CREATIVE THOUGHT Health care navigator U
S health care is nothing if not complex, and few people are better equipped to
steer patients through it than Phyllis Fradkin Boynton ’69. A nursing major, Boynton became a staff
nurse at Yale-New Haven Hospital after gradu- ation. The position carried tremendous respon- sibility, but she says, “I found very quickly that Skidmore had taught me how to think, ques- tion, and problem- solve.” These skills have served her well ever since, in a career that has spanned more than four decades and touched myriad aspects of health care delivery. Boynton has been a school
nurse, a home health care worker, and a trans- plant case manager for an insurance company. She also worked for an elder-law attorney while running her own private geriatric-care management practice. After selling the practice to Constellation Health Services, she led its geriatric case management program. “My var- ied career has made me very familiar with how each of these groups think, the constraints of each area, and how we can best interface with each other,” says Boynton. Four years ago, she rejoined Yale-New
Haven as a case manager charged with ensur- ing the safe, effective discharge of patients, many of them elderly, in various stages of liver and kidney transplantation. She assesses each patient’s needs and how best to meet them under their insurance plans—work that calls on her diverse perspectives and creative skills every day. Boynton says working with geriatric patients is especially satisfying: “The most rewarding part is helping people who are aging retain as much autonomy as possible and assisting their families in navigating our increasingly complex health care system.” With her 45th reunion just behind her,
Boynton says she is “still growing and seeking new challenges. Whether I retire from this position or try something new is an uncertain but exciting prospect.” —Sara Daniels ’05
(DNP) program, the university’s first doc- toral degree. She is an evaluator for accreditation of degree programs for the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education. Judith holds an MA in psychi- atric nursing and a PhD in nursing from New York University.
On May 1 a group of us met at the Conservatory Garden in Central Park in NYC for a mini-reunion. After a walk around the gardens, we proceeded across Central Park to the home of Susan Gottlieb Beckerman ’67 and were joined by other classmates for a lovely reception. In attendance were Rana Aarons Silver, Nancy Baroff Dinar, Bobbi Bell Liepolt, Ilene Benioff Prokup, Janice Brophy Billingsley, Michaele Cohen Drayer, Louise Fresco Leibert, Lucy Hann Livingston, Ellen Horowitz Ward, Pam Hunter Emery, Penny Manegan Klatell, June Massell, Judith Morgan DeZanger, Meryl Nadel Spigelman, Penny Peters, Barbara Reuter, Ellen Rosen Wolfson, Laurie Sammeth, Ellen Shaul Bell, Jeanne Shipp Waldinger, and me. We had a lovely time, catching up and remi- niscing; many thanks to our organizers! DOROTHY KANRICH SANDFORD 333 E. 53RD ST., APT. 7E NEW YORK, NY 10022-4913
SSCOTT106@AOL.COM
Thanks to our Reunion Planning Committee and Skidmore staff, Reunion 2014 was amazing! The weather cooperated (except for Friday afternoon’s downpour) and the campus looked stun- ning, with mature landscaping, sweeping lawns, and flowering shrubbery. We saw the Zankel Music Center and Sussman Village Apartments, both wonderful addi- tions to campus. I look forward to the opening of the new state-of-the-art Center for Integrative Science next. As a graduate and as a parent of Alicia ’07, I am very proud of how Skidmore is growing. We were all proud of Judy Roberts Kunisch and Penny Chisholm, honored at the awards ceremony, trustee Judy receiving an Outstanding Service Award and biolo- gist Penny receiving the Distinguished Achievement Award. We are a generation of women retirees embracing the possibilities of our senior years with enthusiasm and optimism. Whether we have found second careers, are enjoying grandparenting, or are just taking the time to reflect on the paths we have taken, we are definitely still moving forward! Many thanks to Sandy Smith Dovberg, who captured our stories so beautifully in the class history book.
’69 44 SCOPE FALL 2014
Reunion participants were invited to attend a viewing of Women of ’69, Unboxed, the documentary inspired by our unusual “yearbox” and created by Jane Startz and Liz Roman Gallese, with the help of Jane’s husband, filmmaker Peter Barton. This thought-provoking film chronicles the triumphs and heartaches of our class in particular, within the context of the rapid cultural and political change that defined the 1960s. For more, see
http://womenof69unboxed.org. Kudos to Jane and Liz for providing yet another example of the creativity and optimism that continues to guide us. Laura Fabel Dumouchel attended Reunion with camera in hand and caught great photos. A retired principal, Laura spent her life “loving, teaching, and car- ing for children.” She and husband Bruce, a former Air Force officer, and their family have lived and traveled widely. They cur- rently reside in the Massachusetts Berkshires. A master gardener, she likes to make jewelry and otherwise explore her artistic side.
Susan Gottschalck Doneson recalls tak- ing education courses and student teach- ing but expecting to attend law school. Instead, she fell in love with teaching and made it her career, teaching junior- and senior-level high school English and developing a comprehensive high school completion program for teen parents. She says, “You really don’t know where life will take you; sometimes it can surprise you in wonderful and fulfilling ways.” Stephanie Davis spent her professional life committed to social justice, assuming leadership roles in several nonprofits. She believes the liberal arts education she received at a women’s college made a huge impact: “My work has been centered on women’s well-being and equality, and relationships I developed at Skidmore continue to inform the sisterhood I still feel all around me.” Jane Nordli was an educator and musi- cian while raising her family. Coming of age in the ’60s, she learned that she could “take care of herself” and made important life choices based on that knowledge, which might not have been an option in an earlier era. Independence, however, “comes with a variety of price tags, some more expensive than others,” she notes. Christine Neill attended Reunion with her husband, Lew. An arts advocate and environmental activist, she is a professor and coordinator for professional develop- ment at the Maryland Institute College of Art. At Skidmore she switched majors from biology to art. She continues to
AT WORK
OLIVIA DRAKE
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