finally gotten back the compassion that helped her be a successful nurse in the first place.

Last May, Reneau joined 127 students receiving various degrees from the College of Nursing. She also recently accepted a job as an instructor at MUSC College of Nursing.

“Now I’ve got that job they’re going to have to pry away from me,” she said. “I guess you could say I’ve finally achieved my goal.”

STUDENT

SCHOLARSHIP ANNOUNCEMENTS

UNDERGRADUATE | FALL '19

125TH ANNIVERSARY ENDOWED SCHOLARSHIP FUND

Izabella Nieves

Jessica Michel Rodriguez-West

135TH ANNIVERSARY SCHOLARSHIP FUND

Tommy Collins

ELEANOR SHEALY ADEIMY SCHOLARSHIP

Kathaleen Osterritter

ANDELL ENDOWED SCHOLARSHIP

Stephan Stewart

URSULA CATON SCHOLARSHIP

Ruth Graves

CON SCHOLARSHIP

Kandyce Downs

CON SCHOLARSHIP FUND (CLASS OF 1969 SCHOLARSHIP)

Rachael Elise Landers

CAROLINE W. DAVIS RN SCHOLARSHIP

Shivani Patel

DEAN'S ADVISORY BOARD 125TH ANNIVERSARY SCHOLARSHIP

Greyson Reed Abrams

Jeremy Lamon Pittman

DIVERSITY IN NURSING SCHOLARSHIP

Thomas Stokes Griffith

MARIE LEPRINCE FARMER SCHOLARSHIP

Katrina Calvert

HENRY T. FINCH NURSING SCHOLARSHIP

Samantha Aline Young

HELEN FULD HEALTH TRUST ENDOWMENT

Jennifer Sharon Boston

Samantha Aline Young

TED & JOAN HALKYARD NURSING SCHOLARSHIP

Angela Christina Swain

Bianca Wallace

VIRGINIA LAWTON HARPER SCHOLARSHIP FUND

Maheen Beram

B. KELCHNER ENDOWED SCHOLARSHIP

Essence McClary

M. KERR SCHOLARSHIP

Aileen Decker

JULIE & ANTHONY LANZONE SCHOLARSHIP

Katelyn Ann McCarty

M. S. MASON SCHOLARSHIP

Jennifer Owens

MCCLELLAND-PALMER SCHOLARSHIP

Sadie Mendenhall

ELSIE MORGAN ENDOWED NURSING SCHOLARSHIP

Jim Harper

O'KEEFFE SCHOLARSHIP

David Rebula

BARBARA SUTTON PACE ENDOWED NURSING SCHOLARSHIP

Kristin Lea Dibello

CECILIA PENG SCHOLARSHIP

Elizabeth Mariel Coffey

JOAN K. RIGTER NURSING SCHOLARSHIP

Sean Wilson

ROPER ST. FRANCIS HEALTHCARE PATRON NURSING SCHOLARSHIP

Ross Johnson

Amber Norris

AMELIA KAASA ROWLAND NURSING SCHOLARSHIP

Mallory Kriewaldt

S. STEINBERG SCHOLARSHIP

Ashley Rene Bruno

BEV AND WALLY SEINSHEIMER SCHOLARSHIP

Megan Rae Gibson

J. W. THURMOND SCHOLARSHIP

Anne Lewis

LETTIE PATE WHITEHEAD FOUNDATION SCHOLARSHIP

Kristen Carter

Taylor Gompert

Hope Yu Jie Keane

Paige Maroney

Jocelyn Montgomery

Jessica Morris

Kattie Price

Caitlin Simmons

Nadezda Slingerland

JOSEPH & TERESE WILLIAMS NURSING SCHOLARSHIP

Rachael Dickey J. P. WILSON COLLEGE OF NURSING SCHOLARSHIP

Lois My Ngo Fagiani

Megan Saul

THOMAS J. WISCARZ MEMORIAL NURSING SCHOLARSHIP

Spencer Jaime LeFlem

GRADUATE | FALL '19

135TH ANNIVERSARY SCHOLARSHIP

Amy Alsplaugh

MAUDE E. CALLEN MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP

Ariana Amini

MARIANNE T. CHITTY ENDOWED NURSING SCHOLARSHIP

Jason Betts

Jessica Madiraca

COLLEGE OF NURSING 1883 SCHOLARSHIP

Christopher Brown

Christopher Hale

CON SCHOLARSHIP

Aindrea Maddray

DOROTHY JOHNSON CREWS ENDOWED SCHOLARSHIP

Emily Sue Livingston

JAMES B. EDWARDS NURSING SCHOLARSHIP

Bernadette Faye Gaffney

TED & JOAN HALKYARD NURSING SCHOLARSHIP

Czarisse Lao Epres

IZANT FAMILY FOUNDATION SCHOLARSHIP

Kelley Westbrook

B.M.B. KINARD ENDOWED SCHOLARSHIP

Imani Jaapor Fickling

LETTIE PATE WHITEHEAD FOUNDATION SCHOLARSHIP

Dian Dayalsingh

Melissa Fluharty

Jessica Giblin

Rachael Kincaid

Haley LaFrancis

Hilary Puzak

Kristina Reich

Jennifer Reilly

Brianna Stevens

Catherine Warren

Tarita Williams

Crystal Wood

Stephanie Brooke Xavier

MCALHANY CON SCHOLARSHIP

Samantha O'Brien

ANNIE B. NORTON ENDOWED SCHOLARSHIP FUND

Shawna McDonald

NINA SMITH SCHOLARSHIP

Lindsey Kiala

RUTH & STEPHEN STEWART ENDOWED SCHOLARSHIP

Alejandra Schimmel

Nichole Lynn Snow

GAIL W. STUART SCHOLARSHIP

Viktoriya Malashiy

OLYMPIA "BIA" VALLIS NURSING SCHOLARSHIP

Samantha Bernstein

LETTIE PATE WHITEHEAD FOUNDATION SCHOLARSHIP

Cyndi Anderson

UNDERGRADUATE | SPRING '20

125TH ANNIVERSARY ENDOWED SCHOLARSHIP

Jeremy Pittman

RUTH CHAMBERLIN SCHOLARSHIP

