Celebrating
May 12, 2022
ROOTED IN STRENGTH
LIVE GET AHEAD. LIVE TO
LIVE
IN THE SPOTLIGHT:
TO GIVE BACK.
MEET SOME OF OUR NURSE HEROES
JESSICA KIRK
Nurse Manager NYU Langone Long Island
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nurse for almost 18 years, it’s always been Jessica Kirk’s dream to pursue this career. As a teenager, however, she questioned if she’d be able to handle giving injections or taking blood and initially pursed a different career path in college. When her mother-in-law was diagnosed with metastatic colon cancer, she watched her go through treatments, and the nursing care inspired her to go back to school and fulfill her dream. “I became a nursing assistant when I was still in school,” Kirk says.“The rest is history.” The Covid-19 pandemic made her understand how resilient and innovative nurses can be. “We really had to think of different ways to care for our patients. It also reminded me how important patients’ families are.” At the beginning of the pandemic, there were several concerns for patients and staff. “How were we going to be prepared , how we will be affected,” she recounts. Now her nursing colleagues know how to care for Covid patients, and they stress the importance of being immunized. “Seeing the numbers going down has been positive,” Kirk says. “And it is so nice now to be able to have visitors back in the hospital.” What she finds most rewarding about nursing is simple: she finds the profession both an art and a science. “There is science behind it — you know that if you implement the best practices our patients will response positively. “Nursing is a profession with purpose,” Kirk says. “You stand with people when they’re going through trying and challenging times. I’ve learned so much from my patients about life and faith. It’s the best decision I’ve ever made, to become a nurse.”
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IN THE SPOTLIGHT:
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MEET SOME OF OUR NURSE HEROES
TAMISHA WITHERSPOON
Critical Care Nurse Nassau University Medical Center
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have been a nurse for over 20 years. Being a nurse to me means helping people in all aspects of care. Nursing to me includes being there for patients, their families, and my colleagues. Each nursing shift for 23 years my goal has been to protect my patients from harm and to help them heal. My role as a nurse is more than a job, it is the ability to be there for my patients on their worst days. Working at a trauma center in critical care patients needs someone who is confident in their ability to provide emergent care, and with many years of experience I am confident I can help these people on their path to getting better. Nursing to me has shown me how precious time is and never taking a minute for granted, and throughout the years for the patients we have lost I hope that I can be a guiding light for their families. Over the course of my nursing career I have seen many things, yet the pandemic was a first for everyone working in health care. Emotionally and physically nurses and other healthcare workers endured stress, sadness, and the burden that Covid carried. The pandemic was difficult, yet it showed me how my colleagues were able to come together in the times that our patients needed us the most. The pandemic has changed my mindset of nursing. Nursing is not just a job, it’s a way of life, it is caring for others without hesitation and jumping into the unknown. For these 23 years nursing has been difficult, challenging, yet extremely satisfying and I am proud to be an NUMC critical care nurse.
Nurse Supervisor Five Towns Premier Rehabilitation
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amisha Witherspoon was born in Brooklyn to immigrant parents from Guyana. Witherspoon began her career as a home health attendant and worked very hard to support her family while going to school to become a registered nurse. She comes from a long line of medical professionals and is very proud to be a nurse supervisor at the Five Towns Premier Rehabilitation in Woodmere. Witherspoon started her master’s degree in nursing and is a very caring and dedicated employee. Witherspoon loves to make a difference in the lives of others and finds it very rewarding to see her patients heal and recover. As a nurse educator, she enjoys teaching the young nurses entering the workforce the skills and knowledge they need to be an effective nurse. She is an inspiring mentor to all of the Five Towns Premier Rehabilitation staff. Meeting all walks of people and sharing her gifts of helping others has been the most rewarding part of her job. Witherspoon is a proud mom of four children and two grandchildren. Her colleagues at the Five Towns Premier Rehabilitation consider her “a gift to the facility.”
Ready to Be a Health Care Hero. Become the skilled, compassionate nurse health care needs now at St. Joseph’s University, New York, in Patchogue: • In-demand nursing and other health care programs at the undergraduate and graduate levels. • Rich, diverse campus life. • Affordable tuition, generous financial aid and scholarship opportunities. • Generous and flexible transfer credit policies.
