PROVO — Lynn Clark Callister can be described many ways. Some descriptions are professional, like researcher, teacher, R.N., Ph.D. Others are nurturing, like mother, grandmother, mentor and friend.
Some 3,500 of Callister's fellow nurses attending a recent conference in Florida gave her a standing ovation as she received an award for her life's work.
Callister, a professor at Brigham Young University, received the AWHONN Distinguished Professional Service Award from the Association of Women's Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses.
Two colleagues, Merry-K Moos and Debra Hobbins, each nominated Callister to receive the award.
Moos said Callister is not easily summarized but said she is known for "giving voice to those who might not be heard, advocating within the health care system for meaningful care and facilitating the incorporation of lifetime milestones such as birth and death into the personal fabric of each patient's life."
Hobbins said Callister literally changed her life by inviting her, as a new faculty member at BYU, to present papers with her and participate in writing articles. But Callister presents a motherly side to her students as well.
"She is such a fabulous person," Hobbins said. "She has parties for expectant students. She makes quilts for her nursing (school) students and hosts dinners for them."
Callister's most recent honor was for her contributions to maternal and child health, AWHONN and the nursing profession in the United States, Middle East and Eastern Europe.
Rather than accept the award solely for her own work, Callister dedicated it to "women around the world that have the courage to bear and rear children."
Callister has worked at BYU for 19 years, teaching and doing research in the field of prenatal care for women around the world.
Her work has taken her to Guatemala, Jordan, Finland, Russia and and Canada to work with Orthodox Jewish women. She was a Fulbright Scholar to the Russian Federation, helping improve perinatal services.
"They have such a need there," Callister said. "There are so many socio-economic and political shifts. They really need help and consultation."
Now she says an army of students is carrying on her work all over the world.
"It's an extension of my work," she said. "It really is so rewarding for me. And it's so amazing for these students."
The work done by Callister and her students doesn't necessarily take place far from home.
"We don't have to go thousands of miles and be Mother Teresa for a day," Callister said. "There are so many needs right here."
She recently conducted a study on a program at McKay-Dee Hospital in Ogden regarding Hispanic women. The hospital started a program called the Hispanic Labor Friend Initiative to pair a Spanish-speaking "friend" with a pregnant Hispanic mother to go through all the stages of prenatal care and delivery. Approximately one-third of births at McKay-Dee are to Hispanic families.
Callister was asked to study the program and do an outcome evaluation of women who have an assigned friend, compared to those who don't.
Cambria Jones worked on the research project with her.
"She's very dedicated," Jones said. "She takes a personal interest in the lives of those she talks to."
Callister said women are the gatekeepers for the health of their families and their desires need to be heard.
Callister said it's not so much a cultural thing as an issue of dignity when giving birth. In Russia, she said, some nurses told her they had never thought to ask the women what they thought about giving birth.
"This doesn't feel like work," Callister said. "I love listening to women. They've touched my life."
E-mail: knelson@desnews.com