push me out, the stronger I became. Today, there are lots of men in nursing.” Emergency Department Charge Nurse Kandi Devenere, RN, calls Santiago “rock solid” and said he has a special ability to engage with patients. “He connects well with patients. No matter where they are at, he connects with them,” Devenere said. “He is a strong, confident, excellent nurse.” Santiago said he benefits from his experience and training from the 60s and his continued thirst for learning today. “I can remember something from 1968 as easily as I can something from 2010. I’ve learned the old way of doing things and also the new way of doing things, so I can fall back on my experience and teach,” he said. Educating and mentoring fellow nurses is at the heart of the STAT nurse job Santiago has come to embrace with passion and a quiet energy. He becomes part of the patient’s care team at an urgent time, assessing, evaluating and organizing care. “It’s a physiological photograph and when the picture changes, you need to train
nurses to be vigilant,” Santiago said. “We need to look at what is normal and what is not normal. When it is not normal, I can help and teach.” Santiago said nursing has come a long way since he started, requiring a higher skill level and involving a team approach to patient centered care. The team includes the doctor and nurses, right along with the aides, housekeepers and others. “The advantage is now you have a more holistic approach,” he said. Santiago is proud of the “incredibly good hospital” where he has worked for the past five years, and where he met his wife Jill, a hospice nurse, at the hospital holiday party more than four years ago. Santiago is determined to follow through on the promise he made to himself as he served in Vietnam. “I made it a priority, for all the friends I lost there, that I would live a life that respected their sacrifice, that I would live a life that they would be proud of,” he said. As he considers retirement from full-time work in a couple of years, he says he will do so “at the best hospital and at the top of my game. Here, I have the opportunity to be on the cutting edge right until my last day of work.” He is hopeful that STAT nursing will become a separate category within the field and encourages others to join in. “What I’m hoping is that new nurses will say ‘I would like to be a STAT nurse some day,’ ” he said. Given his joy in helping others, Santiago said he knows he will not ever stop working entirely, but will find ways to volunteer and continue to share his knowledge. “Wherever you go, you are an example and a light,” he said. “Whether you know it or not, they are learning.”
STAT Nurse Ernie Santiago, RN enjoys his role as a teacher and mentor among fellow nurses. Away from the job, below left, Santiago enjoys woodworking, quilting and travel.
HealthQuest FALL 2013
5