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CELEBRATING NURSES - HERALD COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS — May 12, 2022
ANTOINETTE JEAN-LOUIS
IN THE SPOTLIGHT:
MEET SOME OF OUR NURSE HEROES
ANYA BASTIEN
NEEROOPA SURENDRANATH
nya Bastien was born in Haiti and immigrated to the United States for a better life. She received a degree in science from Adelphi University and was planning on studying medicine and becoming a physician. Shortly after, Bastein’s mother became very ill and was being treated in a hospital’s intensive care unit. It was the compassionate and talented nurses in that ICU that inspired her to go back to school and become a nurse. Nursing has truly been Bastien’s calling. She loves the clinical aspect of her job. Her attention to detail, specialized skills and commitment to patient advocacy makes her a top leader at the Five Towns Premier Rehabilitation in Woodmere. Bastien loves to connect with families and her compassion and kindness is felt by all those around her. Bastien’s strong work ethic and problem solving ability are essential skills that have had an enormous beneficial impact on her patients and colleagues. Bastien likes to always instill hope to her patients and instructs them to never give up. Her person-centered care approach allows her to practice empathy, as she makes a true effort to put herself in the patient’s shoes. Bastien’s ability to exercise leadership skills while mentoring others has helped her spread positivity to other nurses, patients and families. Premier officials said, “We are very proud of nurse Bastien, as each day she delivers the highest quality of care.”
hen Neeroopa Surendranath was 12-years-old in her native Guyana her appendix ruptured and it was a nurse that saved her life. She had emergency surgery and always felt such gratitude towards that compassionate nurse. Four years later, Surendranath came to the U.S. Schooling was important to her and her family; she graduated from Baruch College and began her career working on Wall Street as a legal compliance officer. But she never forgot that nurse and was inspired to go back to school and get a nursing degree from New York University. Surendranath worked several years at North Shore and St. John’s hospitals and has a certification in stroke and neuroscience. Covid was devastating to her as she did her best to help others and provide support and exemplary care during this horrific pandemic. Her personal and professional lives collided when her husband contracted Covid. As a nurse supervisor, Surendranath loves working at Five Towns Premier Rehabilitation in Woodmere and runs the third floor similar to an acute unit in a hospital. She applies her critical knowledge and problem solving skills to mentoring other nurses and treating the patients under their care. Having her nurses work as a team, Surendranath blends care, empathy and their talent to yield positive patient outcomes. She is considered a natural and genuine leader, by rehab administrators. Her nickname is “Sunshine” — she truly represents brightness to so many patients suffering in darkness.
Nurse Supervisor Five Towns Premier Rehabilitation
Nurse Superisor Five Towns Premier Rehabilitation
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CELEBRATING NURSES - HERALD COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS — May 12, 2022
To all the wonderful nurses at The Five Towns Premier, we salute and thank you for your compassion and dedication.
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IN THE SPOTLIGHT:
MEET SOME OF OUR NURSE HEROES
OLENA NOSARYEVA
MARIZAN GALLAGHER
am from the Ukraine and have been at Glen Cove Hospital for five years now. I always liked helping other people so going into nursing was an easy choice for me. It is an opportunity to help other people get better. I also like being a nurse because it gives me an opportunity for continued growth professionally and personally. I always have to learn something new and get to meet different people — patients and members of a medical team. Being a nurse teaches me a lot. I have a master’s degree in Nursing Informatics. It’s a combination of nursing and IT. In recent years there is a lot of different technologies in nursing. Covid was a big challenge for me personally but a great learning experience too. It effected so many people. You learn in nursing school different skills in case of different types of emergencies, but you don’t usually use them because hopefully you don’t need to use them. During Covid we ended up using some of those skills that we thought we’d never use. I was thankful for all that my professors had taught me. Covid was a shock for most of us. I helped very sick people and I was so happy I could help these people get better. They didn’t have their families with them. We were there for them. We held their hands, which was so important to them. There are so many different areas in nursing. You can gain new skills and knowledge. Nursing really is a lifelong learning process. I think it has made me more empathetic to other people.
