Transforming McLeod Hall - School of Nursing - University of Virginia

class notes
Georgetown Hospital in August of 2009 and
is currently working as a critical care nurse
practitioner at Washington Hospital Center.
She also serves as a critical care flight nurse
in the United States Air Force Reserve.
’97 BSN Christa Jankowski Hartch and her
family lived in Paris for almost a year as part
of her husband Greg’s work. They returned to
the United States recently, when his assignment
ended. Their children—Christian (9),
Annabelle (7), and Caroline (4)—attended
Marymount School Paris. The family had many
wonderful adventures together in France.
’99 BSN, ’05 MSN Kristi
D. Kimpel, an advanced
practice nurse on the
UVA Medical Center’s
surgical trauma burn
intensive care unit,
received the 2010 Circle
of Excellence Award
from the American
Association of Critical Care Nurses (AACN).
The award recognizes excellent outcomes
in the care of acutely and critically ill
patients and their families. Kristi is
president of the Monticello chapter of the
AACN and a research mentor in the Medical
Center’s nursing research program.
2000s
’00 BSN Beth Hooton Gordon is planning a
trip to Kenya with Mercy Medical Team in
November 2010. She works as a staff nurse
and clinical instructor for Jefferson College
and resides in Chesterfield, MO.
’02 MSN Rachel Lindell Peck of Ft. Mitchell,
KY, was promoted to vice president at Burke
Inc. “Rachel’s expertise in health care and
her tireless commitment to the quality of her
research product have helped her create lasting
relationships with her clients,” said Tara
“Looking back, I am amazed at the strength
and resiliency of the people we treated.”
Alumni in Action
Mark Marino (MSN ’99)
The USNS Comfort became a floating hospital after the Haiti earthquake.
U.S. Navy Commander Mark Marino has served as
the director of nursing aboard the USNS Comfort for the
past two years and during its relief mission in Haiti earlier
this year. The 1,000-bed “floating hospital” arrived in the
waters surrounding Port-au-Prince just eight days after the
January 12 earthquake.
“We started receiving patients as soon as we were
within helicopter range,” remembers Marino. “Every six
minutes, a helicopter would land on deck, with anywhere
between three and six injured. My goal was to get as many
patients on the ship as we could manage.”
Mark Marino holds a young patient who was As patients arrived on board, they brought heartbreaking
stories—enough, says Marino, to fill volumes. One
treated for burns to his upper lip and nose.
in particular struck close to home—a four-story concrete
building that housed the country’s largest nursing school had collapsed during the earthquake.
Most of the school’s students were in class at the time, on the first floor. None survived.
“That’s a whole generation of Haitian nurses—gone,” says Marino. “It’s hard to recover from
a loss like that, especially in a country where nurses, doctors—really, any sort of health care
infrastructure—are already in such short supply.”
“Looking back, I am amazed at the strength
and resiliency of the people we treated,”
Marino says.
This fall, Marino will be retiring from the
Navy after 24 years. He’s ready for something
new and would like to shift his focus to
palliative care. It was a decision he made
before his time in Haiti, but his experiences
aboard the Comfort confirmed that desire.
“We saved a lot of people, but we couldn’t
save them all,” Marino remembers. “I had to
keep encouraging my staff that even if all we
were able to do was ease a person’s pain, give
them food and clean water, and make them
comfortable—this was a tremendous gift.”
www.nursing.virginia.edu Virginia Legacy 27 •