Tamara Ann Cundey Dunstan

The slaying of pediatric oncology nurse Tamara Ann Cundey Dunstan not only ended her life on April 15, 2004, but also her care for pediatric cancer patients.

An endowment fund established by the Dunstan and Cundey families to honor her memory ensures that her presence will still be felt on the pediatric oncology/surgery unit at the Medical College of Georgia Children's Medical Center, where she worked.

In a ceremony last month, Tamara's husband, Bernard Dunstan III, donated $103,499.50 raised by family, friends and the community to establish the fund. The fund will help support dinners for patients and their families; toys, games and other recreational items to make a child's hospital stay more pleasant; Camp Rainbow, an annual summer camp for children with cancer; and furnishings in the pediatric oncology/surgery unit.

For information or to make a contribution, call Mary Davis at 706-721-1817.

HOT DOCS: The MCG Health System supports the American Heart Association by participating in the Annual Heart Walk and holding fund-raisers. This year, the Medical Intensive Care Unit nurses went above and beyond in terms of creativity, time and effort.

Lauri Walker, RN, was one of the nearly 500 volunteers who helped Star 94 raise $1,167,833 in pledges for Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta during the station’s radiothon in November. Every penny of donations goes to hospital operations, covering everything from portable dialysis machines to unreimbursed medical care. Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta Foundation and Children's Miracle Network also partnered to put on the event.

Led by nurse Kim Williams, they organized, photographed and designed a "Hot Docs for the Heart" calendar featuring 12 MCG Health System physicians. Sales were brisk and a second printing was needed to meet demand. Sales of the calendar raised more than $6,000 for the AHA and a health system award for the most money raised by a single team for the MICU nurses.

WINNERS' CIRCLE: Thirteen senior and seven junior members of the Emory Student Nurses Association attended the Georgia Association of Nursing Students annual convention in October, bringing back awards for community service, political involvement, financial excellence and filling shoeboxes for the Samaritan's Purse program.

Junior Rebecca Wheeler received the GANS Nursing Leadership Scholarship. The $2,000 award is given to a nursing student who has demonstrated exceptional leadership qualities that will become an asset to the future of nursing.

Senior Lorenzo Amato received Honorable Mention for the Karl Lipinski Scholarship.

REHAB AWARD: Jan Zumwalt, RN, CRRN, a nurse in Northeast Georgia Medical Center's Inpatient Rehabilitation unit in Gainesville, has received the Association of Rehabilitation Nurses' Staff Nurse Award. The award recognizes outstanding practice by a rehabilitation nurse in a direct patient care role.

Zumwalt received the award at the 30th Annual ARN Conference in Atlanta.

The St. Joseph's Infirmary School of Nursing class of 1969 held its 35-year reunion at Callaway Gardens Oct. 15-17. Twenty-seven of the 31 graduates attended.

PROFESSORS RECOGNIZED: Sandra B. Dunbar, RN, DSN, FAAN, Charles Howard Chandler Professor of Cardiovascular Nursing at Emory's Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing, was invited to present a paper at the American Heart Association's annual Scientific Sessions in New Orleans last fall.

Dunbar is a cardiovascular nurse researcher and teacher whose research focuses on psychosocial responses to serious cardiac illness, such as heart failure, ventricular arrhythmia and treatment with implantable technology. She spoke on "The Meaning of Health and Cardiovascular Disease for Women."

At the same conference, Patricia C. Clark, Ph.D., RN, Emory nursing associate professor, accepted the Clinical Article of the Year Award from the Council on Cardiovascular Nursing. Her article, "Family Partnership Intervention: A Guide for a Family Approach to Care of Patients With Heart Failure," was coauthored by Dunbar.

The article appeared in the November 2003 edition of AACN Clinical Issues.