began my journey as a registered nurse in 1992 in my native country, the Philippines. I began working as a medical surgical nurse at Glen Cove Hospital in 2009. Nursing is my calling. I was born to be one. I love being a nurse and find it so rewarding to see patients get through their health challenges. To see them get better and go home is rewarding. I am the oldest of four. Both of my parents worked, so I became a nurse without formal training by the time I was 12, becoming proficient at childcare and eldercare. I found it rewarding to take care of my family. I felt like I was making a difference. I worked in the geriatric unit at Glen Cove Hospital during the coronavirus pandemic. I was scared during that time because I didn’t want to pass the virus on to my family. And there was little information available during the early days. It was a very challenging time for patients, their families and the staff. Having the supportive leadership at Glen Cove Hospital really helped me. We were provided with education and nurses from other closed units came and helped us. My colleagues here have become my family. I have never questioned why I became a nurse and I didn’t during Covid either. Nurses have different roles. We advocate and collaborate. Nurses always work as a team but during Covid that was particularly important for us. I’m hoping more people will want to become a nurse. Nurses are needed. These days one of the biggest challenges for nurses is mental stamina. We lost a lot of people during Covid and they died without their family at their bedside. We held their hands, which we needed mental stamina to do.
Salute to Nurses
WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?
Rehab Nurse Glen Cove Hospital/Northwell Health
Medical/Surgical Nurse Glen Cove Hospital/Northwell Health
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CELEBRATING NURSES - HERALD COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS — May 12, 2022
We Salute Our Nurses
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May 12, 2022 — CELEBRATING NURSES - HERALD COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS
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Here’s to the
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lways learning. Always teaching. Always caring. For every patient and for the future of nursing, nurses put their heart into everything they do. We’re grateful, we care, and we thank you. Nurses Week is a chance to shine a spotlight on the most-trusted professionals across the country who devote their lives to the betterment of others' health and quality of life. And it is a chance to reflect on the challenges nurses face. Without nurses, our healthcare system would not be able to function, and so we take this week each year to recognize and celebrate the hard work and critical role nurses play in keeping us all healthy and safe. This is a time to celebrate nurses for the essential contributions to our lives and our health care system. We had always known that nurses were heroes; the women and men who offered us a modicum of comfort at our darkest hours while quietly monitoring our vital signs and medications prescribed by doctors. We never really knew the extent of their heroism until the pandemic struck Long Island in March 2020. Hospital staffs went into overdrive at the front lines of the crisis. What they endured was unimaginable to most, yet they responded with courage and dedication under the most extreme circumstances. We cannot thank our nurses enough for all they did throughout the worst of the pandemic and for all they still do. In this photo essay we show you, our readers, some of their faces.
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Photos by Tim Baker/H
1: Jolly Saji,RN, Patient Care Services, left, and James Arxer, RN, Patient Care Services, at Long Island Jewish Valley Stream/Northwell Health.
2: Claudia Mautino, RN, Patient Care Services, lef And Julie Mathew, RN, Nurse Manager, with Re Sanchez, RN, Director Patient Care Services, at Long Island Jewish Valley Stream/Northwell Health.
3: Jian Xin Bertolino, Nurse Practitioner, Oncology left, Claire Odayan, OCN, RN, Emily Blair, Clinic Associate, PCA, Meghan Clark, Nurse Manager, RN, Jennifer Okoye, RN, and Bincy Mathew, RN Mercy Hospital/Catholic Health.
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CELEBRATING NURSES - HERALD COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS — May 12, 2022
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4: Kerry Brady, RN, left, and Susan Caruso, RNC, Delivery Room, at Mercy Hospital/Catholic Health. 5: Debra Budhram, PCA, Telemetry PCA, left, and Tjada Garvin, RN, Assistant Nurse Manager at Mercy Hospital/Catholic Health. 6: Maria LuLu Lim, RN, Patient Care Services, with a patient at Mount Sinai South Nassau. 7: Grace Malewicz, RN, left, Cristyn Fey, RN, and Dawn Coles, RN, in the Pediatrics Deoartment at Mount Sinai South Nassau. 8: Sarbdev Singh, Unit Clerk, Patient Care Services, at Mount Sinai South Nassau.
9: Kelly Dunne, RN, Emergency Medicine, left, and Anthony Delorenzo, RN, at NYU Langone - Long Island. 10: Jennifer Mascaro, RN, Emergency Medicine, left, and Kelly Pistone, RN, Emergency Medicine, in NYU Langone - Long Island’s Emergency Department.
