An esteemed unit nurse leader at the Mass General Cancer Center at Emerson-Bethke Hospital in Concord, Mass., Mary Fay, RN, BSN, OCN, joined the Mass General family in 2011, when Emerson-Bethke Hospital began its partnership with the Mass General Cancer Center. Mary is an exemplary clinician who brings care and expertise to each and every patient who comes in and out of her unit. As a leader and mentor to her nursing team, she demonstrates and fosters best practices in meeting the special challenges of caring for patients with cancer.
Among these challenges is the toll of suffering and death that is inevitable in an inpatient cancer unit. Mary helps her team keep their compassion alive and cope with the emotional burden of patient care. When a dying patient was taken to Mass General from Emerson-Bethke, she and two members of her team visited the patient to say goodbye.
Mary is attentive to the wellness of both patients and staff. She is currently developing a program to provide nurses with the opportunity to reflect upon the lives of patients and families they have grown close to and lost to cancer.
