“The T. R. Paul Family Foundation helps nursing thrive at Shadyside,” says Shelley Watters, senior director of cultural excellence. “This foundation’s gifts to Shadyside Hospital Foundation provide professional development opportunities like our Certification Nursing Scholarship, and attendance at conferences on new treatments and trends. “We have upgraded our simulation manikins for nurses to practice their health care skills in real time,” Shelley adds. “Our Nurse Ambassador program provides education and additional resources for patients interested in a holistic approach to complement their oncology care — resources like symptom management for fatigue, nausea, pain, and anxiety.”

As Shelley concludes, “UPMC Shadyside is probably the only hospital in southwestern Pennsylvania with such robust support from our foundation for nursing practice and professional development.”

Rebecca McCrea Kamen and Betty Rowe Ramseur have been friends for more than 50 years, ever since they were roommates in nursing school. After graduating, although they lived far apart, annual get-togethers full of love and laughter kept their bond strong.

Wanting to honor the friend who “helped balance my understanding of people,” Rebecca partnered with Shadyside Hospital Foundation to create a scholarship for Black nursing students. Today, the Betty Rowe Ramseur Scholarship is awarded to a UPMC Shadyside School of Nursing student who has demonstrated a full commitment to nursing.

Chelsea Johnson was thrilled to receive the scholarship in 2023. A hardworking mother of three, she attended nursing school in the part-time evening and weekend program — introduced in 1982 with support from Shadyside Hospital Foundation — while working full-time as a medical assistant.

“I want to help people,” Chelsea says. “And that was a lesson for my kids, who became so invested in my future and saw what hard work can achieve.”  Graduating in 2024, Chelsea is now a UPMC nurse in the abdominal transplant unit.

Joan Pranis was a nurse educator at her alma mater, Shadyside Hospital School of Nursing, when she met “quiet, friendly” Joseph Kenney at a party.

At their 50th wedding anniversary, the couple decided to recognize the places and institutions that had shaped their lives. The Kenneys presented Shadyside Hospital Foundation with a gift to create the Joseph and Joan Pranis Kenney Endowed Conference for Excellence in Nursing Education.

The gift seems right on target to Amy McLaughlin, MSN, RN, vice president of Patient Care Services and chief nursing officer. “A nurse’s life is continual learning,” she believes. “Experienced nurses have a lot of wisdom to pass on. So I think there are exciting times ahead for our profession.”

Jane Pesci grew up in Blairsville, Pennsylvania, the daughter of hardworking immigrant parents who spoke almost no English. She worked her way through the Shadyside Hospital School of Nursing and graduated in 1939. Enlisting in the Army Nurse Corps to serve her country during World War II, she rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel before retiring, then worked as a nurse in the Pittsburgh Public Schools for 15 years.

When Ms. Pesci died in 2008, Shadyside Hospital Foundation was amazed to learn that she had left a large bequest to establish the Ernest and Dirce Pesci and Jane Pesci Scholarships for her alma mater.

As the first terrifying onslaught of COVID-19 in March 2020 tested the courage and resilience of UPMC Shadyside’s entire staff, Shadyside Hospital Foundation found ways to enhance their well-being.

The Foundation immediately created an Employee Assistance Fund to support UPMC Shadyside employees as they worked heroically on the front lines of care. Many employees faced financial hardship caused by the pandemic, with family members losing jobs and bills piling up.

Through the fund, the Foundation invited actively employed hospital staff members to apply for a $1,000 grant to help with bills. Within 18 days, $50,000 had been distributed.

“This great and timely program represents the partnership between the Foundation and the hospital,” said Shadyside’s then-president John Innocenti. “We’re there together.”

Daniel W. Pituch, DMD, MD, then–co-chair of the Foundation’s Grant Committee, called the fund a “godsend for a number of individuals.”
“It is one of those things that really set Shadyside apart,” said James F. Pingpank, MD, president of the medical staff at the time.