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IN THE SPOTLIGHT:
MEET SOME OF OUR NURSE HEROES
DIANA GIACOMINO, MSN, BA, RN Manager, ER Patient Care Services Long Island Jewish New Hyde Park/Northwell Health
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hen I was growing up I knew I wanted to go into the medical field. I just wasn’t sure what career I would pursue. Then I shadowed a nurse. I saw how much autonomy they had. Nurses are the patient’s advocate; we are the doctor’s eyes and ears. We fulfill doctor’s orders and hear the patient’s concerns. You get to form a special connection with them. During the coronavirus pandemic I was in a leadership position as an assistant nurse manager. I saw a different side of nursing. We were facing the unknown and didn’t know what to expect. We were used to stabilizing patients in the ER. But with Covid there were a lot of patients that we couldn’t stabilize or save. But we never gave up on the patients or on each other. Before Covid the deaths that I saw were among the elderly. But with Covid, the people who died were young and middle-aged. In the ER we say you have to expect the unexpected, which is the exciting part about the ER. During Covid we knew what we would see every day. And while it made me sad it made me realize my role as manager and RN was to be there for the patients, even more so during Covid, recognizing that there was little we could do for them. The staff became closer. We bonded with each other and became a family. And with the patients we always remembered that this was someone’s mother or grandmother. We knew we had to be family for the patients. Patients saw their family on iPads, sometimes to say good-bye. But it wasn’t the same as having their family at the bedside holding their hands. I held a lot of hands.
DEBBIE PELLIETIERE
Intensive Care Unit Long Island Jewish Valley Stream/Northwell Health
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s a nurse in the Intensive Care Unit of Long Island Jewish Valley Stream, Debbie Pellietiere devotedly serves both patients and their families. She makes sure that her critically ill patients are getting life-saving medication while also tending to the needs of family members during an emotionally difficult process. “It's really about taking care of the patient to the best of our ability and the family,” says Pellietiere. “For the patients, we make sure that every aspect of that patient is covered whether it's lab work or making sure their taking medications they took at home, whether they're intubated, on life support, or awake, alert and speaking.” As a constant source of support and information for families, she addresses their questions, updates them about the status of their loved, and is there to offer them words of comfort and support. When in-person patient visiting hours were prohibited due to coronavirus-related concerns, Pellietiere and her fellow ICU nurses would make sure families stayed intimately informed about the health status of their loved one with daily phone calls to family members. And using apps like FaceTime, Pellietiere and her fellow nurses helped create virtual patient visits for families. She has been working at the hospital for 27 years, four of them as an ICU nurse. Her advice for any new nurse on the hospital floor is to be present with your patients. “Take ownership of them because it's their livelihood, their lives. Take care of them like you are their family and they're your family because we all want our loved ones to be taken care of that way,” says Pellietiere. Most rewarding for her is “knowing that you did the best job you could do to take care of someone's family, took care of that patient to the best of your ability and put your heart and soul into it.”
PHILIP GREENBL ATT
And The Entire Staff Of Village Plaza Realty
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Thank you to ALL the nurses who work tirelessly . We are so appreciative of all that you do. 1006 Railroad Ave • Woodmere, NY 11598 516-569-5373 • 516-569-5374 • Friendlier76.com
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IN THE SPOTLIGHT:
MEET SOME OF OUR NURSE HEROES
STEPHANIE MANTA
Emergency Department Long Island Jewish Valley Stream/Northwell Health s an emergency room nurse Renee Chase juggles many tasks in a department that is all hands on deck, assessing incoming patients and preparing them to see the doctor while ensuring other patients are rested, taking the proper medication, and getting the tests they need. She also follows up with patients after their discharge. A nurse for 12 years, she enjoys the teamwork component of her job the most. “I love the team ... there's like a camaraderie and it's really like a unit. If you have a good team, then you could pretty much get through anything,” says Chase. I've always been kind of lucky to have a good team.” Her advice for any new nurse on the hospital floor is to not be afraid to ask questions. When a novice nurse was having trouble placing IV lines into her patients, Chase remembers telling her: “Everything comes with patience … it’s about learning. The knowledge will come with time, no one knows everything.” She finds it memorable and pleasantly surprising when family members or patients stop to thank her for her dedication and calmness in the face of pressure alongside her fellow nurses. She enjoys being in the trenches with her team which she considers family. “I encourage all healthcare workers to lean on each other in challenging times and for the community to continue acknowledging the work of healthcare workers. Sometimes it may be that tiny word of encouragement that pulls us through the day."
