The recipients of this year's AJN-Beatrice Renfield Caring for the Caregiver Award, the fifth that's been awarded, share one characteristic with all of the prior recipients, as well as with Beatrice Renfield, the award's namesake: they had a personal experience with nursing care that showed them the importance of supporting nurses. Jean Edelman was hospitalized at Inova Fairfax Hospital in Falls Church, Virginia, when she was in her 20s. Her experience there moved her and her husband Ric to make a commitment to nursing at Inova. For four years, they have taken a personal interest in the careers of nurses at Inova Health System, and AJN is pleased to honor Jean and Ric Edelman with the 2008 AJN-Beatrice Renfield Caring for the Caregiver Award.
In 2004 the Edelmans, founders of Edelman Financial Services, a financial and investment management service, donated $250,000 to the Inova Health System Foundation for the Edelman Nursing Career Development Center and more recently contributed $1 million to expand the center's services. The center fosters the professional development of Inova nurses and nursing students, through staff development (in classrooms and online), conferences, mentorships, academic planning, scholarships, and funding for continuing education. The center gives Inova nurses a place to go for career counseling, advice on certification, and rejuvenation. In three years, more than 2,500 nurses have benefited. The center also supports a summer camp for middle and high school students to explore career options in nursing. Inova credits the Edelmans with helping to create "an environment of caring, learning, and opportunity."
But the Edelmans' interest in supporting Inova nurses led them to a deeper involvement with the nursing department and the nurses. Jean has served on the Inova Nursing Advisory Council for five years, has volunteered at numerous nursing events, and has even presented at Inova nursing conferences. As was characteristic of Beatrice Renfield, a philanthropist who supported nursing at Beth Israel Medical Center and the Visiting Nurse Service of New York, as well as the Yale University School of Nursing, Jean's mantra has been, "What can we do to take care of our nurses?" Ric has given presentations in which he shares his expertise on financial planning with the nurses to help them have secure futures.
Deborah Williams, RN, is a staff nurse at Inova Fairfax Hospital. The Edelmans enabled her to become certified in medical-surgical nursing and have provided her with valuable advice about pursuing a master's degree. In her letter of support for the Edelmans, she wrote, "At the Annual Edelman Nursing Conference this year, Mr. and Mrs. Edelman spoke about how much they appreciate what we do every day. I would like them to know how grateful we are [to them] for caring so much about us. These are two very special people who truly deserve to be recognized for making a difference in my life as well as in the lives of many of my colleagues here at Inova."
The AJN-Beatrice Renfield Caring for the Caregiver Award is bestowed annually in memory of Beatrice Renfield on one or more people who have demonstrated an appreciation of the role of nurses in our society and the need to support and care for them. The Edelmans were the unanimous choice of this year's six-member awards committee: Jean Renfield-Miller, president of the Beatrice Renfield Foundation; Kate Maitland, member of the board of trustees of the Beatrice Renfield Foundation and former assistant to Beatrice Renfield; Nancy Mooney, MA, RN, ONC, BC, director of nursing administration at Lutheran Medical Center in Brooklyn; Barbara Glickstein, MPH, MS, RN, AJN editorial board member and consultant; Diana Mason, PhD, RN, FAAN, AJN editor-in-chief; and Shawn Kennedy, MA, RN, AJN editorial director.
editor-in-chief