Home » Uncategorized » Memorial Day Weekend May 24th 2020 – Duke Heart

Memorial Day Weekend May 24th 2020 – Duke Heart

By Manesh Patel, M.D. in Uncategorized on May 24, 2020.

Chief’s message:

Memorial day reflects the unofficial start of summer… and hopefully you will have some time to spend with family to reflect. With the country going through some changes in our stay at home status, please Stay safe. And let’s never forget those who laid down their lives for our freedom. Happy Memorial Day.

Highlights of the week:

Sewell Retires from EKG Support Unit

Please join us in congratulating Phyllis Sewell on her recent retirement! Sewell, a long-time member of the Duke Heart team retired from the EKG Support Unit on April 21 after 44 years of service at Duke. Due to the pandemic and restrictions that have been in place, the team has not been able to host a gathering in her honor, but she leaves a legacy of diligence and insight that the team hopes to emulate for years to come.

From her retirement announcement, we learned:

“When Phyllis began her Cardiology career as a Duke EKG technician in 1976, she performed EKGs on single-channel recorders; she created 12-lead EKG display pages by literally cutting and pasting pieces of paper. By 1977, she worked with a Hewlett-Packard computer system that required seven hours for system back-ups and, consequently, required Phyllis to stay overnight with the computer system occasionally in order to change data storage discs (manually) during the back-up process.

Phyllis learned to interpret EKGs from her mentor Joseph C. Greenfield, Jr., Duke’s former Chief of Cardiology, Chair of Medicine, and Director of the “Heart Station” (as the EKG Support Unit was formerly known). Throughout the 1980s and much of the 1990s, Cardiology Fellows interpreted hard-copy EKGs by adding their hand-written text to the computer’s interpretation. Phyllis would then “edit” the fellows’ interpretations—often changing them wholesale, so as to prevent the fellows from incurring the wrath of faculty readers or, worst of all, seeing a note from Dr. Greenfield: “MD see me.”

When Cardiology fellows ceased their formal role in interpreting Duke Hospital EKGs during the 2000s, the academic side of Phyllis’s career rose to prominence: she was responsible not only for reading EKGs but also instructing other EKG Editors in EKG interpretation that occurred prior to Cardiology faculty readers’ interpretations. As a result of Phyllis’s work with her Editor colleagues, Duke Health EKGs were reviewed by knowledgeable readers faster than ever.”

Sewell came to Duke because she had been in a medical secretarial program at Chowan College in Murfreesboro, and at the time they were partnered with Duke. She rotated through several Duke medical departments as part of her training. Upon finishing, she served as a medical secretary in pediatrics, but soon realized she wanted to work closer to patient care. So, she learned how to do EKGs on the floor when Duke was just starting a computerized system to read them. Her passion and enthusiasm for reading EKGs took off from there and dovetailed nicely with her love of learning.

After 44 years of fast-paced and intensive work, being at home so much is not how Sewell envisioned the start of retirement — but she says that blessings come to all of us in different ways.

“I have had the opportunity to work with a lot of wonderful people across my years at Duke and to work alongside some of the very best people in the field of cardiology,” Sewell said. “I can’t say enough about Duke. I believe it to be one of the finest places in the country. We see lots of complex issues in our heart patients – many of whom come from all over the world. There is nothing boring about a place like this. It has been fun and interesting and a wonderful opportunity to work with smart and nice people.”

Sewell says she doesn’t have major retirement plans other than to do some of the things she hasn’t had enough time for, such as golfing, exercising and walking their two Pembroke Welsh Corgis, but she knows she won’t just hang out at home. Due to stay-at-home restrictions, she has worked her way through a bunch of house projects already and isn’t interested in sitting still for long. She says she will miss her coworkers and the many cardiologists she worked with each day. Parking decks and the commute are two things she will not miss at all, but she will miss reading EKGs. “I love reading EKGs!” she added.

Congratulations on your retirement, Phyllis! We know you will be missed!

3100 Hosts Celebration & Surprise Pinning Ceremony

Please join us in congratulating two Duke Heart team members who are recent nursing graduates. Trace Alligood, a Certified Nursing Assistant, and Michelle Harris-Evans, Nursing Care Assistant II, both graduated from their respective programs this month and were recently honored with a pizza party and surprise pinning celebration on 3100.

Trace Alligood completed the BSN program at Campbell University. He started in Duke’s 10-week Professional Nursing Assistant summer externship program last summer and has served as a nursing assistant on 3100 since August. Originally from Richmond, VA, Alligood says he always wanted a career in healthcare. His parents are healthcare workers, so he had a lot of exposure to it growing up and nursing seemed like a natural fit. The Campbell program had everything he was looking for in a program and that it opened up some good opportunities for him in North Carolina.

Michelle Harris-Evans received her Associates Degree in Nursing from Vance-Granville Community College. She decided to go into nursing because one of her sons has epilepsy. She was planning to go back to school anyway, but she said that one day while her son was being treated here at Duke, she was struck by the wonderful care he was receiving and felt called to become a caregiver.

“I was inspired by our family’s experience and I just knew that I wanted to give that same type of care and comfort to other families,” said Harris-Evans. “Because I have five young boys, I had to find a way to get into nursing cheaply, quickly and close to home. This program worked for me.”

Harris-Evans says she is grateful to her leadership team for always being flexible with her so that she could accommodate her children’s day care needs, her school schedule and working on the unit. She felt supported by her colleagues through the entire program, and gives a great deal of credit to her support system at home. Her husband and her parents spent a lot of time managing their kids so that she could achieve her goals.

Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, neither Trace nor Michelle could experience an in-person graduation or pinning ceremony.

“This was a really fun, nice surprise,” Alligood said. “Since March, we’ve had to do everything online which was a big challenge, but we still finished on time.”

“I was just expecting a small pizza party,” Harris-Evans noted. “When it turned out to be a pinning ceremony and that our nurse managers and clinical leads had thought to do this and wanted to celebrate this accomplishment with us means so much.”

Congratulations Trace and Michelle. We are so proud of you!

Cutcliffe Leads Virtual AHA Heart Challenge Kick-off

The American Heart Association held their annual AHA Heart Challenge Kick-off event for Triangle-area executives on Thursday, May 21 to get a motivational jump-start on team-building and fundraising in preparation for the annual Heart Walk. The virtual luncheon featured Duke football coach David Cutcliffe as the keynote speaker as well as Tom Owens, president of Duke University Hospital and chair of the 2020 Heart Challenge, and David Zaas, president of Duke Raleigh Hospital.

In sharing their “Why” stories, Owens talked about the impact COVID-19 has made.

“The pandemic has highlighted health disparities as well as issues with heart and stroke,” said Owens. “Now is the time to act and find new ways to work together, to engage one another and to improve outcomes.”

Cutcliffe, a triple bypass survivor, is open about his ‘why’. Fifty-five years ago (to the day) his brother, Raymond, Jr., went into cardiac arrest after being hit in the chest with a baseball. No one on the ball field that day knew CPR, and his brother died. Cutcliffe was 10 years old at the time; his brother was just seven.

“Heart issues have shaped my life,” Cutcliffe told the audience on Zoom. “People used to tell me that when you get knocked down, you just have to get back up. But what I learned through sports, the secret is how fast you get up to take on the next battle.”

In taking questions, Cutcliffe was asked how he was managing the team during the Covid-19 pandemic. He said players and coaches are getting more face time than normal, something he believes is helping everyone feel more appreciative of each other.

“There will always be silver linings, said Cutcliffe. “They aren’t always easy to find, but if you look they are there.”

No one yet knows if the 2020 Triangle Heart Walk will be an in-person event or not, but we do know some type of Heart Walk-related celebration will be held in the fall. Stay tuned for further information. Either way, we hope you’ll join us!

GoFundMe Campaign Created to Support Duke Heart Team Member

We learned this week that Sam Pierce, daughter of Cynthia Pierce, a former cardiac catheterization lab nurse and a current Duke Heart TAVR coordinator, died suddenly and unexpectedly on Mother’s Day. Cynthia is now responsible for raising her three young grandchildren, coping with the loss of her daughter, and helping her grandchildren through this difficult loss.

A GoFundMe campaign has been established by Tom Bashore to help cover funeral and memorial costs, as well as related expenses. Any and all contributions of any amount are appreciated. Even if you cannot contribute, we know the family will welcome expressions of support. Please consider sharing this link with others who know Cynthia.

Blood Donors Still Needed

The American Red Cross is still in need of blood donors. The closest location to Duke is the Durham Donation Center located at 4737 University Drive, Durham. If you have time and are interested in donating, their website offers a convenient way to schedule appointments. As an added incentive… anyone who donates blood between now and May 31 will receive a special Red Cross donor t-shirt. To learn more, please visit redcross.org.

Go Red for Women “Lunch-In” – Join Us!

Duke Heart is a proud sponsor of the American Heart Association’s Go Red for Women movement. Join us for the first-ever Go Red for Women virtual “Lunch-In” on Friday, June 5^th from 12:00-1:00 p.m. This fun virtual event will elevate awareness of women’s heart health, celebrate survivors of heart disease and stroke, honor healthcare heroes and equip attendees with the knowledge to take control of our own heart health.

Event is free, but RSVP is required. To reserve your place and receive the Zoom webinar link, RSVP here: https://bit.ly/TriangleGRFW

Unable to join? Please consider supporting the mission of the American Heart Association and Go Red for Women with a donation: https://app.mobilecause.com/vf/GoRedTriangle

COVID-19 Updates:

All the latest official DUHS information regarding coronavirus/COVID-19 response at the following locations:

Upcoming Opportunities/Save the Date:

Cardiology Grand Rounds

Cardiology Grand Rounds are cancelled through May, with the exception of internal faculty gatherings to discuss information related to COVID-19. Invitations to those will come via Outlook.

Have news to share?

If you have news to share with the Pulse readership, please contact Tracey Koepke, director of communications for Duke Heart at tracey.koepke@duke.edu. We would love to hear about your latest accomplishments, professional news, cool happenings, and any events or opportunities that may be of interest to our Duke Heart family. Please call with any questions: 919-681-2868. Feedback on Pulse is welcome and encouraged.

Duke Heart in the News:

May 19 — Adrian Hernandez

New York magazine

Hydroxychloroquine and the Coronavirus: What Studies Actually Say

https://nym.ag/2AQXqsd

May 19 — Adrian Hernandez

The New York Times

Amid Hydroxychloroquine Uproar, Real Studies of Drug Are Suffering

https://nyti.ms/36z49Db

May 19 — Duke Children’s Hospital

WWAY (Wilmington, NC)

Wilmington Girl Celebrating One Year Anniversary of Second Heart Transplant