Elizabeth Lane
“It feels good to help people I love while also supporting nursing care at the Brigham,” says Lane. “To have been on one of the nation’s finest nursing staffs—and to have gained so many wonderful things from this institution—I felt the least I could do is this.”
For Elizabeth Lane, supporting Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) is both a commitment to the future of the hospital, and a celebration of its past.
Starting in the late 1960s, she spent 15 years on staff as a cardiac surgical nurse. “It was the best job I ever had,” says Lane, who is retired and divides her time between Massachusetts and California. Lane worked closely with some of the world’s most pioneering physicians and surgeons, including the late former chiefs of cardiac surgery Lawrence H. Cohn, MD, and Jack Collins, MD. “We had a magnificent team of people. It was nice to be in an atmosphere where you’re working in a field of excellence.”
Today, she sees that same spirit of unity and profound dedication to patients in the Center of Nursing Excellence, to which she recently funded a $250,000 charitable gift annuity (CGA). After touring the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit at the Shapiro Cardiovascular Center and seeing the incredible advances in medicine and surgery, she was inspired to give back. “I was so impressed with their patient-centered approach,” said Lane.
Lane’s passion for caregiving continues to make a difference in the lives of others. She set up her CGA to provide extra income for her family while simultaneously supporting educational opportunities for nursing at BWH.
“It feels good to help people I love while also supporting nursing care at the Brigham,” says Lane. “To have been on one of the nation’s finest nursing staffs—and to have gained so many wonderful things from this institution—I felt the least I could do is this.”
