If there ever were a trailblazer, Pat Crumlish (December 20, 1938-December 31, 2020) certainly was, as one of the first gastroenterology nurses in Dallas, Texas and then as national president for the Society of Gastroenterology Associates (SGA) from 1982-1983. In 1974, gastroenterology was so new, few people knew there was such a thing as endoscopy. Four or five hospitals in Dallas were opening gastrointestinal (GI) departments, and Pat became a mentor, dedicated to providing education for our small group of endoscopy nurses in the Dallas area. There weren't any procedure manuals or policies-we were on our own in developing them! Soon we started having seminars, which we designed, advertised, and sought speakers for, so they could share their knowledge with us.
Our hospitals were very supportive of our educational efforts, and we were given the opportunity to attend Digestive Disease Week each spring with the gastroenterologists. We learned that a group of GI nurses were meeting as part of DDW, and so, by 1975, Pat and I had joined that group which evolved into the SGA, later becoming known as the Society of Gastroenterology Nurses & Associates (SGNA). We were both shy and a bit chagrined that we became known as the "Dallas Dollies." Soon, however, we were recruited as course speakers and then became Program Directors for the SGA conference to be held in New Orleans. There was no management staff to help us in the early days, so we planned the entire program ourselves. Pat actually developed the national course syllabus, had it printed in Dallas, and shipped it to New Orleans to share with the registrants.
Interestingly, Dr. Henry Heimlich's nursing colleague was present at that New Orleans SGA conference. Dr. Heimlich had developed what we now know as the Heimlich maneuver, but the Red Cross was still questioning its value at that time. At the conference, we asked the registrants to stand, and Dr. Heimlich's nursing colleague taught us how to do the maneuver, several years before it became widely accepted!
Infection control was a top priority in endoscopy from the beginning, so developing a consistent way to clean GI endoscopes was an important goal. Videos were not easy to prepare, but the information technology staff at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas helped us splice together the multiple steps for this cleaning process into a finished product that we shared on the national level. It might be worthwhile to explain that Betadine was the cleaning agent of choice at that time; but the most important factor was meticulous cleaning-still so very important today!
In the meantime, our Dallas group decided to formally organize. Pat's dining room had a large, round table with a turntable in the center. We all brought snacks and shared great fun and laughter as we wrote our own by-laws and other policies that led to our becoming the very first regional for SGNA: North Texas regional.
Another of Pat's impressive accomplishments was joining with Doris Barnie and Loretta Simonsen in developing the first GI nursing certification program. In 1979, Pat, Doris, and Loretta were appointed by the Board of Directors SGA as an ad hoc committee to investigate the certification process. As a result, the Certifying Board of Gastroenterology Nurses and Associates (CBGNA) organization was incorporated in 1985 (Barnie, 2000).
Both Pat and I were privileged to serve as national Presidents of SGNA. An early SGNA "Letter from the President" that Pat authored in 1982 is available for viewing at https://journals.lww.com/gastroenterologynursing/Citation/1982/05020/Letter_From (Crumlish, 1982) and includes her photograph.
It takes a special kind of person to be a trailblazer. When one needs to understand not only how to perform a task, but also why it should be done a particular way, it takes courage and dedication. As endoscopy nurses, we took pride in knowing that we were helping to save lives with these new technologies. As an early national leader and former SGNA President, Pat was indeed a trailblazer. I am grateful for her legacy to SGNA.
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