Greyson Abrams

CHARLESTON COUNTY MEDICAL SOCIETY ALLIANCE SCHOLARSHIP

Jennifer Owens

DIVERSITY IN NURSING SCHOLARSHIP

Brian Byrne

MARIE LEPRINCE FARMER NURSING SCHOLARSHIP

Katrina Calvert

HELENE FULD HEALTH TRUST ENDOWMENT

Kirsten Mullins

TED & JOAN HALKYARD NURSING SCHOLARSHIP

Megan Saul

ELSIE MORGAN ENDOWED NURSING SCHOLARSHIP

Hope Keane

MUSC PROVOST SCHOLARSHIP

Maria Bartell

Joseph Clark

Allison Craig

Clayton Daniell

Melissa Duddy

Corinne Eidle

Savannah Hayes

Paige Healy

Elizabeth Montrose

Courtney Oran

Miranda Peecher

KellyAnn Reese

Ali Schmidt

Gloria Schweers

Emily Welch

Perpetua Lekia Bello-Ogunu

Ashleigh Davis

Tu Cam Khuong

ROPER ST. FRANCIS HEALTHCARE PATRON NURSING SCHOLARSHIP

Ross Johnson

Amber Norris

AMELIA KAASA ROWLAND NURSING SCHOLARSHIP

Paige Maroney

LETTIE PATE WHITEHEAD FOUNDATION SCHOLARSHIP

Emily Bedenbaugh

Kristen Carter

Hanna Inabnett

Kashauna James

Essence McClary

Sadie Mendenhall

Margot Palmer

Shivani Patel

Kattie Price

Ebony Seay

Kameryn Short

Madeline Walden

Bianca Wallace

Maiben Watkins

Anna Wayne

J. P. WILSON COLLEGE OF NURSING SCHOLARSHIP

Jennifer Boston

Lois Ngo Fagiani

GRADUATE | SPRING'20

CVS HEALTH FOUNDATION SCHOLARSHIP

Christopher Brown

Dian Dayalsingh

JAMES B. EDWARDS NURSING SCHOLARSHIP

Bernadette Gaffney

LETTIE PATE WHITEHEAD FOUNDATION SCHOLARSHIP

Brandi Brinegar

Elizabeth Kepley

Viktoriya Malashiy

Lauren Micalizio

De'Edda Powell

Alejandra Schimmel

Lauren Turner

Catherine Warren

Megan Wayne

OLYMPIA "BIA" VALLIS NURSING SCHOLARSHIP

Samantha Bernstein

S. PIECHNIK SCHOLARSHIP

Connie Bradley

VETERANS IN NURSING SCHOLARSHIP

Chinedu Nkwocha

SCHOLARSHIP ANNOUNCEMENTS

UNDERGRADUATE | FALL '20

125TH ANNIVERSARY ENDOWED SCHOLARSHIP

Kala Steward

MARIANNE T. CHITTY ENDOWED NURSING SCHOLARSHIP

Angela Wiper

COLLEGE OF NURSING 1883 SCHOLARSHIP

Alyssa Ramosbarbosa

CAROLINE W. DAVIS RN SCHOLARSHIP

Jenna Harrison

MARIE LEPRINCE FARMER NURSING SCHOLARSHIP

Andrea Skoog

HELEN FULD HEALTH TRUST ENDOWMENT

Colleen Kinslow

TED & JOAN HALKYARD NURSING SCHOLARSHIP

Hoa Nguyen

DOROTHY HALSEY ENDOWED SCHOLARSHIP

Katherine Manning

VIRGINIA LAWTON HARPER SCHOLARSHIP

Angel Allison

JULIE & ANTHONY LANZONE SCHOLARSHIP

Chelsea Woodhall

PATRICK & MAUREEN MARR SCHOLARSHIP

Emma Renfro

MCALHANY CON SCHOLARSHIP

Sabina Marie Gavi

MCCLELLAND-PALMER SCHOLARSHIP

Maya Kim

ELSIE MORGAN ENDOWED NURSING SCHOLARSHIP

Hope Keane

MUSC PROVOST SCHOLARSHIP

Peter Bolte

Stuart Bost

Madeline Bragaw

Alexander Depue

Isabel Flemion

Usman Ghazi

Daiza Gore

Hannah Kemp

Ashley Lloyd

Abigail Mart

Sarah Mireles

Caitlyn Nestor

Carolina Ortiz

Genevieve Salzer

Bridgette Sauder

Chardonnay Simonds

Ashley Tierney

Cinthya VillicanaChavez

Isabella Weight

O'KEEFFE SCHOLARSHIP

Kimberly Colpean

BARBARA SUTTON PACE ENDOWED NURSING SCHOLARSHIP

Emma Shelley

ROPER ST. FRANCIS HEALTHCARE PATRON NURSING SCHOLARSHIP

Emma Renfro

AMELIA KAASA ROWLAND NURSING SCHOLARSHIP

Lindsey Wilson

BEV AND WALLY SEINSHEIMER SCHOLARSHIP

Taylor Wait

STEINBERG SCHOLARSHIP

Thomas Smith

THURMOND, J. W. SCHOLARSHIP

Madison Cutrone

LETTIE PATE WHITEHEAD FOUNDATION SCHOLARSHIP

DeAndra Butler

Madison Bynum

Mary-Grace Davis

Savannah Dubose

Lucious Ellison

Camellia Etherington

Victoria Holmes

Lindsey Hosey

Haley Hyer

Brooke Jones

Theresa Moon

Samira Rahbar

Madeline Walden

Cassidy White

Haley Wren

JOSEPH & TERESE WILLIAMS NURSING SCHOLARSHIP

Paige Braziel

J.P. WILSON SCHOLARSHIP

Lan Tran

Tajae Woods

GRADUATE | FALL '20

125TH ANNIVERSARY ENDOWED SCHOLARSHIP

Tammy Halladay

135TH ANNIVERSARY SCHOLARSHIP

Kelly Potter

ANDELL ENDOWED SCHOLARSHIP

Melissa Fluharty

MAUDE E. CALLEN MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP

Joshua Everson

URSULA CATON SCHOLARSHIP

Lavonya Curry

MARIANNE T. CHITTY ENDOWED NURSING SCHOLARSHIP

Emily Young

COLLEGE OF NURSING 1883 SCHOLARSHIP

Chelsea Taylor

CON SCHOLARSHIP (CLASS OF 1969)

