ESU’s Lehigh Valley Center to Host Annual Speaker Series Event to Discuss ‘Magic and Mystery of the Mind’

For three decades, Yvonne Troiani Sweeney, a nurse and 1978 East Stroudsburg University graduate, has been passionate about treating patients with dignity and compassion. On March 20, she will visit ESU’s Lehigh Valley Center to help kick off the annual speaker series in her name that aims to educate and inspire current and future health professionals.

This year’s speaker for the Yvonne Troiani Sweeney Endowed Lecture Series for Nursing Enrichment will be John Castaldo, M.D., a professor, USF College of Medicine, and Chief of Neurology at Lehigh Valley Hospital’s department of medicine. Dr. Castaldo received his undergraduate degree from Dartmouth College and completed his medical school and residency training in Neurology at the Dartmouth College and Medical School in Hanover N.H. and has specialty training in Vascular Neurology (Stroke) as well as headache disorders. Castaldo will give a lecture titled “The Magic and Mystery of the Mind,” at 6 p.m. at the ESU Lehigh Valley Center at 60 West Broad Street, Bethlehem.

The program is free and the public is welcome. A reception will follow. Nurses who attend will be eligible for continuing education credits.
The lecture series is sponsored by the Niedbala Family Foundation, which is run by Sweeney’s sister, Linda Lee Niedbala of Emmaus, Pa., and her husband, Sam, both ESU graduates.

“This was a way for us to honor my sister’s passion for continuing education, especially for those working in patient care,” said Linda Niedbala ’83. “Yvonne has dedicated her professional career to preserving the dignity and value of the individual. And she demonstrated that to me all my life.”

Four years ago, Sweeney, of Mountaintop, Pa., was diagnosed with a form of early onset dementia called posterior cortical atrophy.
Sweeney graduated from ESU in 1978 with a Bachelor of Science in nursing and worked as the head nurse at the Burn Center at what is now Lehigh Valley Health Network.

Linda said her sister’s passion for patient care came through in the work she did with burn victims.

“When a child would go home from the burn center with a Jobst bandage — the burn bandage that would be like a suit — Yvonne would have a program at the elementary, middle or high school in which she would go talk to the class and then the child would come out to answer questions,” Niedbala said. “She really was educating everybody for the comfort of the patient.”

Sweeney received her Master of Science in nursing from Villanova University. She served as director of nursing at Franklin Square Hospital Center in Baltimore and later as director of nursing at the Albert Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia. After her sons, Christopher III and Michael were born, she cut back to work part time as a per diem nurse and school nurse.

Sweeney loved ESU and was a big reason why Linda Lee Niedbala chose the university.

“She’s always been a role model for me,” Niedbala said. “I remember late night talks when I was in high school and she would come home from college and I just loved sitting at the kitchen table, drinking coffee and talking to her all night about what was going on.”

Yvonne’s husband, Christopher and sons Christopher III and Michael carry on her commitment to provide compassionate care and preserve dignity as they dedicate their days to her care and well-being while enjoying her to the fullest.

The Niedbalas chaired ESU’s comprehensive campaign “Today’s Dream, Tomorrow’s Reality,” which raised more than $20.5 million for the university. Sam Niedbala, Ph.D., is a co-founder of OraSure Technologies and a Lehigh University professor of chemistry and bioengineering. In 2010, the Niedbalas started a medical device company, CryoConcepts LP of Bethlehem.

For more information about the lecture series, please contact Laura Waters, Ph.D., ESU associate professor and chair of nursing, at (570) 422-3569. Those interested in making a gift to the Yvonne Troianni-Sweeney Endowed Lecture Series for Nursing Enrichment may call ESU’s Office of University Advancement at (570) 422-7000.

Search

Recent Posts