Margaret "Maggie" Beatty Coolican
A graduate of the Branford High School Class of '59, Maggie Beatty Coolican, MS, RN, and COE is a national health care educator. She teaches a positive approach to organ donation and death and dying. Maggie completed her Master's Degree in Public Health Education from Southern Connecticut University in 1989. She completed a Bachelor’s of Science in 1987 from Southern New Hampshire University in Human Services. Maggie graduated from New Britain General Hospital's School of Nursing in 1962 and is a CT Registered Nurse.
Maggie's career in health education began as she was raising her children with her husband Don, in East Hampton, CT. The sudden death of their youngest child, Katie, required Maggie and Don to make the most difficult, but precious, decision of their lives. They donated Katie's organs when their child was pronounced brain dead. Maggie immediately recognized the importance of spreading the word to the health care professionals and other parents regarding the crucial role they can play in assuring that another child might live by the donation of a dying child's organs or tissue. There was no national program for promoting the use of youngsters' organs for donation at that time. There also was no aftercare for the families of any donors in the United States in the early 1980's.
Maggie began as a volunteer, traveling miles across the country to speak to professional health care audiences. She focused on the impact that caring for a dying patient has on these professionals. She is the founder of the National Donor Family Council of the National Kidney Foundation, a support group for donor families, which began at the Coolican's kitchen table. She volunteers her time at local emergency rooms providing support to families whose loved ones are facing terminal illnesses and accidents of family members.
Maggie's leadership abilities flourished at Branford High School as a member of the National Honor Society, as Captain of the Cheerleading Squad and as a class officer. Her team spirit shone on the basketball, field hockey and dance teams. She was always eager to teach and willing to learn. After receiving her RN, Maggie worked for the Visiting Nurses Association in New Jersey and married airline pilot and Captain Don Coolican, USNR. Making their home in East Hampton, CT, she was involved in PTO, school activities arid productions while enjoying her family of six children and beginning her life's work. The Coolican's have been host family to foreign exchange students and coordinated the Fresh Air Fund, CT. Maggie is dedicated to her thirteen grandchildren. Maggie enjoys her relationships with her BHS classmates who have stayed in Branford and those friends who have moved about.
As Maggie's message was heard, Hartford Hospital created positions to assist her in her work, beginning in 1984, where she founded the Trauma Support Team. She implemented a team approach to holistic care from admission to aftercare. During these years Maggie continued to volunteer, creating the national Donor Family Newsletter, where she is a Professional Editor. Maggie continued teaching in Public Health Education at Hartford Hospital and for Life Choice Donor Services (1998-present). Today she is responsible for program development and education for the Musculoskeletal Transplant Foundation, the world's largest tissue bank. She is Chair of the CEU Committee and a member of the Credentialing Committee for the Association of Death Education and Counseling. Maggie began writing articles for medical journals in 1987. Her first in the American Journal of Nursing is an abstract titled "Katie's Legacy".
This dynamo makes over 50 presentations annually in CT and MA. Her educational focus is on bereavement and organ/tissue donation. Maggie's affiliations have included work with The Surgeon General's Organ Donation Public Education Workgroup, John's Hopkins, Western Case Reserve Universities, the University of CT, the American Medical Association, the Institute of Medicine, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Association of Organ Procurement Organizations and the CT Eye Bank. Maggie has received many unsolicited awards such as the MD Achievement Award of the National Kidney Foundation. Other acknowledgments for her endeavors are the Trustees Award from the NKF, Washington, DC, a Partners in Caring Gold Award and an Annual Award of the American Council of Transplantation.
Maggie's family and her work are her passions. Maggie's unwavering dedication to Katie's legacy changes untold lives. She accomplishes this through education. She has become a driving force in raising the bar towards an enlightened outlook on dying, death and the ultimate gift, organ donation.
Maggie's career in health education began as she was raising her children with her husband Don, in East Hampton, CT. The sudden death of their youngest child, Katie, required Maggie and Don to make the most difficult, but precious, decision of their lives. They donated Katie's organs when their child was pronounced brain dead. Maggie immediately recognized the importance of spreading the word to the health care professionals and other parents regarding the crucial role they can play in assuring that another child might live by the donation of a dying child's organs or tissue. There was no national program for promoting the use of youngsters' organs for donation at that time. There also was no aftercare for the families of any donors in the United States in the early 1980's.
Maggie began as a volunteer, traveling miles across the country to speak to professional health care audiences. She focused on the impact that caring for a dying patient has on these professionals. She is the founder of the National Donor Family Council of the National Kidney Foundation, a support group for donor families, which began at the Coolican's kitchen table. She volunteers her time at local emergency rooms providing support to families whose loved ones are facing terminal illnesses and accidents of family members.
Maggie's leadership abilities flourished at Branford High School as a member of the National Honor Society, as Captain of the Cheerleading Squad and as a class officer. Her team spirit shone on the basketball, field hockey and dance teams. She was always eager to teach and willing to learn. After receiving her RN, Maggie worked for the Visiting Nurses Association in New Jersey and married airline pilot and Captain Don Coolican, USNR. Making their home in East Hampton, CT, she was involved in PTO, school activities arid productions while enjoying her family of six children and beginning her life's work. The Coolican's have been host family to foreign exchange students and coordinated the Fresh Air Fund, CT. Maggie is dedicated to her thirteen grandchildren. Maggie enjoys her relationships with her BHS classmates who have stayed in Branford and those friends who have moved about.
As Maggie's message was heard, Hartford Hospital created positions to assist her in her work, beginning in 1984, where she founded the Trauma Support Team. She implemented a team approach to holistic care from admission to aftercare. During these years Maggie continued to volunteer, creating the national Donor Family Newsletter, where she is a Professional Editor. Maggie continued teaching in Public Health Education at Hartford Hospital and for Life Choice Donor Services (1998-present). Today she is responsible for program development and education for the Musculoskeletal Transplant Foundation, the world's largest tissue bank. She is Chair of the CEU Committee and a member of the Credentialing Committee for the Association of Death Education and Counseling. Maggie began writing articles for medical journals in 1987. Her first in the American Journal of Nursing is an abstract titled "Katie's Legacy".
This dynamo makes over 50 presentations annually in CT and MA. Her educational focus is on bereavement and organ/tissue donation. Maggie's affiliations have included work with The Surgeon General's Organ Donation Public Education Workgroup, John's Hopkins, Western Case Reserve Universities, the University of CT, the American Medical Association, the Institute of Medicine, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Association of Organ Procurement Organizations and the CT Eye Bank. Maggie has received many unsolicited awards such as the MD Achievement Award of the National Kidney Foundation. Other acknowledgments for her endeavors are the Trustees Award from the NKF, Washington, DC, a Partners in Caring Gold Award and an Annual Award of the American Council of Transplantation.
Maggie's family and her work are her passions. Maggie's unwavering dedication to Katie's legacy changes untold lives. She accomplishes this through education. She has become a driving force in raising the bar towards an enlightened outlook on dying, death and the ultimate gift, organ donation.