Heather Hall

DOROTHY JOHNSON CREWS ENDOWED SCHOLARSHIP

Emily Livingston

DEAN'S ADVISORY BOARD 125TH ANNIVERSARY SCHOLARSHIP

Yanique Chambers

Jennifer Janowiekci

JAMES B. EDWARDS NURSING SCHOLARSHIP

Bernadette Gaffney

HENRY T. FINCH NURSING SCHOLARSHIP

Alexandra Ruppe

OLIVETTE GARR SMITH SCHOLARSHIP

Sydney Freeman

TED & JOAN HALKYARD NURSING SCHOLARSHIP

Leah Richards

Maribel Rey

IZANT FAMILY FOUNDATION SCHOLARSHIP

Yulia Lopez

B. KELCHNER ENDOWED SCHOLARSHIP

Alejandra Schimmel

KERR SCHOLARSHIP

Haley LaFrancis

B.M.B. KINARD ENDOWED SCHOLARSHIP

Bessie Brown

M. S. MASON SCHOLARSHIP

Kyrsten Urff

DR. HEIDAR A. MODARESI NURSING SCHOLARSHIP

Jenalee Jenkin

MUSC PROVOST SCHOLARSHIP

Kristin Cashman

Lianne Cole

Rachel Friend

Julia Garcia

Ashley Kilcrease

Destiny Murph

Zoie Reviere

Stefany Scaringi

Meera Shah

Amy Smith

ANNIE B. NORTON ENDOWED SCHOLARSHIP

Hilary Puzak

CECILIA PENG OPERATING ROOM NURSING TRAINING SCHOLARSHIP

Christian Cook

PIECHNIK SCHOLARSHIP

Kiara Baylock

JOAN K. RIGTER NURSING SCHOLARSHIP

Tiffany Ballington

CORINNE V. SADE FUND FOR PALLIATIVE CARE EDUCATION

Nicole Sartor

NINA SMITH SCHOLARSHIP

De'Edda Powell

RUTH & STEPHEN ENDOWED SCHOLARSHIP

Kendra Greaves

Minwook Chong

OLYMPIA "BIA" VALLIS NURSING SCHOLARSHIP

Samantha Bernstein

LETTIE PATE WHITEHEAD SCHOLARSHIP

Onyiyechi Ajukwa

Ashley Efremov

Myckayla Gailliard

Lauren Leasure

Stephanie Neary

Kylie Newsome

Doris Owusu Amoah

Kayla Trevillian

CAPTAIN ROBERT WILKENS PALLIATIVE CARE SCHOLARSHIP

Nicole Sartor

THOMAS J. WISCARZ MEMORIAL NURSING SCHOLARSHIP

Christopher Brown

To learn more about establishing a scholarship contact the College of Nursing's development director at 843-792-8421.

This is not the commencement ceremony they imagined. They didn't get to walk across the stage or toss caps in the air. But they finished strong and proved their resiliency in the face of an unprecedented semester. We can't wait to see how they change the world. Below are just some of our resolute May 2020 graduates.

Georgia Arnold, MSN '02, BSN '98

May 7, 1952 - October 17, 2020 Summerville, SC

Mary Roempke Barwick, Diploma ‘63 October 28, 1942 - February 1, 2020 Montgomery, AL

Edna Eugenia Edens Bode, ‘53 June 8, 1931 - June 25, 2020 Temple Terrace, FL

Peggy Griggs Boykin, Diploma ‘65 October 11, 1944 - May 12, 2020 Camden, SC

Marsha Ellen Brown, BSN ‘85 August 10, 1954 - January 17, 2020 Eagle Springs, NC

Vanessa Admiral Collier, BSN ‘97 October 7, 1959 - October 9, 2019 Charleston, SC

Betty Faye Dempsey Crowley, Diploma ‘53

May 12, 1932 - March 17, 2020 Hartsville, SC

Joyce Adele Crum, Diploma ’56 January 27, 1935 - December 19, 2019 Atlanta, GA

Col. Christopher Wade Dabbs, BSN ‘93 January 19, 1966- February 15, 2020 Great Falls, SC

Sylvia Jane Cox Davis, BSN ‘62

July 9, 1942 - April 29, 2020 Kure Beach, NC

Barbara Marie Harrelson Glenn, Diploma ‘54

July 16, 1933 - June 23, 2020 Georgetown, SC

IN MEMORIAM

Moses Gnanashekar, BSN ‘98

June 1, 1953 – May 28, 2020 West Columbia, SC

Wendy Horne Hatchell, BSN '84

December 29, 1961 - October 14, 2020 Florence, SC

Vivian Doris S. Hayes, Diploma '54

April 2, 1932 - November 5, 2020 Spartanburg, SC

Amelia Hunt, BSN ‘94

February 24, 1954 - May 30, 2020 Earl, NC

Polly Ann Webster Jefferies, Diploma '49

August 28, 1929 - September 23, 2020 Charleston, SC

Brenda Joyce Kennerty, BSN ‘90

July 24, 1947 - September 11, 2020 Charleston, SC

Sharon O'Mara Macon, BSN '83 September 27, 1958 - October 9, 2020 Isle of Palms, SC

