JANET LAVERIO

Mount Sinai South Nassau

Janet Laverio, 49, decided in high school to become a nurse and started her career following her 1994 graduation from Lyceum of the Philippines University, as a volunteer nurse in the Philippines. In college a palm reader told her someday she’d work in other countries; that came true when a partnership between a Filipino agency and Mount Sinai South Nassau brought her here.

“Nursing has always been in my mind,” Janet says. "When I was studying one of my professors told me nursing is not only a career but a calling. My thinking is that I’m one of those who were chosen to be in nursing. So, it’s my life, my calling to take care of other people, help them get well, not only the patients also their families as well.”

When Janet came to Long Island in 2004, she started working in the medical oncology ward and stayed there for 14 years, transferring to the pediatric unit in 2019. When the pandemic hit, her unit was altered to treat adults with Covid-19. Laverio said she hardly ate, drank, or went to the restroom while working because of her fear of the virus. “I was so scared when I got home I wore my masks here in the house.”

Janet has been awarded Employee of the Quarter twice in the unit and received the Daisy Award in November of 2022 for Nursing Excellence. She’s inspired her two nieces, one in Dubai and the other in the Philippines, to become nurses.