Remembering Norma Shoemaker: A Nurse Pioneer and SCCM’s First Executive Director

Norma was the wife of SCCM founding member William C. Shoemaker, MD, and is credited with advancing the fledgling organization, especially during its early years. An SCCM Council member from 1975 to 1978, Norma was the ideal person to serve as executive director when she accepted the role in May 1978. She was in attendance during the historic February 1970 meeting that led to the establishment of SCCM and fully supported the Society’s mission and goals. She had already been handling some SCCM affairs behind the scenes since the early 1970s. Before SCCM had an official office space, the SCCM “headquarters” was a desk in the Shoemakers’ home in Anaheim, California.

It is Norma who is credited with putting SCCM on the map, establishing an office, hiring staff, and organizing records. In the early years of her tenure as executive director, she served without pay, accepting a salary only when the organization was finally on firm financial ground.

During her tenure, the Society increased its membership and took on many important projects, including producing highly regarded educational programming and scientific publications, establishing the American College of Critical Care Medicine, and developing the Fundamental Critical Care Support course.

Norma retired in 1995 after 17 years leading SCCM. SCCM President Joseph E. Parrillo, MD, MCCM, echoed the sentiments of many members as he thanked Norma during his presidential address: “Norma’s contributions to the Society are unparalleled and deeply appreciated. She has spent thousands of hours providing SCCM with skillful leadership, boundless enthusiasm, and tireless dedication. We owe her our deepest gratitude.”

To honor her career and dedication to SCCM, Norma was awarded SCCM Honorary Lifetime Membership, and a tribute dinner was held during the 1996 Educational and Scientific Symposium, during which Norma reflected on her contributions to SCCM. “My time with the Society was about dreams or, in today’s language, vision. I’m still amazed that 30-some founding individuals could produce a vision statement that was still valid, operationally sound, and executable 25 years later. I’m grateful for the opportunity to have made a difference and for the faith of so many of you in my ability to translate [the founders’] dreams into reality.”

Many SCCM leaders and nurses everywhere affectionately remember that Norma “gave them their wings.” She was most appreciated for being a mentor to members and staff alike; her philosophy was that all ideas, large and small, were worth consideration.

Her legacy as a trailblazer for nurses will live on in SCCM’s Norma J. Shoemaker Award for Critical Care Nursing Excellence, which was established in 1992 to recognize a nurse member who demonstrates excellence in critical care clinical practice, education, and/or administration. She received SCCM’s Lifetime Achievement award in 2003. SCCM also offers an honorary lecture in her name each year during the Critical Care Congress.

“Norma nurtured those in leadership positions to develop and contribute to their full abilities, recalled SCCM Past President Maurene Harvey, MPH, MCCM, who served as SCCM’s first nurse president from 2002 to 2003. “She shunned the limelight but delighted in shepherding SCCM in its efforts to advance the science and practice of critical care. Those in leadership positions throughout her 17 years of dedicated service will attest to how critical her contributions were to what the SCCM is today.”

Normal earned a bachelor of science in nursing from Fairleigh University in New Jersey. She worked at the Cook County Hospital Trauma Center in Chicago and at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City in the Falk Intensive Care Unit. She and William raised four sons.

Norma’s contributions to critical care and to SCCM cannot be overstated. She will be missed. She was a true pioneer. As R. Phillip Dellinger, MD, MCCM, noted, “If it weren’t for people like Will and Norma and the impact they had on our field, the type of critical care we deliver would not be quite as good as it is.”