key: cord-0930759-75go6jei
authors: Quinlan-Colwell, Ann
title: A Verbal Scrapbook Tribute to Ellyn Schreiner–Friend, Nurse, Mentor, Leader
date: 2020-08-19
journal: Pain Manag Nurs
DOI: 10.1016/j.pmn.2020.07.005
sha: c7dd72de1312f03ba05387e69d3e2fd4241957c4
doc_id: 930759
cord_uid: 75go6jei

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Members of the American Society for Pain Management Nursing (ASPMN) community are deeply saddened following the transition from this earthly life of our past president Ellyn T. Schreiner, MPH, RN-BC, CHPN. Because she was a passionate and expert scrapbooker, it seems appropriate, to create a verbal scrapbook in which we share precious personal memories of Ellyn. She spent more than half of her 45 years as a nurse working with people living with pain, first at the Adventist Hinsdale Hospital Pain Center, and later at the Adventist St. Thomas Hospice. She advocated, educated, and led nurses to transform the primary palliative care role of nurses in providing pain and symptom management through her work, example, teaching, mentoring, and publication (Paice et al., 2018) .

Her sister Nancy Schreiner Ross shared that "first and foremost, her family was the most important next to nursing." Ellyn's love of nursing was exemplified by her involvement in ASPMN, where she served continuously as a member of the Chapter Resource Committee, as membership/chapter development committee chair, and then on the board of directors from 2004 to 2006, as treasurer from 2006 to 2012, and as president from 2015 to 2016. Along with Mary Lyons, she was a charter member of the Chicago Metropolitan Chapter of ASPMN, where she served in a variety of roles, including program planning committee member, secretary, and president. Ellyn never stopped staunchly and actively serving ASPMN. Just last month, she relayed to Terry Grimes that the dates they were planning for an ASPMN webinar would need to be adjusted. The dates, she explained, were too soon because as she spoke she was "in ICU with COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019]."

Ellyn represented ASPMN well. She not only worked and planned for the future of ASPMN, but also worked diligently to preserve the historical efforts and activities of our organization. She once wrote that she blended her love of scrapbooking and her commitment to creatively preserving the history of ASPMN "into a tangible product for all members of the organization to enjoy. This process was culminated with the induction of ASPMN's historical materials into the center for Nursing Archives at the University of Virginia." As Ellyn began that monumental process, Marsha Stanton recalled sharing many laughs as they sorted through the boxes containing documents and pictures of events, including the wonderful party pictures that Ellyn lovingly weaved into albums, telling the story of our organization she so loved.

The most important accolades any of us can receive are from our peers. For her efforts to beautifully and thoughtfully preserve our history, and her countless volunteer hours, Terry Grimes as president of ASPMN in 2010 announced that she "was so proud to give Ellyn my President's Award for unselfishly serving us." ASPMN members and past presidents who interacted with Ellyn described her as warm, friendly, kind, helpful, and empathetic with fellow nurses as well as patients. ASPMN cofounder Chris Pasero remembered that "she was so utterly and sincerely kind." Susan Pendergrass remembered "her spirit and gentleness. She was honored to serve ASPMN in any capacity and her turn at the helm was well deserved." Marsha Stanton "will miss Ellyn's friendship, her willingness to help in whichever ways she could." Mary Lyons reminisced that "while her clinical work was her day-to-day passion, ASPMN was her true love and she was dedicated to its success, never saying no to requests for a project or to fill in for someone when needed. Her presidency was the highlight of her career and we were all so proud of her! She served us all with great pride and our organization is and will forever be better because of Ellyn's involvement and leadership."

Joan Beard and others also recollected how willing she was to help everyone and how welcoming she always was. This welcome extended to patients, colleagues, new nurses, new ASPMN members, and new board members, as shared by many of our current board, including Kim Wittmayer. When Maureen Cooney was considering the ASPMN treasurer role, which Ellyn filled for many years, she recalled Ellyn reaching out to her to reassure her and offer support. Similarly, she encouraged our immediate past president Deb Drew to run for president of ASPMN and reached out to offer support.

Willingness to help, support, and mentor others was a golden thread in the storybook of Ellyn. Melanie Simpson shared that Ellyn "was so good about mentoring all the new leaders to put everything in place to start a new chapter [of ASPMN]. She was always the person the new members wanted to meet in person at the conference. They felt such a connection with her after going through the process." Melanie and Sharon Wrona also personally valued Ellyn as a mentor. When Sharon was elected treasurer of ASPMN, she appreciated that Ellyn "helped with keeping me feeling that I could do a good job in the role." Melanie counts herself as "especially lucky to have had 2 years of her constant tutelage."

Appreciation of Ellyn as a mentor was echoed by ASPMN Senior Account Coordinator Candice Miller, who worked closely with her on webinars that were supported by a Providers Clinical Support System grant from Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services. Ellyn served as the primary investigator for ASPMN involvement. Candice wrote that "Ellyn always sourced excellent content for the presentations. She was a great mentor and made presenters feel comfortable and was always happy to answer questions.… I will miss having those conversations with her, her guidance and unwavering loyalty to ASPMN and its members." JerrieLynn Kind, Executive Director of ASPMN, remembered that Ellyn "was a joy

Pain Management Nursing j o u r n a l h o me p a g e : w w w . p a i n m a n a g e m e n t n u r s i n g . o r g to work with who always made my job very easy. She was always clear and concise, and most importantly, she always did what she said she wouldda great volunteer characteristic. Ellyn shared her many talents with us for a great number of years. I will miss her friendship most of all."

Underlying her activities with ASPMN was the dedication Ellyn showed as a pain management nurse helping people living with pain. The memories her colleagues shared of Ellyn frequently described her passion for life and her beliefs as they translated into her strong advocacy for optimal patient care. Jan Elliott wrote that Ellyn "was passionate about keeping her hospice patients as pain-free as possible and consistently intervened on their behalf. She was a true pain management advocate." Consistent with that, June Oliver shared that Ellyn's "passion for both pain and palliative care was evident; [she] always voiced concern for what the patient might be experiencing physically, emotionally, and spiritually, [and how] that may impact their behavior and choices." Ann Schreier remembered how Ellyn "would telephone other hospice nurses periodically in the evening to check on her patients and their families." Her passion and advocacy gave strength to her commitment to ensure that all patients she worked with had optimal pain and symptom management at the end of life.

In 2011, Paul Arnstein "handed the baton to Ellyn Schreiner as she became ASPMN's Liaison to The Joint Commission (TJC)." He recounted that before their "meeting at TJC headquarters, Ellyn confided that she was humbled by the opportunity and not sure she was up to the task. Once there, she immediately made connections with other organizational leaders, engaging them with her enthusiasm and infectious laugh." Paul remembered challenges "getting face time with Patricia (Pat) Adamski, Director of Standards Interpretation." However:

Ellyn convinced her to leave a meeting early to meet with us. Pat, a former oncology nurse, and Ellyn hit it off immediately and within 5 minutes were chatting like reunited college roommates. Within 10 minutes, Ellyn built consensus with Pat that the way the TJC evaluated the standard on PRN medications was wrong. Pat agreed to take steps to train the surveyors using ASPMN's position papers on the matter. She also urged Ellyn to call or email her directly if she was aware of specific surveyors who were holding firm to the outdated notion and potentially harmful practice of dosing to numbers. Ellyn was a shining star that day, as she is every day.

Many ASPMN members commented on her wonderful sense of humor. Ann Schreier told of the laughs she and Ellyn shared about the confusion that would surely occur when they shared hotel rooms. There is only one letter different in their last names. When the front desk person would tell Ann "you already checked in, Ms. Schreier," Ann would tell them "no, that must have been my colleague Ms. Schreiner"; conversely, Ellyn would tell them "no, that must have been my colleague Ms. Schreier." In pictures of Ellyn, she is always smiling a broad and genuine smile. She smiled not only with her mouth but also with a sparkling gleam in her eyes that reflected her love of life, as noted by her sister Nancy. Many of us remember her infectious smile. None of those smiles were bigger than when she received a life-size cutout of Carl Edwards, the NASCAR driver she so loved! Wade Delk and Candice Miller were among the many who enjoyed sharing NASCAR stories with Ellyn.

In all ways and to all those she met, Ellyn was a gentlewoman. Many of us take comfort in believing that rather than being an earthly angel, she is now a celestial angel smiling down upon each of us. We join with Marsha in saying "farewell, and thank you, Ellyn, for sharing your wisdom, your love, and your constant wit with each of us. We are much better people for having been a part of your life."

Palliative Nursing Summit: Nurses leading change and transforming primary palliative care