January 4, 2002

The annual Stephanie M. Macaluso, RN, Expertise in Clinical Practice Awards ceremony has a double meaning for employees in Patient Care Services (PCS). The emotional ceremony pays tribute to the memory of an MGH nurse who embodied the qualities and characteristics of an expert practitioner, while also honoring current clinicians who have followed in that beloved nurse's footsteps.

The most recent ceremony took place Dec. 13, honoring the following recipients: Clare Beck, RN, of the SICU; Anita Carew, RN, of the NICU; Robert Goulet, RRT, of the SICU; Kristen Paige Jacobsen, MS, CCC-SLP, of Speech-Language Pathology; and Thomas Lynch, RN, medical nurse on Bigelow 11.

Pictured, from left, Carew; Lynch; Jeanette Ives Erickson, RN, MS, senior vice president for PCs and chief nurse; Jacobsen; Beck; and Goulet

The awards were created in 1996 to recognize direct care providers in PCs whose practice is based on caring, innovation, knowledge, leadership, teamwork and the spirit of inquiry.

The first recipient of the award in 1996 was Stephanie M. Macaluso, RN, a thoracic clinical nurse specialist who died in 1998. In honor of the high standards she set as a caregiver, the award now bears Macaluso's name.

Held twice a year, the awards ceremony honors PCs employees who are nominated by their coworkers.