July 6, 2001

While known as a celebration of patient care excellence at the MGH, the Stephanie M. Macaluso Expertise in Clinical Practice Awards ceremony also often brings tears to the eyes of all who participate in the biannual presentation. The emotional ceremony took place June 21, when the awards were presented to four clinicians representing MGH Nursing, Social Services and Respiratory Care.

From left, O'Malley, Dahlin, Gordon, Altobelli and Jeanette Ives Erickson, RN, MS, senior vice president of Patient Care Services and chief nurse.

The award recipients are: Neila Altobelli, RRT, respiratory therapist; Connie Dahlin, RN, advanced practice nurse for the Palliative Care Service; Sylvia Gordon, LICSW, clinical social worker at the MGH Revere HealthCare Center; and Catherine O'Malley, RN, perioperative staff nurse.

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

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 is known as the Stephanie M. Macaluso, RN, Expertise in Clinical Practice Award.

Before the awards presentation, Trish Gibbons, RN, associate chief nurse for the Center for Clinical and Professional Development, offered her observations about the importance of clinical expertise and recognition. "When we recognize the best in our professions, we make expert care visible," she said. "When we honor these caregivers, we reaffirm our deepest values and our own commitment to excellence. We share in the excitement because we too, are dedicated to making a difference every day."