Banner Year: 2013 Nursing Grad Wins National Award, Launches Career as Stony Brook Nurse
In a span of six months, Knight completed her degree, was recognized for her outreach in fight against cancer, and started as an RN on the Blood and Marrow Transplant Unit
STONY BROOK, N.Y., December 13, 2013 – Maggie Knight, a 2013 Stony Brook University School of Nursing graduate, is wrapping up a year in
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Maggie Knight, RN, with her Inspired Comfort Award. |
which she became a national recipient of the Inspired Comfort Award for her outreach as a student and launched her dream of becoming a nurse for cancer patients. Knight, now a registered nurse on Stony Brook Medicine’s Blood and Marrow Transplant Unit, is among six care providers across the country selected for their impact on the lives of others through extraordinary patient care, sacrifice and innovation while serving as an inspiration to others. Knight is the grand prize winner in the Student Nurse category.
Over the past year, Knight served as president or co-chair of four charitable groups and logged more than 350 hours of volunteer work. She organized an initiative to raise funds to support families affected by cancer around the holidays. During summer 2013 she personally raised $4,500 for cancer patients by bicycling from Baltimore to San Diego. The effort was part of a team of 26 college students, including five from Stony Brook University, which raised money for 4K for Cancer, a program of the Ulman Cancer Fund for Young Adults. The team spent one day of each week performing service in communities across the nation.
“I am incredibly honored to receive the Inspired Comfort Award and am so grateful to all the amazing people I work with at Stony Brook University who constantly inspire students to follow their passions,” said Knight, a native of New Windsor, NY. “My goal with outreach now is to make Stony Brook students and employees more aware of the resources Stony Brook Medicine has with bone marrow transplantation.”
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Maggie Knight, center, received the 2013 Inspired Comfort Award. With Knight on Stony Brook’s Blood and Marrow Transplant Unit are, from left: Rose Cardin, MS, RN, Administrator for Cancer Services; Deirdre Flynn, Day Unit Clinician; Patricia Doty, RN, Unit Nurse Manager, and Dr. Lee Anne Xippolitos, Dean of the School of Nursing. |
“While a student here, Maggie was a leader who epitomized the values of nursing with her high moral standards and commitment to care, outreach and education,” said Dr. Lee Anne Xippolitos, Dean of the School of Nursing. “She was involved in many leadership initiatives, including a campus-wide effort to engage students, faculty and staff to become bone marrow donors.”
As a nursing student, Knight’s determination to make a difference for those affected by cancer also led her to drive a campaign that resulted in Stony Brook University receiving a $10,000 grant from the LIVESTRONG Foundation for Camp Kesem, college student-run summer camp for kids with a parent who has or has had cancer.
“Maggie is compassionate, empathetic, high energy and gives 110 percent to everyone,” said Linda Bily, Director of Patient Advocacy and Community Outreach at Stony Brook University Cancer Center and Knight’s nominator. “She is committed to the cause of cancer, passionate about the patients and is going to make a superb nurse.”
Now Knight has taken her passion for nursing and helping cancer patients to a professional level. In late November, she began working as an inpatient nurse in medical oncology on Stony Brook’s Blood and Marrow Transplant Unit.
Knight will also continue to broaden her Stony Brook educational and professional journey in 2014. She will pursue a Master’s degree in Bioethics in January as a newly enrolled student in Stony Brook Medicine’s Center for Medical Humanities, Compassionate Care, and Bioethics.
About the Inspired Comfort Awards
Since 2003, more than 10,000 healthcare providers and student nurses have been nominated for the Inspired Comfort Awards. In those 11 years, 100 plus have been honored as winners. Cherokee Uniforms, a provider of healthcare apparel, sponsors the annual Inspired Comfort Awards. Knight was recognized by Cherokee for her broad efforts to help fight cancer and “an unwavering commitment to care for those in need.”