Nancy "Elaine" Marshall, BSN '63 October 24, 1946 - September 6, 2020 Irmo, SC

Karen Lynn McGee, BSN ‘96

Oct. 14, 1961- March 21, 2020 Johns Island, SC

Dorothy S. McGuckin, Diploma ‘54

January 30, 1933 - May 13, 2020 Charleston, SC

Edward B. "PD" Mitchell, BSN ‘97

April 6, 1955 - April 7, 2020 Charleston, SC

Patrick Glenn Norvell, BSN '99

March 9, 1961 - November 16, 2020 Columbia, MO

Rondey S. Peake, DNP '12 1973 - March 27, 2020 Boiling Springs, SC

Clarice Smoak Ross, Diploma ‘44

April 1, 1925 - July 20, 2020 Walterboro, SC

Norma C. Smith, Diploma ‘59

October 26, 1938 - July 27, 2020 North Charleston, SC

Patricia Sowell, BSN ‘53

March 25, 1932 - March 7, 2020 Vero Beach, FL

Eva W. Timbrook, Diploma Midwifery

March 9, 1940 - December 30, 2019 Cantonment, FL

Easter Elaine Harris Walton, Diploma ‘55 April 1, 1934 - May 23, 2020 Columbia, SC

Eunice Mavis Wilson, midwifery ‘75

December 6, 1941 - Aug. 27, 2020 Pickens, SC

Jerri M. Wingard, Diploma ’54

September 24, 1933 - April 18, 2020 Lexington, SC

Jean Annette Brickle Withers, Diploma ‘53

November 15, 1932 - June 2, 2020 Charleston, SC

Obituaries reported to the Medical University of South Carolina Alumni Office from October 1, 2019 through December 1, 2020.

ALUMNI PROFILE: VALERIE ASSEY

In 1991, Valerie Assey, RN, MSN '86, began working in MUSC's Infectious Diseases Division to help build an HIV/AIDS clinic for a population that did not have a lot of support 30 years ago. According to Assey, the clinic saw 50 patients in the first year the clinic was open. Today, the clinic follows more than 1,300 patients. "There wasn't any specialized care in the Charleston area at that time," Assey said. "It's been a joy to see these patients have a place to come for quality care and that we've been able to secure grant funding to continue to expand medical and support services for the past 30 years."

Because of Assey's experience as a nurse administrator in MUSC's Division of Infectious Diseases, she sees first-hand the importance of palliative care nurses and the enormous role they play in their patient's wellbeing. She recently hosted a College of Nursing Alumni reception in her home to highlight the importance of palliative care and the exciting work the college is doing to train nurses in this area. Recently, Assey shared some of her thoughts on palliative care with Lifelines.

What role do you feel palliative care plays in infectious diseases?

Assey: I think for any specialty dealing with serious illnesses and/or symptoms that impact quality of life, palliative care should be part of that conversation with the patient. It is another resource to help our patients navigate their best health.

Providing care to patients at end-of-life is emotionally challenging. Given your experience, how can we best prepare students to cope and have difficult discussions with families?

I think bedside nursing is crucial to gaining the necessary skills to help patients and families during this difficult time. When I was a first-year nursing student,

my nursing instructor advised me that to be ready for my role as a nurse; I needed to work whenever possible with patients. Working every weekend as a student nurse with the many nurses who mentored me served as an invaluable experience. I would still recommend the same today in whatever your field of interest.

What advice would you give a student contemplating going into palliative care?

Knowing your personality type and having a passion for palliative care nursing is a good start.

How have you used your training and education from the MUSC College of Nursing to do good in the world? During my master's program, HIV/AIDS became my calling. I worked diligently with this population to improve providing care locally. Today, we have a program at MUSC that meets the highest standards of care. We have come a long way since 1991!

Valerie Assey, MSN, R.N., is a nurse administrator at the Ryan White Clinic at MUSC.

CON RECEIVES $1.8 MILLION GIFT FOR NURSING SCHOLARSHIPS

MUSC College of Nursing has received a $1.8 million to fund scholarships for nursing students. The gift from Chuck Chitty of Chattanooga, Tennessee, supports the established Marianne T. Chitty Scholarship that has assisted nursing students with a financial need since 2013. The scholarship was named for his grandmother and endowed by his parents, Mr. Charles Chitty and Dr. Kay Chitty, longtime supporters of the college.

The donation will allow for increased enrollment in MUSC's nursing programs, allowing students to complete their degree at a lower cost. With over 600 students enrolled, the College of Nursing provides nursing education in undergraduate and doctoral levels.

Charles Chitty with his mother, Kay Chitty.

"We know that financial need is high for many of our students," said Linda S. Weglicki, Ph.D., R.N., dean of the College of Nursing. "Mr. Chitty's extraordinary generosity will allow us to continue to help future nurses fund their education so that they can begin the delivery of health care that is so desperately needed today."

The bequest will benefit scholarships for nursing students and allow for robust and sustainable support of the College of Nursing's greatest scholarship needs.

Including the MUSC College of Nursing in your estate plans, as Chuck Chitty has, is an incredible way to leave a legacy. To learn more or to let us know if you've already included us in your future plans, please contact Linda Cox, director of planned giving, at 843-792-4275, or visit muscgiving.org for more information.

What kind of a legacy will you leave?

Have you considered a planned gift to the College of Nursing through a bequest in your will? It is the most common type of planned gift. There are many different types of bequests including a specific sum of money, a percentage or the residual of your estate. If you have considered leaving the College of Nursing in your will, but would like to include the proper bequest language, we have provided several examples below:

SPECIFIC BEQUEST

“I hereby give, devise and bequeath ______ dollars to the Medical University of South Carolina Foundation, Charleston, SC, designated in support of __________ in the College of Nursing.”

