THE WORK WE DO
“ The two enemies to transplants are infection and rejection,” – Anne Lawler Social Worker Kidney Transplant Unit
2. “The two enemies to transplants are infection and rejection,” says Anne Lawler, a Social Worker on the Kidney Transplant Unit, and it is her job to help prevent either of these problems arising. Dedicated postoperative care is crucial, as Lawler has learned over her 31 years in post. “I recently had a patient who was only 30 years old, who had come to the U.S. from Thailand as a child. He had no family here, but he had a very closeknit circle of friends.” Lawler made sure she learned enough about the characters of the people in this group to feel comfortable signing off on the procedure. “They turned out to be extremely generous and kind. But they could have left him high and dry.” 3. “Being a social worker in a hospital is different from on the outside,” says Lynette Williams (middle) a Social Worker in Outpatient Oncology for 20 years. “We have to learn medical jargon so we can explain to patients what they will be facing when they get home.” Working with cancer patients poses specific challenges, adds Angela Heller (left), an Oncology Social Worker of 35 years standing. “We help people to speak to their children at the ends of their lives and support them through guardianship decisions. As social workers, we see patients as not just a diagnosis, but as people, each with a life outside of the hospital that we need to respect and consider.”
Social Worker Lisa Thomas (right) recalls the pandemic when the 16
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“ Every mother feels a sense of responsibility. I am here to help them realize that it is not their fault.”
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In-patient Oncology department also took in COVID-19 patients because the hospital needed the beds. “I remember when a patient died on our ward, and I drove her belongings to the apartment of her 94-year-old mother, who was unable to leave her house because of the pandemic.” 4. Winsome Sewell (left), a Pediatric Pulmonary Social Worker for 34 years, started her job the same day as Irene Sprung (right), a Social Worker in the NICU who works with infant cardiac
patients. She says: “Every mother feels a sense of responsibility. I am here to help them realize that it is not their fault.” Sewell, who works mainly with cystic fibrosis patients, recalls: “When I first started in 1988, these young people weren’t living past 20. But treatment has improved greatly over the past 30 years. I provide them with long-term emotional support as they learn to manage their condition. Also, practical help, like finding grants to pay for medication that is not covered by insurance.”
– Winsome Sewell Pediatric Pulmonary Social Worker
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