Alice Debate: Southeastern Gynecologic Oncology at St. Joseph’s, Atlanta

By Clare Morris

For AJC Jobs

As a chemotherapy nurse, Alice Debate sees many patients whose emotions are raw. The chairs that line her treatment suite at Southeastern Gynecologic Oncology at St. Joseph’s in Atlanta are filled with women in various stages of battles against ovarian cancer.

Leita Cowart, Special Alice Debate

Leita Cowart, Special Alice Debate talks with cancer patient Sandy Markley at Southeastern Gynecologic Oncology at St. Joseph’s.

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Many of those patients find renewed strength and comfort in Debate’s quite voice, steady demeanor and cheery manner.

Halle Holland was a first-time patient who recalled being in tears as her chemotherapy session began and wondering how she would find the strength to survive the scary ordeal.

“It was frightening,” she wrote in her nomination. “I found myself shaking with fear for what would be a full day of accepting toxins into my body, killing good cells with the bad. Then, my angel, Alice, swept in and changed everything. Noticing my tears, she rushed to me and put my face in her hands, locked gazes and began talking.

“Best I can remember, she talked of hope, possibilities, good medical care, strength. Alice held fast until I finally nodded a sign that I’d be OK.”

Holland observed Debate’s style of constantly moving among patients, speaking softly to one, laughing with another, and always with a gentle and reassuring hand.

“Her way with others was so different than the strong mothering she offered me,” Holland recalled. “But she knew just what I needed.”

Debate, 66, has long been dedicated to mothering and nursing. The oldest of 11 children, she grew up in Florida and took care of her siblings.

She wanted to be a nurse, but she didn’t finish high school right away. With three children of her own, Debate went back to school and reached her goal of becoming a nurse in 1990. Three years ago, she began working in oncology.

“It is an emotional job,” said Debate, who lives in southwest Atlanta. “For the first six months, I cried every day. But it can also be very loving and rewarding. I do meet some of the most wonderful women, and I want to help them.”

Some of Debate’s patients have been under her care during the entire time she has worked at Southeastern Gynecologic Oncology at St. Joseph’s. Some patients come in for chemotherapy treatments that last for a grueling six hours and others for less than 60 minutes. No matter how long patients stay, Debate spends personal time with each one.

“I try not to make things light because cancer is a scary thing,” she said. “But I try to make them feel like family, to encourage them, put a little humor in, make them laugh about something, just give them a hug.

“I know it’s hard for them. I ask God to give me strength because these women need me, and I believe I was put here to help them. I just wish I could heal them all.”