DEAR
orrie I T ’S 5:15 ON
By CHRISTINE KUETER
A WEDNESDAY MORNI NG,
A Leader’s Legacy
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V IRGINI A NURS ING L EG AC Y
AND T H ERE’S A LIGH T ON I N PAVI LION IX. Already dressed, Dorrie Fontaine slips down the stairs to the dimly lit kitchen, switches on the TV news, makes herself some Earl Grey and scans her emails. Twenty minutes later, she’s lacing up bright orange sneakers, pulling on a coat, and making the familiar trek through the dark across the Lawn to McLeod Hall where, for the past 10 years, she’s taken part in the longest running meditation on Grounds.
There’s a metaphor in Fontaine’s steadfast presence in this 6 a.m. class: Be the change you wish to see in the world, perhaps. Show, don’t tell. Or maybe: Lead by example. The weekly devotion also reflects every interwoven priority Fontaine’s had for the School of Nursing during her morethan-a-decade-long tenure. Show up. Be kind. Embrace resilience. Respect and champion difference. Participate fully, disagree frankly, but artfully. And always, build up those who surround you. They will rise because of it. For Jonathan Bartels, a palliative care nurse who’s led the early morning meditation class since 2009, Fontaine’s faithful presence is just authentically Dorrie. “Every person who succeeds has someone who believes in them,” says Bartels, who, with Fontaine, helped establish the Compassionate Care Initiative (CCI), wrote about and spread "The Pause," and ultimately earned the American
Association of Critical-Care Nurses’ Pioneering Spirit Award in 2018. “Dorrie’s helped me blossom because of her respect and the belief that I’m more than I thought I was. And she’s a mirror, too: all the great things I see in Dorrie are the things I hope to one day see in myself, too.” After more than a decade at the helm of the School of Nursing, Fontaine—UVA’s fifth nursing dean since its 1901 founding—is stepping down. While any leader’s departure signals change, much from the Fontaine era will remain, including the School’s future adherence to many of the tenets Fontaine laid out over her 11-year tenure: the importance of compassion, resilience, of self-care, of interprofessionalism, and the criticality of nurturing a healthy work environment.
Show up. Be kind. Embrace resilience.
S PRING 2019
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