By JORDANA HORN Kate Webster, a Student Health educator and women's health advocate whose insight made a great impact on students and faculty from all over Philadelphia, died on July 6 of a heart attack. She was 42. Webster was well known both on and off campus for her devotion to education, whether it was teaching doctors to be more sensitive to the needs of women patients, or teaching students how to listen to and care for one another through her example. "She knew, above everything else, that you treat other people with respect, compassion and dignity," Student Health educator Susan Villari said. "She did it every single day." Webster came to the University two and a half years ago. Prior to that, she worked at the Elizabeth Blackwell Health Center for Women, where for 16 years she worked with troubled and abused women, giving them counseling and gynecological treatment. Villari, who was Webster's best friend, said that whenever she went anywhere in Philadelphia with Webster, "someone would run up and say, 'Kate!'" "There were women there who wouldn't trust their bodies to anyone but Kate," Villari said. "Women would just pour their hearts out to her." In 1980, Webster founded Surrogate Patient Education Consultants, an organization developed to teach doctors-to-be how to be sensitive to their gynecological patients and their needs. Through that group, Webster and her associates taught every medical student in Philadelphia. That training is part of the general curriculum for doctors, physicians' assistants and nurse practitioners. Colleagues said they were thrilled when Webster brought her talents in women's health issues to the University. "She was an incredible resource for the Penn community," Penn's Women Center Director Elena DiLapi said yesterday. "She had a special gift that she could relate to a whole range of folks." At the University, Webster worked on the HIV-AIDS Task Force as head of the education committee, and spearheaded the efforts of Facilitating Learning About Sexual Health. "She had a tremendous amount of energy, and did a lot more work than any one person could do," said Assistant Director of Student Life Programs Robert Schoenberg. "She formed very strong connections with students." College junior Aly Cohen, a FLASH peer health educator, is among many students who said they believe Webster is irreplaceable. "She was an absolute comedian, she was terrifically intelligent, she knew her stuff - she was very qualified in every aspect of her job, but she was also a friend," Cohen said. "I've never met anyone so dedicated." Many of Webster's friends said that her sense of humor contributed to her unusual ability to make people feel at home, whether with their bodies or themselves. Villari spoke of Webster teaching a group of "macho" guys at a dorm meeting that even a baseball bat could "wear" a condom. Through making students laugh, Villari said, Webster could also make them listen and feel comfortable. Mary Webster, Kate's sister who worked with her in Student Health, said that Kate "truly believed in how she lived." "She was exactly the same at Penn as she always was with my family," she said. "She was the glue that held the family together." Assistant Health Educator Janet Zinser said Webster's constant caring made her into a "guardian angel" figure for many people. "We're banking that we now have our own guardian angel," Zinser said. "She was while she was here. Now, though, it's a little different." A memorial service open to the University community will be held for Webster on Tuesday, September 21 from 4 to 6 p.m. at the University Museum's Rainey Auditorium. Villari said Student Health encourages students who would like to discuss Webster's death to visit their offices in room 310 of Houston Hall.
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