A little R&R

For physically and emotionally stressed staff, the Foundation created four new respite rooms, adding to the two already funded before the pandemic. These rooms create a quiet, relaxing place where hardworking caregivers can take a moment to decompress, recharge, and relieve work stress.

Acknowledging the emotionally draining nature of high-stress hospital work, the Foundation supported “Code Lavender,” a crisis intervention team making weekly rounds to offer relief like massage, pet therapy, aromatherapy, meditation, deep breathing, and mindful eating.

And to show appreciation for everything the staff was doing, the Foundation’s “Thankful Thursdays” invited every employee to enjoy a free meal during their shift. The idea came from Amanda H. Lenhard, MD, chief of the Division of Medicine.

Shadyside Hospital’s new approach to nursing care changed the life of Dotty Beckwith in 1990, when a cyst in her brain could have killed her. An emergency operation by neurosurgeon David Zorub, MD, removed the cyst, but Dotty faced a long, hard journey to recover her health. That was the time that she and her husband, G. Nicholas Beckwith III (Nick), came to appreciate, personally, the difference that innovative nursing can make.

“The nurses gave me the motivation to get well,” remembers Dotty, a longtime board member of Shadyside Hospital Foundation and chair of its Development Committee. “They supported our whole family.”

The Beckwiths wanted to make a meaningful contribution not only to honor the nurses but also to encourage their innovations. With guidance from Gail Wolf, the result became The Beckwith Institute for Innovation in Nursing, endowed in 1991 with Nick and Dotty’s very generous gift to Shadyside Hospital Foundation.

“We thought it would be appropriate to create a fund which would be housed at the Foundation, and the revenue annually from that would support nursing initiatives,” Nick remembers.

“We wanted to drive quality ‘from the ground up,’” says Dotty. “Who knows better what’s happening at the bedside than the people who are there? They know what works.”

The first beneficiary of the endowment was Shadyside’s Institute for Creativity in Professional Nursing Practice and Management Development, designed to foster creative solutions to contemporary problems and concerns in clinical nursing practice and leadership development.

Dotty and Nick Beckwith’s commitment to health care innovation continues at The Beckwith Institute, dedicated to significantly improving patient care by supporting impactful change in each patient’s experience.

Both Nick and Dotty note their gratitude to Audrey Hillman Fisher, whose foundation regularly and generously supports grants made by The Beckwith Institute. Audrey is a former member of  Shadyside Hospital Foundation board. Her mother, Elsie Hillman, was a charter member.

“The development of The Beckwith Institute has been very satisfying,” Nick says. “It is our hope that others may see how their own experiences can be translated into better patient care for everyone.”

When Sandra L. Rader, DNP, MSA, RN, NEA-BC, arrived in 2005 to lead patient care, she found nursing “very, very strong here at Shadyside. Grants from Shadyside Hospital Foundation for nursing leadership and 
 innovation have contributed to this strength.”
Proof of this special strength came in 2010, when UPMC Shadyside achieved Magnet® status, a level of excellence in professional nursing found at only 6 percent of all health care organizations in the United States. Magnet recognition, from the American Nurses Credentialing Center, provides the ultimate benchmark for quality of care. The Shadyside nurses achieved the even rarer re-recognition in 2015 and 2020. In 2025, Magnet status was achieved again — recognition that only 2 percent of all U.S. hospitals attain.
“Shadyside Hospital Foundation should be proud of playing such an important part in this honor,” Sandy says. “Support from the Foundation has allowed us to introduce and build on many innovations that enhance patient care.”
Today, with support from the Foundation and its donors, UPMC Shadyside nurses drive change and influence the practice of nursing through Shared Leadership Councils and Professional Practice Councils. They research new clinical practice models and methods. They showcase their work at professional meetings throughout the country, creating a national presence for
 the hospital.
In January 2022, Sandy Rader was named president of UPMC Presbyterian Shadyside — a position that would have astonished nurses in 1982, when Shadyside’s nursing leadership transformation began.
“Our aspiration is, as always, to provide every patient with the finest possible experience and outcome,” Sandy says. “We do this because of the real joy we find in caring for people.”