Heroes
Lee Suszycki: Founder and Friend
Lee Suszycki, MSW, ACSW, was the Founder of the Society for Transplant Social Workers. She was a visionary, an advocate for the profession of social work, and one amazing lady. Here is a tribute to Lee as remembered by her co-worker and friend Catherine Paykin.
Lee went to New York University School of Social Work. She studied social work because she cared about others. Her entire career spanning 30 years was spent at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in New York. She did front-line social work and eventually supervised 24 others. I was her first “report.”
Lee pioneered the heart, lung and liver transplant social work role. The teams were high powered, yet she carved a niche for social work involvement in every aspect of the pre- and post-transplant care. She believed in learning by listening—to team members and to patients. She wasn’t afraid of controversy and could manage confrontation.
Lee managed the largest heart transplant social work program in the country and a large lung and kidney program as well. The heart program had a waiting list of 500 heart candidates and oversaw a minimum of two heart transplants per week. She and I began the lung and liver social work programs. Lee loved group work. She ran a pre-transplant support group biweekly and considered clinical counseling primary. She was appointed by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid to help draft the heart transplant regulations. She conceived the idea to found the Society of Clinical Heart Transplant Social Workers and then proceeded to call every heart transplant social worker in the country and invite them to join. A year later she formed the liver transplant social work association.
During the first annual Society meeting, which was held in New York City in 1986, the social workers stayed in Midtown and took the subway up to Columbia for the sessions and lunch. I remember the program booklet had a red tassel. The speakers were famed heart transplant team members from Columbia. Lee had her supervisor’s name above her own and she told and taught me, “Always recognize your supervisor. Never forget to mention the supervisor whenever you do something special.”
Lee believed that the issues of heart and liver candidates and recipients were different clinically from those of typical medical patients. She believed that the social workers needed a separate group to network, support each other, learn from each other and address these unique issues. Judy Midelfort , from the University of Wisconsin, worked hand in hand with Lee in organizing the Society during the formative years.
In subsequent years, I remember Lee giving cutting edge presentations to the Society on retransplantation and cultural aspects of transplantation. Both topics, common today, were not common in the mid-1980s. After work, she would go to the school medical library and research and write, sometimes until 3:00am. Occasionally my home phone would ring at 1am – Lee would call me when she had a great idea in the middle of the night. She wrote some beautiful articles about heart transplantation published in peer reviewed journals:
Suszycki, L.H. (1988). Psychosocial aspects of heart transplantation. Social Work, v33 n3 p205-209.
Suszycki, L.H. (1986) Social work groups on a heart transplant program. Heart Transplantation, 5, 166-170.
Video taped, her support group was presented at a Society meeting. She, Judy Midelfort, Marilyn Bell and others were key in bringing forth the clinical messages of how people coped with waiting for a transplant and life afterward. Lee pushed me to learn, do, and expand. She sent me to look at “poster presentations” to figure out just what they were so we could present one.
Forever stylish, Lee’s attire routinely showcased splashes of stunning colors. Imagine pumpkin, turquoise and rose silk swirling around her as she walked. Whether as a rich brunette or a sunny blonde, her small stature was overshadowed by her flair and style. A quintessential New Yorker, Lee knew how and where to shop for high quality fashion on a social work salary. She had a pet parakeet named Jewel, and a crystal chandelier in her studio. She enjoyed a good Manhattan bagel.
Lee wrote the following in the Fall 1988 Newsletter: "I feel very privileged to have been the founder and president of our Network. I treasure the honor. More than anything, I am supremely delighted the Network continues to be a useful and exciting forum for knowledge-building and gives us the opportunity to share that knowledge in a lively and cohesive manner." Lee died in May, 1991.
I think she would be proud of the people who continued to develop the vision and mission for this Society and move it forward. I wish she could be here with us as we celebrate the 25th Anniversary. She would be proud.
Catherine Paykin