PERCENTAGE BEQUEST

“I hereby give, devise and bequeath ______ percent of my estate to the Medical University of South Carolina Foundation, Charleston, SC, designated in support of __________ in the College of Nursing.”

RESIDUARY BEQUEST

“I hereby give, devise and bequeath all the rest, residue and remainder of my estate to the Medical University of South Carolina Foundation, Charleston, SC, designated in support of __________ in the College of Nursing.”

If you have already left the College of Nursing in your will, please contact the Office of Planned Giving so that we may celebrate you!

Linda Cox • Director of Planned Giving and Executive Director of Alumni Affairs

843-792-4275 • CoxL@musc.edu

EVERY GIFT MATTERS MAKING

The MUSC College of Nursing is grateful for every gift, large and small. We deeply appreciate our generous supporters who keep our beloved nursing school fiscally healthy and strong. From individuals and families, to students and employees, to corporations and foundations, the vision and generosity of these donors propel our institution forward and provide us with countless opportunities to change what’s possible in nursing. Every gift to the College of Nursing matters, and we are proud of our extensive donor family.

The MUSC College of Nursing thanks the following individuals for their contributions to the MUSC College of Nursing in FY 2019-2020. We apologize for any inadvertent errors or omissions.

$50,000 and above

Mr. Charles B. Chitty and Mrs. Alice R. Chitty

Clare Foundation

Dr. Christopher E. Clare

Dr. Lewis M. Davis Jr.

Duke Endowment

Lt. Col. (Ret.) Maurice E. Halsey

Mrs. Maureen S. Hamilton and Mr. David Hamilton

National Christian Foundation

New Morning Foundation

Mrs. Mary W. Swain and Mr. David C. Swain Jr.

Whitehead Foundation, Inc.

Zero to Three Foundation

$25,000 - $49,999

Dr. Deborah C. Williamson and Dr. David R. Garr

Coastal Community Foundation of SC

Macy, Jr. Foundation

Roper Saint Francis Healthcare

$10,000 - $24,999

Ms. Renee M. Black

Dr. Kay K. Chitty and Mr. Charles B. Chitty

Mrs. Ruth B. Limehouse

Mr. Patrick W. Marr and Mrs. Maureen O. Marr

Mrs. Corinne V. Sade and Dr. Robert M. Sade

Mrs. Beverly D. Seinsheimer and Mr. Walter G. Seinsheimer Jr.

Mrs. Linda H. Wilkens, USN

$1,000 - $9,999

Anadarko Petroleum Corporation Aid to Education Program

Dr. Julie V. Barroso

Mrs. Mary E. Canaday and Dr. Stephen D. Canaday

Charleston County Medical Society Alliance

CVS Health

Dr. Raymond N. DuBois Jr. and Mrs. Lisa A. DuBois

Mrs. Ann D. Edwards and Dr. James B. Edwards

Mrs. Jill R. Ewell and Mr. Gregory S. Ewell

Dr. Nancy J. Finch and Mr. Henry T. Finch Jr.

Mrs. Joan S. Halkyard and Mr. Edwin Halkyard

Hamilton Electrical & Plumbing, Inc.

Mrs. Sheralyn S. Heyse and Mr. Frederick H. Heyse

Dr. Carolyn M. Jenkins and Mr. Warren Jenkins

Dr. Laurin J. Kaasa, Jr. and Mrs. Shirley Kaasa

Mr. Amos B. Kelchner and Mrs. Betty C. Kelchner

Mr. James J. Kerr and Mrs. Harriette F. Kerr

Mr. Fredrick W. Kinard Jr.

Dr. Richard M. Kline and Mrs. Katherine C. Kline

Mr. Anthony Lanzone and Mrs. Juliann H. S. Lanzone

Ms. Jo A. Lee

Mr. Theodore E. Levin and Mrs. Rose Levin

Ms. Nancy W. McClelland

MUSC Alumni Association

Mr. Michael C. Pace

Reitman Family Foundation

Mr. Robert S. Reitman and Mrs. Sylvia K. Reitman

Steinberg Law Firm, LLP

Mr. Alan Swain

Dr. Jane M. Zapka and Mr. David J. Zapka

$500 - $999

Dr. David Barkley and Mrs. Joan Barkley

Dr. Elizabeth M. Bear

Dr. Daniel P. Gracie

Mrs. Hattie Halsey

Dr. Leslie R. Justice and Mr. David A. Justice

Mrs. Elizabeth Khan and Mr. Jamie Khan

Mrs. Edith D. Lucas

Dr. Gayenell S. Magwood and Mr. Robert L. Magwood Jr.

Mrs. Elizabeth G. Maree and Mr. F. Kenyon Maree

Mrs. Cheryl R. McCoy

Dr. Heidar A. Modaresi and Mrs. Ingrid Modaresi

Dr. Susan D. Newman

Mr. James R. Oakley and Mrs. Leah D. Oakley

Mrs. Laura V. Schaefer and Mr. Eric Schaefer

$250 - $499

Lt. Col. (Ret.) Janice G. Agazio and Maj. Timothy C. Agazio

Ms. Jean E. Alexander

Mrs. Jessie D. Atkinson

Mrs. Margaret C. Burwell and Col. Jack O. Burwell Jr.

