Mary with a patient in the clinic.The Refugee Crisis Firsthand
Mary McQuilkin, BSN ’09, MSN/MPH ’14, volunteered as manager for a clinic run by Team Rubicon at a camp for medically vulnerable refugees in Greece. The clinic provides primary care to 175 residents and sees an average of 20 patients daily. Outside of clinic hours, teams of two volunteers are on call to respond to medical emergencies. This work has demonstrated the importance of continuity of care and medical case management that can take place in a primary care setting, which differs from the intermittent access to services at traditional refugee camps.
Volunteers have been able to assist with medication management and monitoring of a boy who needed a mechanical heart valve, have been helping a girl with cerebral palsy learn to walk by assisting with physical therapy every day, and have administered vaccines to help prevent the spread of infectious disease. Team Rubicon clinic staff are able to coordinate care with specialists in local hospitals for residents who have had surgeries or recent hospitalizations, and they work with non-governmental organizations that provide care out of the clinic on a rotating basis to increase access to services such as dental care and psychiatry.
Most of the residents have been living at this camp for more than six months, and most are likely to remain in Greece for the foreseeable future due to the backlogged asylum system.
For more information: teamrubiconusa.org1956For nearly 60 years, Nancy Jane Hendrix maintained a current nursing license and worked or volunteered in hospitals, home health, with the American Red Cross and the Virginia Medical Corps around the world. In her retirement, she enjoys genealogy, gardening, and volunteering at her local library.1961Julia Gooden Bolton had a long and diverse career, including clinical nursing, nursing education, school health education, and hospital administration. She has continued her commitment to health care as a member of the Board of Trustees for her local hospital.1963Kathie Bramlette serves as the community nurse at the Hazel Hill Healthcare Project, which provides medical and social referrals to support the 400 underserved, low-income residents of the Hazel Hill Apartments in Fredericksburg, VA.1978MaryAnn Knott-Grasso recently returned to campus to participate in an Advance Practice Nursing Panel for current students. She is a pediatric nurse practitioner at the Harriet Lane Clinic in East Baltimore.1986Karen Shumar has focused her career on occupational health, having earned her Occupational Hearing Conservationist and Occupational Health Nurse Specialist certifications, and she is working at Instrument Transformers/GE. 1995In recent years, Lynda Moyer has put her years of clinical experience into practice when working with companies designing products and solutions to improve health care efficiency and outcomes while enhancing the lives of patients. She is a product manager for Catalia Health, a care management and behavior change platform that engages patients by delivering conversations through mobile, web, and friendly robotic interfaces.
2001Tonya Appleby is administrative and clinical coordinator for advanced practice clinicians at the University of Maryland Upper Chesapeake Medical Center and is in clinical practice as a hospitalist. She has recently served as president of the Nurse Practitioner Association of Maryland and as the Maryland state representative for the American Association of Nurse Practitioners.
2009The cover of the American Journal of Nursing December edition featured Mary Plumb Senkel shown at the rural makeshift clinic near Jacmel, Haiti, where she volunteers.2010Christina Gooding recently relocated and is working as a nurse practitioner in the newborn nursery of a small community hospital in Missouri. She is also in a post-graduate certificate program and will soon be eligible for dual board certification in both primary and acute care.
2013Suzanne Johnston is working at Alliance Nursing–Home Health and is secretary of the Northwest Chapter of the National Gerontological Nurses Association. Her chapter recently held a successful community event on “Aging in Place,” during which professional experts discussed the continuing nursing/caregiver shortage, community activities, modifying homes, and much more. JOHNS HOPKINS
IN MEMORIAMRuth Smith Williams ’42
Ruth Alexander Ingerson ’44
Anna “Mollie” Stull Snyder ’47
Graycie Cameron ’48
Louise Thomas Cooley ’48
Ruth Stilz Whitmore ’50
Lucia Cabot Cipolla ’51
Zola Watson ’51, ’59Arianne Schrodel Regester ’54, ’70
Mary Edwards Torsch ’54
Charlotte (Thomas) Hamilton ’59
Janice Rieve ’59
Dolores Dubel Fletcher ’66
Gwen Gilbert-Foore ’67
Susan Gehrum Smith ’68
Barbara Merliss Florentine ’78