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Nurse receives prestigious national awards by Heather Woolwine Public Relations You feel like you could tell her anything. Carolyn Cavanaugh, R.N., is an unassuming, kind, compassionate person, and she is one of MUSC’s and Storm Eye Institute’s most valued treasures.   Cavanaugh, who has been well-known to ophthalmologic assistants and nurses at MUSC, now is recognized nationally by physicians and other professionals in ophthalmology due to a recent honor bestowed on her.   In November, Cavanaugh received national recognition and two coveted awards from the Joint Commission on Allied Health Personnel in Ophthalmology (JCAHPO) and the American Society of Ophthalmic Registered Nurses (ASORN) honoring her career long efforts to provide the best in patient care. She received the JCAHPO Virginia Boyce Service Award, named for Virginia Smith Boyce Schoonmaker, a former executive director of the National Society to Prevent Blindness, widely known as an innovator and champion for ophthalmologic patient education and received numerous accolades in her career for outstanding work.   “I was taken totally by surprise, and it was incredible to be acknowledged in honor of such a wonderful woman,” Cavanaugh said. “When I was growing up, you did not have to be told what needed to be done, you knew, and you just did it. You do the best you can do, and you try to make a difference. It’s difficult for me to toot my own horn, but what really made me proud to receive this award was to share the experience with my children and hear them say how proud they were.”   Just after Cavanaugh received the Virginia Boyce Award, she was notified about winning the Nurse Competence in Aging Award from ASORN. “That award was also special because it means so much to be recognized by your own peers. Being recognized twice was just phenomenal. Each one has a very special meaning for me,” Cavanaugh said.   It’s Cavanaugh’s spiritual investment in altruism that motivates her to pursue what is best for patients and blindness prevention. “All I want is to keep people from going blind. I feel like this is my path, what I’m meant to do. I don’t question it. There’s a need. You see the need and you just do it.”   Cavanaugh organizes community health fairs and ophthalmic screenings for diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma and macular degeneration. She has published articles that provide insight into ophthalmologic patient education and disease processes. She has volunteered with the Charleston Lions Club and the South Carolina Society of Ophthalmology for various projects, and she has organized the Diabetic Retinopathy Project since 1996. Cavanaugh began the Glaucoma Awareness Project in 1998 and in 2000 she began the Pseudo Tumor Cerebri Noontime Lecture series and Support Group. She initiated support groups for glaucoma and macular degeneration, and volunteers as a patient educator with the student and resident-based community outreach group Fight for Sight.   “Carolyn truly gives of her heart, hands and mind. Her dedication to selfless service is so much like that of Virginia Boyce, a pioneer whom I knew personally and for whom Carolyn’s national public service award is named,” said M. Edward Wilson, M.D., SEI director and Ophthalmology chairman. “Virginia Boyce served for 45 years with Prevent Blindness America as a volunteer and as executive director. Carolyn has the same drive and indefatigable spirit. She puts the patient’s needs first. We all should emulate that credo.”   Likening the culmination of her work to an idea coming to fruition, Cavanaugh seemed elated that her way of caring for patients and stimulating community patient education were becoming the norm across the country. “It blew my mind when someone at the meeting called me a pioneer, in terms of combining patient care, prevention education, and community support, for preventing blindness,” she said. “You continue to forge ahead when you see a real need, do whatever you can to make a change, network with others, and as more people become aware, this evolutionary process becomes the norm. That just feels wonderful.”   True to her humble nature, Cavanaugh has already thought about how her recognition might help ophthalmology patients. “I hope that my receiving these awards continues to raise awareness for diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma and macular degeneration patients, because that’s what’s really important in all this,” she said. “Many years ago, when I first presented the diabetic retinopathy screening to Dr. [Edward] Wilson, he immediately saw it as a beneficial project for our community. He continually supports and adds good ideas to all the projects we have accomplished, while doing so much more for the vision of the world’s children… it is to all the people that have worked together to help save sight that I am extremely grateful to and it is in their honor that I accepted these awards.” A bittersweet time An ironic twist from a horrible event in Cavanaugh’s life has led to the creation of a patient education fund within the SEI.   Several days after traveling to Las Vegas with her family to receive the awards, Cavanaugh received the call that every parent fears. Her son, Joseph, had been killed in a car accident in Greenville.   Cavanaugh’s friends and peers at SEI have established the Joseph Cavanaugh Patient Education Fund in his honor and are currently accepting donations in his memory.   “Joe was radiant, fun and so proud of his mother at the dinner in Las Vegas,” said Pam Chavis, M.D., of SEI and a fund organizer for the Cavanaugh project. “What we’re trying to do is support her during this difficult time by establishing something that will honor Joe’s spirit and support her tireless efforts to prevent blindness in the community. We’re asking people to reach out to Carolyn at this time, as she has reached out to so many.”   “I really feel the support from my big caring family here at Storm Eye, and I can’t say how much I’ve appreciated the notes, the cards, the e-mails from everyone at MUSC and even my patients,” Cavanaugh said. “If you have to go through something like this, this kind of support is what you can only hope to receive. People often say you don’t know how much you are loved, but I have truly felt it. It really touches my heart when I think of all the people kind enough to reach out to me.”   To donate to the fund, make checks payable to the MUSC Foundation—The Joseph Cavanaugh Patient Education Fund and mail to Cynthia Straney, 167 Ashley Ave., P.O. Box 250676, Charleston, S.C. 29425. For information, call 792-3040.     Friday, Jan. 5, 2007 Catalyst Online is published weekly, updated as needed and improved from time to time by the MUSC Office of Public Relations for the faculty, employees and students of the Medical University of South Carolina. Catalyst Online editor, Kim Draughn, can be reached at 792-4107 or by email, catalyst@musc.edu. Editorial copy can be submitted to Catalyst Online and to The Catalyst in print by fax, 792-6723, or by email to catalyst@musc.edu. To place an ad in The Catalyst hardcopy, call Island Publications at 849-1778, ext. 201.