Giving in Action: Endowment Ensures Education for Neonatal Nurses

Giving in Action: Endowment Ensures Education for Neonatal Nurses

Kusum Prabhakar, MD, first arrived in Baltimore on a dark, cold, snowy winter day in 1970. Fresh out of medical school in India, she had come to the United States to complete her obstetrics and gynecology residency.

But as she began to think about having a family, Dr. Prabhakar worried that the demands of working in an OBGYN practice and having children of her own might be difficult to balance. She switched her specialty to anesthesiology and completed her residency at Yale University in 1977.

That career change proved to be a wise decision. After completing her residency, Dr. Prabhakar took a position at Presbyterian Hospital as a dual-trained anesthesiologist in both anesthesiology and OB-GYN in New Mexico. She remained actively involved with the New Mexico Society of Anesthesiologists for the next 30 years, and served as a delegate to the American Society of Anesthesiology. Dr. Prabhakar recently retired after four decades of service as a practicing physician.

In 1987, Dr. Prabhakar gave birth to twin daughters Sonia and Shawna, born 12 weeks premature. The tiny babies weighed just over two pounds each and spent their first three months in neonatal intensive care. When they were finally able to go home, each still weighed just a little more than three pounds.

“It was a difficult time until they turned a year old, but the neonatal nurses took such great care of them,” Dr. Prabhakar says. “They were loving, dedicated and very supportive of me and my family. I don’t think my daughters would have done as well as they did if it weren’t for their loving care.”

Today, Sonia and Shawna are thriving adults with careers and families of their own.

GIVING BACK

Combined with her medical background in obstetrics, Dr. Prabhakar’s personal experience with her daughters heightened her interest in neonatal nursing. In 1991, she established the Prabhakar- Russo Neonatal Nursing Education Endowment, which provides a growing and continuing resource to ensure neonatal nursing staff at Presbyterian Hospital can expand their skills as needed. The endowment also funds the purchase of educational materials and helps to cover costs associated with attending conferences.

“It’s so important that nurses keep up with new developments in their area of care,” Dr. Prabhakar says. “The science is constantly changing and continuing education is expensive, which I know firsthand. Maybe in this small way I can support their education.”