Dr. James T. Christmas and Mrs. Brenda D. Christmas

Dr. William R. Cook, Jr. and Mrs. Sharon W. Cook

Dr. Catherine O. Durham

Mrs. Sylvia E. Friedner and Mr. Jerry F. Friedner

Ms. Barbara Johnson-Williams and Mr. Cecil J. Williams

Dr. Teresa J. Kelechi and Mr. James R. Kelechi

Ms. Susan Lewis

Dr. Jerry A. Mansfield and Mrs. Jane Mansfield

Mrs. Phyllis S. Medoff

Mr. Lee H. Moultrie II

Dr. Martina Mueller

Dr. Lynne S. Nemeth and Dr. Steven M. Ornstein

Mrs. Saranel M. Niver

Ms. Mary F. Peete

Ms. Joyce L. Peterson

Mrs. Sharon P. Schuler and Mr. Milan R. Schuler

Dr. Mitchell J. Seal and Mrs. Helen P. Seal

Dr. Georgette M. Smith and Mr. Frank A. McMahon

Mrs. Kathleen A. S. Stephens and Dr. David S. Stephens

Mrs. Alice F. Summers

Mrs. Suzanne C. Yarborough and Mr. Edwin T. Yarborough

Mr. Henry A. Zeigler

$100 - $299

Mrs. Elowise H. Anderson and Mr. S. Jenkins Anderson

Dr. Diane J. Angelini

Mrs. Valerie H. Assey

Mrs. Katharine D. Beard and Mr. Henry E. Beard III

Mr. Michael T. Beshay

Dr. Pia B. Biason-Webb and Mr. Scott Webb

Mrs. Jane E. Biggs and Mr. Robert H. Biggs

Dr. Sharon M. Bond and Mr. James C. Blain

Dr. Phyllis A. Bonham and Mr. Carl N. Johnson

Dr. Walter M. Bonner, Jr. and Mrs. Beverly S. Bonner

Mrs. Marie C. Bridges and Mr. Jimmie R. Bridges

Dr. Cordellia E. Bright

Mrs. Deborah H. Brooks and Mr. Jack J. Brooks

Dr. Deborah C. Bryant

Captain Gloria H. Caffrey and Captain John F. Caffrey

Mrs. Karen E. Carnevale and Mr. Robert B. Carnevale

Mrs. Deborah C. Carter and Dr. James F. Carter

Mrs. Julie A. Clark and Mr. Timothy J. P. Clark

Dr. Charles M. Collins, Jr. and Mrs. Audrey B. Collins

Dr. Garris K. Conner

Dr. Donna J. Corley and Mr. G. R. Jones

Mrs. Joe Ann E. Cox and Dr. Ralph E. Cox Jr.

Mrs. Brenda H. Craig and Mr. T. L. C. Craig III

Col. Raymond H. Crum Jr.

Dr. Anita C. Curl and Mr. Lonnie B. Curl Jr.

Mrs. Joan L. Daniels and Mr. William L. Daniels

Major Edward R. Davis

Mrs. Veronica M. Deas and Mr. Garryl L. Deas

Ms. Mandisa D. Dennis

Mrs. Jennifer S. Doles and Dr. Lonnie R. Doles

Ms. Tara M. Dorundo

Ms. Michele D. Drake

Cmdr. Amy L. Drayton

Mrs. Gloria H. Dunlap and Mr. Robert L. Dunlap

Dr. Barbara J. Edlund and Mr. William H. Edlund

Mrs. Sonya S. Foster

Mrs. Elizabeth J. Fountain and Mr. Jacob J. Fountain

Ms. Roberta M. Frasier

Mrs. Paige W. French and Mr. John E. French III

Mrs. Carol J. Frye and Mr. Jim L. Frye

Mrs. Gwendolyn Geddies and Mr. Paul Randolph

Ms. Jeannette C. Glenn

Mrs. Kathleen E. Goodwin and Lt. Col. Ronald R. Goodwin

Mrs. Betty L. Gore and Dr. Robert T. Ball Jr.

Mrs. Alicia P. Grant and Mr. Alfred J. Grant Jr.

Dr. Cameo A. Green

Lt. Col. (Ret.) Sandra Green

Mrs. Carolyn J. Grimball and Mr. John B. Grimball

Mrs. Mary B. Gwyn and Mr. J. Richard Gwyn

Ms. Brenda C. Haile

Mrs. Patricia M. Harder and Mr. Henry D. Harder

Mrs. Rebecca C. Harlan and Dr. Joseph E. Harlan Jr.

