Physician Assistant
Graduate
Wins Beard Award
by Christine Hurley Deriso
May 13, 2005
Lorena D. Narvaez, whose Medical College of Georgia education included
countless hours of volunteer work helping indigent and medically underserved
patients,
has received MCG’s 2005 John F. Beard Award for Compassionate
Care.
The $25,000 award is presented annually by William Porter “Billy” Payne and his wife, Martha, to a graduating MCG student who exemplifies caring and compassion in heatlh care. Mr. Payne established the award in 1998 to memorialize his father-in-law, who died of cancer in 1997.
The award honors MCG President Emeritus Francis J. Tedesco and Mr. Beard’s physician, Dr. Mark F. Williams, a 1988 graduate of the MCG School of Medicine.
Ms. Narvaez earned a bachelor’s degree in physician assistant from the School of Allied Health Sciences during MCG’s May 13 commencement. A native of Nicaragua, she came to the United States in 1988 and earned a bachelor’s degree in biology at the University of West Georgia before shifting her focus to health care.
Before beginning her MCG education, she helped establish a health clinic for indigent Latinos in Carrollton, Ga. While earning her MCG degree, she often stayed on after 12-hour shifts during clinical rotations to optimize her patients’ comfort and care, according to Dr. Bonnie A. Dadig, chair of the MCG Department of Physician Assistant.
“The gift of compassion and warmth is one that Ms. Narvaez gives to all she touches,” Dr. Dadig wrote in her nomination letter.
She routinely spent her spare time checking up on patients after their discharge, offering transportation and other assistance when needed and serving as a translator for Spanish-speaking patients.
“Lorena took the time to listen to my problems, and I felt relieved that someone was listening to me,” wrote a former patient.
Ms. Narvaez organized a student mission trip to Belize last summer, and “her true gifts showed when she held in her arms the children of Belize,” Dr. Dadig said. “Her softness of voice and her radiant smile seemed to comfort them, and momentarily allowed the children escape from their harsh surroundings. She assisted in the translation from Spanish to English, not just in words but in expression and empathy so the patients’ true feelings were known.”
Michael Adams, a physician assistant who worked with Ms. Narvaez during her internal medicine rotation, recalled her interaction with an impoverished migrant worker after a suicide attempt. In addition to treating him the hospital, she helped him obtain medications after his release, drove him to follow-up appointments and bought him nutritious groceries.
“Ms. Narvaez’s unselfish demonstration of compassion affected this patient profoundly and altered his perception and management of his life,” Mr. Adams wrote. “I believe Ms. Narvaez personifies the spirit of the Beard Award and what it is intended to convey.”