Healing hands and a giving heart

Lucinda MagwoodBy Catherine Caroe

Lucinda Magwood believes that when you think about retirement, you have to look at how meaningful your life was during that time and you have to have truly enjoyed the work you were doing. Today, Magwood has been a part of MUSC for more than 30 years and she can confidently attest that she enjoys each and every day she works. As a way of saying thank you to MUSC for being her second home and family for all these years, she has decided to make MUSC a beneficiary of her retirement plan. She hopes that through MUSC, people will be able to further their career, grow and learn, and give back to those in need. “Heroes work here and they have dedicated their profession to making a difference in the care delivered to patients with compassion, caring, education, research, and community involvement,” Magwood explained.

Magwood has wanted to be a nurse since she was 8 years old. When she was a little girl, her mother would work away from the house and Magwood began taking care of her younger siblings in her mother’s place. She would miss days of school to take care of her brother and sister and from that point on, Magwood knew that she wanted to help people.

After being a nurse in New York for some time, Magwood moved to South Carolina in 1984 to raise children of her own. She soon discovered her place in the burn unit at MUSC and now continues to foster relationships with her peers and patients in the medical intensive care unit (MICU).

“When people go into the medical and nursing field, it has to be for the love of humanity,” Magwood said. “We really and genuinely care about you and we know how precious your life is.”

While Magwood has been able to provide care, support, and love to all the patients and families who have come to her, she also believes that MUSC has immensely given back to her and to every individual who has walked through those doors. “This hospital does a lot, and a lot of people don’t realize how involved the hospital really is,” Magwood explained. “They not only take care of the patient, but they also take care of the whole entire family.” Magwood looks forward to every day that she gets to work and help others. “When you get that little hug at the end of the day and they say ‘thank you’, it’s all worth it,” she said.

Magwood gives her children advice we could all use. “You have to find something you love and stick with it,” she said. “And you have to be true to yourself. While you’re doing that, see what you can do to try to help somebody else.” She has not only practiced this with her children and within her home, she has practiced this in her career by making MUSC the beneficiary of her retirement assets.

Magwood shared just how important being able to give back to MUSC is to her. “I think it’s a wonderful thing,” she said. “It’s a nice way to give back not only to the hospital, but to give back to humanity because of the research that they do and the strides they are making in health care. It can make someone’s life extra meaningful and it can give them that extra year or more to live,” Magwood said. Once told she has healing hands, Magwood expressed that she is forever grateful to be part of the MUSC team.