Nursing
Mary Connelly, BSN, RN, nurse coordinator in the pulmonary hypertension clinic at Baylor Scott & White The Heart Hospital – Plano, was inspired to go into healthcare after a visit to the hospital with her dad.
“It was fascinating, watching them give shots and take blood. They kept telling me to look away, but I didn’t want to miss a thing,” Mary said.
Mary earned her first bachelor’s degree in psychology, then, three years later, completed an accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing program. While living in Maryland, Mary’s husband got a job offer in Texas. The physicians with whom she’d developed relationships over nearly 20 years had a consistent piece of advice as she searched for a job in Texas.
“The only place they told me to work was Baylor,” said Mary, who joined BSW – Plano Heart in 2011 as a bedside cardiac nurse. “It’s important for me to physically be somewhere to get a feel for the atmosphere and whether it’s a place I want to work. The atmosphere here was extremely different from all the other places I’d been to. It’s a family.”
Mary and her husband have four biological children. When they moved to Texas, a fifth child joined them. The boy, who was in their son’s class, was suffering in his home life. His father passed away when he was young, his mother was bed-ridden with multiple sclerosis.
The Connellys took him in, guided him through high school and are now helping him preparing for college.
Words from Mary’s nominator
“This immediately showed her caring heart and giving spirit,” Adrian Felder, NP, who was a coordinator when Mary joined the System, wrote in her letter nominating her for the Excellence in Nursing Award. “Mary is a very caring person and is always giving her attention to others in need.”
Mary transitioned to her coordinator role in 2019. One of her favorite aspects of being bedside was figuring out how to earn patients’ trust—a different challenge for a coordinator interacting with patients primarily over the phone.
“I miss and love bedside nursing,” she said. “When you’re bedside, you’re using all your senses. When you call a patient on the phone, you can’t see them. You have to figure out how to get the information you need.”
Mary helped to develop a pulmonary embolism follow-up clinic structure and developed a patient education handbook that is provided to patients and caregivers at the time of discharge. With data gathered since the pulmonary embolism clinic opened in 2021, she and her colleagues are on track to publish their findings.
“That’s been fun, and that’s the team I work with,” she said. “It’s not me. It’s all about the team.”