Dr. Elizabeth D. Harmon

Dr. Patricia A. Hart and Mr. Scott A. Hart

Mrs. Ginger D. Hill and Mr. Craig E. Hill

Ms. Karen L. Hiott

Dr. Cameron W. Hogg and Rev. John Hogg

Mrs. Betty J. Howell

Ms. Catherine M. Hudak

Dr. Roy E. Hudgens, Jr. and Mrs. Lottie C. Hudgens

Ms. Hazelmarie Huff

Dr. Mary R. Jacob and The Reverend Melvin R. Jacob

Dr. Delwin B. Jacoby and Dr. Keith J. Jacoby

Ms. Marilyn D. James

Mrs. Frances S. Jones and Dr. Barry N. Jones

Mrs. Mary L. Jones

Lt. William L. Jones and Mrs. Rita A. Jones

Mrs. Lynn F. Kelley and Mr. Jack T. Kelley

Mrs. Shirley S. Keyes and Mr. Abbie V. Keyes

Dr. Fred M. Kimbrell and Mrs. Betty R. Kimbrell

Mrs. Barbara S. Laidlaw and Dr. James C. Laidlaw

Mrs. Leah P. Lanier and Mr. Norman Lanier

Dr. Joy A. Lauerer and Mr. Kenneth Lauerer

Mrs. Julie L. Lorris and Mr. Peter H. Lorris

Mr. Mohan Madisetti

Mrs. Martha Sue D. Maloney and Mr. Charles S. Maloney

Mrs. Ann S. Mappus

Mrs. Marilyn M. Mattice and Mr. Wray W. Mattice

Mrs. Debra B. Mattison and Dr. H. R. Mattison

Ms. Michelle K. Maybell

Mrs. Christina L. McDaniel and Mr. Dennie M. McDaniel

Ms. Marjorie T. McManus

Ms. Laura Medoff

Mrs. Sarah F. Meyer and Mr. Gene Meyer

Dr. Meredith W. Michel

Dr. David W. Moon and Mrs. Mary M. Moon

Dr. Ngan K. Moran

Ms. Jane M. Morgan

Dr. John K. Nickles and Mrs. Barbara M. Nickles

Mr. Thomas P. Nolen and Mrs. Georgiana T. Nolen

Mrs. Mary C. Perano and Mr. Alan M. Perano

Mr. Russell E. Perkins and Mrs. Patricia D. Perkins

Mr. Daniel Perlmutter

Dr. Maryellen Potts

Mrs. Barbara M. Righter and Mr. Robert Righter

Mr. John S. Rodenberg and Mrs. Catherine T. Rodenberg

Dr. Savannah C. Rogers

Mrs. Sandra W. Rund and Mr. Charles Rund

Mrs. Katherine W. Seabrook and Mr. William J. Seabrook

Mrs. Jane L. Siedlarz and Mr. Raymond T. Siedlarz

Mrs. Constance B. Simons

Dr. Valeria D. Smith

Mrs. Mary W. Spackman and Mr. Elwood H. Spackman Jr.

Mrs. Nancy F. Tassin and Mr. Kenneth M. Tassin

Mrs. Ginny D. Thaxton

Mrs. Frances Ann D. Theile

Dr. Kathryn A. Van Ravenstein and Mr. David Van Ravenstein

Ms. Sharon L. Vendrick

Ms. Sheila T. Walters

Ms. Susan M. White

Mrs. Betty S. Whitesell and Mr. Joel Whitesell

Ms. Gloria K. Wilson

Ms. Kimberly L. Witte

Ms. Laura E. Woyahn

Dr. Joseph C. Yarbrough Jr. and Mrs. Harriet T. Yarbrough

Mr. James L. Yearwood Jr.

$99 - $1

Mrs. Karen H. Adams and Mr. Timothy J. Adams

Mrs. Amelia B. Alderman and Mr. Robert L. Alderman

Ms. Shaniqua D. Alston

Ms. Deborah C. Ammons

Dr. Stephanie C. Armstrong

Mrs. Rhoda M. Ascanio

Mrs. Barbara E. Atwater

Mrs. Myrtle H. Bailey

Mrs. Anita G. Baker and Mr. Laurin M. Baker

Ms. Gwen W. Beall

Mrs. Anne L. Beck and Mr. Charles A. Beck

Ms. Lorri A. Bennett

Mrs. Colleen W. Bible and Mr. Robert Bible

Mrs. Judy K. Black

Mrs. Brenda S. Brastauskas and Mr. James P. Brastauskas

Ms. Patricia D. Brinson

Mrs. Loretta R. Brockenfelt and Mr. William P. Brockenfelt

Ms. Annie S. Brown

Mrs. Doris K. Brown and Mr. Michael A. Brown

Ms. Kathryn M. Brown

Mrs. Geraldine M. Campbell

Ms. Mary P. Canton

Ms. Maria E. Cardenas

Dr. Melanie H. Cason

Ms. Karen C. Caudill

Dr. Jessica L. Chandler

Mrs. Joyce S. Chaplin

Ms. Jane P. Chrysostom

Dr. Evelyn R. Coe and Mr. Larry Coe

Mrs. Barbara M. Connor and Dr. Gregory S. Connor

Mrs. Patricia A. Cook and Dr. Taylor I. Cook

Mrs. Rachel D. Coon and Mr. Carl C. Coon Jr.

Mrs. Mary E. Cotterill

Ms. Sara A. Currence

Mrs. Eleanor L. Currin and The Reverend B.M. Currin, Ph.D.

Mrs. Diana D. Curtis

Mrs. Monica C. Dainer and Dr. Paul M. Dainer

Mrs. Carole D. Davis

Mrs. Mary O. Davis and Captain William A. Davis

Mrs. Jill S. Deich and Mr. Charles S. Deich

Mr. Thomas M. Diamond and Mrs. Janice W. Diamond

Mrs. Lynn M. Dryzer and Dr. Scott R. Dryzer

Ms. Holly E. Edmunds

Mrs. Debra L. Ferrara and Mr. John A. Ferrara

Mrs. Joan D. Ferrer and Mr. Larry T. Ferrer

Ms. Rochelle Fisher

Mrs. Deborah A. Fogleman and Mr. Roy L. Fogleman

Mrs. Mildred L. Fueyo

Mrs. Vernell S. Fulton and Mr. Douglas J. Fulton

Mrs. Patricia H. Furr

Mrs. Anne Galipeau and Mr. William Galipeau

Dr. Tracy P. George

Mrs. Michelle L. Grant

Mrs. Wanetta J. Grignol and Mr. Ronald M. Grignol

Mrs. Lucille H. Guerry

Dr. Virginia C. Hall

Mr. Albert Heatley, Jr. and Mrs. Mildred H. Heatley

Ms. Christal M. Henricks

Ms. Mary T. Hougland

Mrs. Alice L. Howell and Mr. William E. Howell

Mrs. Miriam M. Hunter

Ms. Rudie B. Ivester

Mrs. Andrea P. Jackson and Mr. Stanley A. Jackson

Mrs. Teresa E. Jenkins and Mr. Everette Jenkins

Ms. Betty Jennings and Mr. Glenn T. Foust III

Mrs. Marlene P. Jett

Mrs. Carolyn G. Jordan and Mr. James C. Jordan

Mrs. Hilary K. Joseph and Mr. Elijah R. Joseph

Ms. Kathleen M. Kiesel

Dr. Gary C. Kimsey and Mrs. Roberta H. Kimsey

Ms. Shyronda A. Knotts

Mr. Robert Kwafo

Ms. Karen S. Langston

Mrs. Virginia S. Ledbetter and Mr. Curtis J. Ledbetter

Mrs. Laurann Litchfield and Mr. Harry S. Gray Jr.

