AJN's Beatrice Renfield Caring for the Caregiver Award
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This past January AJN announced the creation of an annual award to be given to a philanthropist or an organization making significant contributions to the support of nurses and excellence in nursing care. The Beatrice Renfield Caring for the Caregiver Award was established to honor Beatrice Renfield-a woman who understood that investing in nursing staff was an investment in patient care. The first recipient of this new award is Priscilla Payne Hurd, a lifetime trustee of St. Luke's Hospital and Health System in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
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The Awards Committee selected Priscilla Payne Hurd because she is the embodiment of the vision and values of the late Beatrice Renfield, a philanthropist who for more than a decade had invested in the development and support of nurses. Priscilla Payne Hurd's work reflects Beatrice Renfield's belief that caregivers must be cared for-through the recognition of their importance to the whole of health care, through the support of nurses' education and professional development, and by understanding and providing the support nurses need to do such important work every day.
Ms. Hurd is the only lifetime trustee of St. Luke's, having served from 1991 to 1995 as the first and only woman chairperson of the board of trustees. Her support of nurses and nursing encompasses both nurses employed by the hospital and nursing students.
In the mid-1980s, Ms. Hurd made a significant financial commitment to ensure the viability of the hospital's school of nursing, which today operates both as an independent diploma program and as a baccalaureate program in collaboration with Moravian College. Recognizing the importance of nursing education to excellence in patient care, she provided almost all of the funding for a state-of-the-art education center used for nursing student education, staff development, and continuing education; it includes a computer network for the delivery and management of nursing education services for students. In 1994 she established the Priscilla Payne Hurd Nursing Charitable Trust to ensure the longevity of nursing education at St. Luke's for at least 25 years. In 1996 she established the Priscilla Payne Hurd Nursing Lectureship as an endowment to bring nationally and internationally recognized nurse leaders to the hospital to address critical issues confronting nursing and health care. Janet Sipple, EdD, RN, dean of the school, says Ms. Hurd's support of nursing education has been remarkable. "In 1995," she says, "we presented Ms. Hurd with the first and only honorary diploma and nursing pin from the St. Luke's School of Nursing in recognition of her commitment to excellence in the nursing community."
When the hospital added a new wing or remodeled a unit, Ms. Hurd insisted that the design reflect nurses' needs and ensured that staff nurses were included in the planning phase of projects. Carol Kuplen, MSN, RN, senior nurse executive and vice president at the hospital, describes Ms. Hurd as a "visionary with courage and insight. Under her leadership, St. Luke's defied national trends in the 1990s and built a modern addition to the hospital, which today boasts exceptional facilities that enhance and support nursing practice and the delivery of patient care in single patient rooms that are always occupied."
Ms. Hurd also stays personally connected to the nursing staff. She'll visit units and talk with the staff nurses about their needs. And discussions with the nurses during a tour of the hospital demonstrate that they know who Ms. Hurd is and view her as their champion. Staff nurse Avery Bryant supported Ms. Hurd's nomination for the AJN award. "Ms. Hurd has personally and professionally helped me in many ways," says Bryant, who was a beneficiary of Ms. Hurd's generosity, receiving tuition assistance while attending St. Luke's. He adds, "I'm fortunate to work on a unit in the Priscilla Payne Hurd Pavilion. My unit was designed for patient needs and staff convenience."
Ms. Hurd has received other awards and honors for her philanthropy, including the Priscilla Payne Hurd Award, established in her honor by the Bethlehem Chamber of Commerce in 1995 to "recognize persons who have made outstanding contributions to education, the arts, or health care."
ABOUT BEATRICE RENFIELD
"Beatrice Renfield would have loved the idea behind this award," says Jeanne Renfield Miller, president of the board of trustees of the Beatrice Renfield Foundation and member of the awards selection committee. Beatrice Renfield was senior executive of Renfield Importers, created by her father, Joseph. A longtime supporter of theater and the arts, she subsequently became one of nursing's leading philanthropists.
She became a trustee and patron of Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City, establishing a fund in 1990 for the support and development of its nursing staff. The Beatrice Renfield Division of Nursing Education and Research was named in her honor. The Beatrice Renfield Center for Nursing was established at the medical center in 2002 as a place for nurses to
foster growth in nursing that will serve as a conduit to educational advancement, promote innovative thinking and creative problem solving based on the original philosophy of Florence Nightingale, and to create research platforms and opportunities for personal renewal for the hospital's nurses and allied health professionals.
She was also a trustee of the Visiting Nurse Service of New York (VNSNY) and donated $1 million in 2002 to endow the Beatrice Renfield Nursing Research Program at the VNSNY, to "strengthen the evidence base of home nursing practice"; another $1 million established the Beatrice Renfield-Yale School of Nursing Clinical Initiative Fund for research and special projects devoted to improving nursing care.
Beatrice Renfield was a member of the board of directors of the VNSNY and Beth Israel Medical Center. She formerly served on the boards of the Wiltwyck School, the Agnes de Mille Heritage Dance Theater, Withrow Legal Ethics, the Rockefeller University Council, and Deep Springs College. She was a continuing benefactor and patron to Lincoln Center Theater, the Film Society of Lincoln Center, and the Museum of Modern Art. She died in 2002.
THE AWARD COMMITTEE MEMBERS
* Barbara Glickstein, MPH, MS, RN, director of community outreach, Continuum Center for Health and Healing
* Maureen Shawn Kennedy, MA, RN, AJN news and special projects director
* Kate Maitland, secretary, board of trustees, Beatrice Renfield Foundation
* Diana Mason, PhD, RN, FAAN, AJN editor-in-chief
* Jeanne Renfield Miller, president, board of trustees, Beatrice Renfield Foundation
* Thomas Schwarz, RN, AJN editorial director
* Georgette Viellion, RN, orthopaedic clinical coordinator, Beth Israel Medical Center