WakeMed’s very own Mallory Magelli McKeown, of WakeMed Children’s, is among this year’s 40 Under 40 Leadership Awards winners. The Triangle Business Journal (TBJ) received more than 200 nominations for the 2022 awards cycle.
Successes in 2021
Mallory Magelli McKeown, 32, is the manager of the family navigation program for WakeMed Children’s Hospital — and the first employee to serve in this role at WakeMed. She gets to know every family at WakeMed Children’s, helping them navigate a hospital stay, listening to their needs and advocating for them in critical moments of their care. A compassionate presence for young patients and their families, Mallory gives the tools to begin to cope with often life-changing hardships while also celebrating the journey of new life and health victories.
Whether it’s coming in the middle of the night to support grieving families or planning events and activities to promote family involvement, we are amazed at how many people’s lives Mallory makes better each day.
In 2021, Mallory was instrumental in bringing NicView, a secure, streaming camera system, to WakeMed. Placed at designated bed spaces in WakeMed’s Level IV NICU and Level III Special Care Nurseries, the NicView cameras provide added reassurance, security and connection for WakeMed’s NICU families. The cameras help families bond with their preemie or hospitalized infant, even when they can’t be in the NICU with them, providing piece of mind.
This technology that Mallory championed for and ultimately implemented at WakeMed has truly been a gamechanger for our patients and their families — and all the more meaningful during the pandemic.
“These cameras have been a dream of ours for a while,” said Mallory. “Even though we saw a need for it well before COVID, I am so grateful for it during this challenging time for so many families and care providers. The ability for parents to still see their babies while away can really lower the anxiety for some parents until they can get back to the bedside.”
Introducing NicView has also given grandparents, extended family members and loved ones the opportunity to see the babies prior to going home, no matter where they live. With ongoing travel concerns and necessary hospital visitation restrictions, this technology has been incredibly helpful and appreciated.
Within the first few months of piloting the NicView system across WakeMed, Mallory excitedly reported that the new service had already reached nearly 44,000 log-ins from nearly all 50 states and 10 different countries. Currently, WakeMed’s NicView system averages over 7,000 views per month!
“I feel very lucky to have this incredible job. I’ve learned that people care infinitely and that you can’t make assumptions. People care profoundly, of course, for their own child, but they also care for the people around them. I have been moved by the support that our NICU families have wanted to extend to their peers because they don’t want them to feel alone on this journey.” — Mallory Magelli McKeown
Leadership Roles in the Past 5 Years
Mallory’s leadership, passion and day-to-day interactions with families was the catalyst to grow the family navigation program at WakeMed. Prior to becoming a WakeMed Children’s family navigator in 2018 — a position created specifically for Mallory to support patients and their families through funding by the WakeMed Foundation — she worked as a hospital chaplain. That background allows her to serve and support patients and families on a different level when it is needed most.
Mallory was named manager of family navigation in 2020, and today, she leads a team of family navigators and neonatal development specialists who provide unparalleled kindness and compassion to families during the most difficult times.
Mallory oversees several programs in WakeMed Children’s Level IV NICU, including Beads of Courage and the NICU Graduate Parent program, where she works alongside volunteers who help serve meals in the unit, celebrate holidays with current NICU families and much more. She is leading a Peer-to-Peer Mentor program for WakeMed NICU parents as well as a support group for NICU graduate parents.
She is also a member of WakeMed’s Patient and Family Engagement committee.
Community Activity/Involvement in 2021
In 2021, Mallory proudly spoke about her decision to get the Dose of Hope, the COVID-19 vaccine, as a breastfeeding mother. Mallory received two doses of the Pfizer vaccine and provided support and encouragement to other mothers considering getting the vaccine.
She is an advocate for mental health and meaningful connection and conversation. Mallory serves as a facilitator for You Are Not Alone, a local support group that meets to allow those with mental health issues, and those who love others with mental health issues, to come together and learn that they are not alone.
An ordained minister, she has also officiated countless weddings, ceremonies and celebrations of life in the community. Mallory and her husband, Ben, are also active members of St. Paul’s Christian Church in Raleigh.
Other Achievements
When Mallory isn’t busy with work and her twin boys, who she and her husband, Ben, welcomed in September of 2020, she serves as an ambassador for the WakeMed Gives campaign. WakeMed Gives is an employee giving campaign that provides an opportunity for all employees, including executives and physicians, to donate to support WakeMed patients, their families and the WakeMed team. Employee ambassadors are recruited and trained to spread the message of giving and impact to WakeMed’s more than 10,000 employees.
In April 2022, Mallory will present at the 2022 Virtual Carolinas Association of Neonatal Nurse Practitioners (CANNP) Symposium to discuss supporting parents in the NICU and sharing the road she took to create a Family Navigation Program at WakeMed.
Additionally, she recently received a certificate in Healthcare Management from Cornell University (2021).
Mallory is an invaluable asset to WakeMed and serves as a pillar of strength and beacon of hope for families going through some of their darkest times. She is truly a gift to WakeMed, our patients and the community. And at just 32-years-old, she has already made a lasting impact and will continue to change countless lives for the better.
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