Mr. Carlos A. Lopez

Mrs. Sydney G. Lubkin and Mr. John C. Lubkin

Ms. Molly M. Lussier

Mrs. Nancy S. Lynn

Mrs. Ann L. Magwood and Mr. Wayne Magwood

Ms. Lisa A. Manni

Ms. Deborah M. Martin and Mr. Edmund Martin

Mrs. Carolyn C. Matthews

Ms. Marcella D. McCall

Mrs. Ashley McGowan

Mr. Benjamin F. McGuckin Jr.

Mrs. Linda L. Mendonca

Mrs. Dolores A. F. Millings and Mr. Ronald A. Millings

Ms. Rosie B. Mintey

Mr. Craig Mitchum

Mrs. Anahita M. Modaresi and Mr. Daniel Perlmutter

Mrs. Tommye T. Morris and Mr. Robert E. Morris

Mrs. Wendy A. Muzzy and Mr. Sean Muzzy

Mrs. Diane J. Myers and Mr. Nathaniel Myers Sr.

Mr. Karl E. Naugle, Jr. and Mrs. Joan Naugle

Lt. Col. George M. Neil, USA (Ret.) and Mrs. Freya C. Neil

Mrs. Anita Joyce H. Nichols

Mrs. Amy E. Oliver and Mr. B. Scott Oliver

Mrs. Carolyn F. Page and Mr. John L. Page

Ms. Ramona Y. Parker and Ms. Crystal Parker

Mrs. Rosanne W. Pate and Mr. Michael Pate

Mrs. Samantha A. Perlmutter and Mr. Jacob B. Perlmutter

Ms. Paulette B. Perry

Ms. Kathleen A. Peterson

Mrs. Candy E. Purcell and Mr. William J. Purcell

Mrs. Gloria H. Purcell

Mrs. Betty S. Quiat

Dr. Susan E. Reinarz

Ms. Courtney J. Renault

Ms. Patricia M. Richardson

Mrs. Diane G. Ridley and Mr. Edgar B. Ridley

Mrs. Nancy A. Roberts and Mr. Milton F. Roberts

Ms. Meggan M. Rogers

Dr. Kenneth J. Ruggiero and Mrs. Deana I. Ruggiero

Dr. Pandora H. Ryant

Mrs. Mona C. Sechrest and Mr. Randy Sechrest

Ms. Stacey L. Seipel

Mr. Jamie M. Sicard and Mrs. Adrianne Sicard

Ms. Faith M. Singleton

Mrs. Donna P. Smith and Mr. David L. Smith

Dr. Dianne M. Smolen and Dr. Gerald E. Smolen

Dr. Nancee V. B. Sneed and Mr. John W. Sneed

Mrs. Antoinette W. Stanton and Mr. Jack D. Stanton

Mrs. Cathy S. Stokes and Mr. Henry C. Stokes Jr.

Ms. Kathleen A. Stovall

Dr. Martha L. Sylvia

Ms. Diane I. Taylor

Dr. John A. Tenini

Dr. Ashley M. Thibodeau

Dr. Marie C. Thomas

Ms. Paula J. Thomson

Ms. Beverly L. Turner

Mrs. Lucy W. Turner

Mrs. Evelyn O. Wear

Mrs. Patricia A. Weathers and Mr. Donald F. Weathers

Mr. James J. Weidel

Mrs. Sue D. White and Mr. Robert A. White

Mrs. Ellen M. Williams and Mr. Willson M. Williams Jr.

Mrs. Denise T. Wood and Mr. Paul L. Wood

Mrs. Martha L. Yarborough

Mrs. Margaret M. Zee

Dr. Andrena S. Zeigler and Mr. Allen Zeigler

Mrs. Angeline D. Zervos

MUSC COLLEGE OF NURSING LEGACY SOCIETY

Members of the Legacy Society have chosen to include a planned gift from their estates to the MUSC Foundation for the College of Nursing.

Ms. Jeanne S. Allyn

Ms. Marguerite A. Assey

Dr. Elizabeth M. Bear

Ms. Renee M. Black

Mrs. M. Azalee P. Blitch*

Mrs. Mary S. Cash*

Mr. Charles B. Chitty and Mrs. Alice R. Chitty

Dr. Kay K. Chitty and Mr. Charles B. Chitty

Mrs. Jean Day and Dr. Richard Day

Mrs. Nettie D. Dickerson*

Mr. Ira M. Estridge

Dr. Nancy J. Finch

Dr. Cotesworth Fishburne IV* and Dr. Shirley Fishburne

Mr. Jacob J. Fountain and Mrs. Jade Fountain

Ms. Ellen L. Gaillard*

Mrs. Dolores E. Grimes*

Mr. and Mrs. Maurice E. Halsey

Mrs. Borghild M. Helgesen*

Ms. Florence V. Illing*

Ms. Rudeane (Rudie) Barfield Ivester

Dr. Carolyn M. Jenkins

Mrs. Charlotte M. Knapp*

Mrs. Nancy S. Lynn

Mrs. Anahita M. Modaresi and Mr. Daniel Perlmutter

Dr. and Mrs. Heidar A. Modaresi

Ms. Mary J. Neff

Ms. Annie K. Norton*

Mrs. Janelle Othersen and Dr. H. Biemann Othersen Jr.

Mrs. Corinne Vincent Sade

Mr. and Mrs. Walter G. Seinsheimer, Jr.

Mr. Harry O. Shaw III

Mrs. Marion P. Shearer*

Mrs. Nina A. Smith*

Mr. Stephen Stewart*

Mrs. Elizabeth H. Stringfellow*

Mrs. Frances J. Thomas

Mr. Spiro C. Vallis

Mrs. Jean P. Wilson*

* Deceased

” Never believe that a few caring people can’t change the world. For indeed, that is all who ever have.

- MARGARET MEAD, 1901 - 1978 CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGIST