Celebrating National Nurses Week

If you or someone you love has been affected by epilepsy, you likely have experienced firsthand the compassion and support of a great nurse. Nurses are the very foundation of the healthcare system, and they deserve our gratitude for the tireless work they do for the epilepsy community on a daily basis.

To kick off National Nurses Week 2015 (May 6 to 12), the Epilepsy Foundation is proud to recognize two nurses who have made a tremendous impact both on the Foundation itself and on the lives of countless people across the country living with seizures:

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  Patricia Osborne Shafer RN, MN is the associate editor and community manager of epilepsy.com. She also is an epilepsy clinical nurse specialist at the Comprehensive Epilepsy Center, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, where she currently coordinates the ambulatory nursing program in epilepsy and provides ongoing care and education to people with epilepsy and families. Her clinical and research interests include self-management and health education in epilepsy, women’s issues, patient safety, and treatment and consequences of refractory epilepsy.
  
   
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  Janice Buelow PhD, FAAN is an epilepsy advocate, researcher, educator, and clinical nurse specialist, as well as the Epilepsy Foundation’s vice president of programs and research. She has focused on the self-management of epilepsy and quality of life for individuals and families living with the condition. By identifying key stressors in families, Dr. Buelow has developed highly effective management techniques for parents of children who live with epilepsy and intellectual disability. Her insightful research has been published in interdisciplinary and nursing journals including Developmental and Child Neurology, Journal of Neuroscience Nursing, Clinical Nurse Specialist, and Epilepsy and Behavior.

To Patty, Jan, and all nurses working to make a difference in the lives of people living with seizures every single day, we thank you for your unwavering support and dedication. Together we can demand a greater understanding of living with seizures, accelerate better therapies in a timeframe that matters, and improve quality of life for individuals and families impacted by epilepsy.

Happy Nurses Week 2015.

Sincerely,

Ken Lowenberg
Vice President, Communications and Digital Strategy
Epilepsy Foundation