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By Dr. Stefany Almaden, PhD RN, MSN, CCM, CMCN, CPUM, PAHM
I am writing this in the hope the Case Management Society and Community never forgets the early leaders that contributed to the path set today for Case/Care managers to follow. Our footprints in this world may blow away over time but the dep memories of these leaders carve a place in our hearts.
Today, I may be late writing this obituary of a very dear friend of mine, but when we lost her, I was on my way to JFK and on to Greece, land of my ancestors. Offering condolences, I asked her sister for permission to notify this community of this loss upon my return: On March 16. 2023 @ 1:30 AM, The Case Management Community lost a brilliant mind and a beautiful, loving, caring, and extremely funny person who never allowed her life’s crises ruin her joy for living and making a difference. Dr. Ilamae Hughes (RN, MSN, DNP) Leader in Case/Care Management in Hospital system(s) and past Associate Faculty at University of California San Diego -UCSD- suffered multiple strokes that she challenged overtime. Using her humor, she called her weak arm “Wilbur” and her affected eye “Wilma”. Whenever I visited her in Tucson, AZ, where she retired after leaving CA, and asked her how she was doing or if she can participate in activities; her beautiful smile and humor would refer the response to Wilbur and Wilma instead. While Dr. Ilamae passed, she never lost the fight, as she held on to see her son first who visited from FL, and afterwards she passed away at age 91 on her own terms in her apartment with her equally loving and caring sister Jeanne, and her Caregiver; just as she always advocated for dying with dignity and with someone by your side.
Dr. Ilamae Hughes was the one to introduce me early on to CMSA and to the importance of CCM certification. We were working in two different Organizations that had Risk-sharing agreement; but neither executive leadership were working together. At the time, I had a corporate office where I worked and an office in the hospital where she worked. So, Dr. Ilamae and I formed a bond at the workplace and managed to bring the two organizations closer and magnify the power of teamwork and the respect for Case Management Services. Our friendship, trust, respect and passions for Case/Care Management work and travel extended outside work. That is why I could not let her pass in silence and wanted to be the voice for remembering such a great Case/Care Management Leader and a beautiful person. Dr. Ilamae was a pioneer in commanding respect for Case Management work and for Nurses with a Doctoral level degrees to be referred to as doctors. She would always tell me, “No one is calling physicians by their first name, so why should it be any different for you, me, or others, we ought to be called doctors as we have earned this title”. Farewell my friend, you made a difference, and I hope you are in a better place spreading joy and witty humor; and until we meet again, I am hanging on to the memories. Rest in Peace my friend, you may be gone, but never forgotten!
If you have a lost a case management friend or colleague in the last year and you would like them included in the In Memoriam at the 2023 CMSA Annual Conference, please email cmsa@cmsa.org