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CELEBRATING NURSES - HERALD COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS — May 12, 2022
RENEE CHASE
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Nurse Manager Orthopedic Hospital at Long Island Jewish Valley Stream/Northwell Health
nurse manager, Stephanie Manta oversees her nursing staff and monitors the quality of patient care at the hospital, often checking in on the status of patients and when they are discharged. She’s been a nurse since 2017, starting out as a bedside nurse in the telemetry unit, serving patients suffering from cardiac conditions who need close monitoring. Manta then later served in the Intensive Care Unit before becoming an assistant nurse manager and finally a nurse manager. Manta says taking up a managerial position in the hospital “opened her eyes to the whole picture of health care.” Her main focus has shifted from direct patient care to developing and improving the nursing team. “I enjoy seeing nurses grow. And that's something that I'm passionate about.” Manta also looks for ways for her nurses to make an impact on the community outside of the hospital through LIJ’s various outreach initiatives and programs. “I like to give nurses opportunities for going out into the community and playing a role that way as well.” She advises new nurses to build relationships with colleagues and patients. “You'll find a lot of gratitude in the work that you do,” says Manta. Her main driver is watching nurses grow in their role. “When I see them find joy in work that they do, it makes me keep going.” Manta’s most memorable experience as a nurse was working in the ICU during the first week of the Covid outbreak. “I just felt the amount of teamwork and support within the building and the community. And that's something that I'll never forget.”
Celebrating the inCredible nurses at OCeanside Care
2914 linCOln avenue, OCeanside, nY, 11572 PhOne: 516.536.2300 • www.OCeansideCC.COm
1173037
From Left to Right: Denise Rupay, Tom Rowal, Patricia Neils, Catherine Frisch Canning, Kellie O’Connor Hammond, Laura Tini, and Ayana Douglas
MEET SOME OF OUR NURSE HEROES
JEANINE CAPPELLO
MEGHAN CLARKE
Mercy Hospital’s Family Care Center
Nurse Manager Mercy Hospital
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'm a mom of two, wife and nurse, managing Mercy Hospital’s Family Care Center, a full-service outpatient obstetrical and pediatric clinic that cares for about 9,000 patients each year. I strive to help our community members gain access to health care and offer programs for those who may not have insurance. Aside from my day-to-day duties of running the clinic, my staff and I work to ensure our patients and their families have what they need. Unfortunately, Covid-19 hit the FCC catchment area very hard. As a result, my staff and I helped gather toys for children during Christmas, as well as jackets, scarves, mittens and hats, which were donated to FCC families. Part of my role also includes coordinating a baby shower each spring that provides FCC moms with the essentials once the baby is home. I also brought a program to the FCC called MOMentum, which incorporates a postpartum element in the care of pre-and-post-partum women, which is important now more than ever given the current climate. I continue to try and help grow the FCC services and in 2023 I will be part of the team that is moving the clinic to a 16,000-square-foot new building across from Mercy’s Emergency Department. The new location will provide even further access to the community, as patients won’t have to go through the hospital to use the clinic’s services.
The Rockville Centre Housing Authority salutes all the Nurses who put their lives and health on the line on a daily basis to serve and protect the Community. Your service is invaluable and we give you Special Honor today.
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y journey with Mercy Hospital started 12 years ago, not as a nurse, but as a patient. I was admitted to Mercy to treat my thyroid cancer when I was 19. Because of the care I received at Mercy and the impact that the nurses there had on my life, I decided to pursue a career in nursing. In 2016 I joined the Mercy family as a nurse on the oncology unit, where I later became the nurse manager. In 2019, I expanded my role as a registered nurse and became the nurse manager of the post-surgical unit and opened the infusion center at the Catholic Health Cancer Center at Mercy. Since the opening of the infusion center, I have worked to help grow the volume by more than 60 percent. I am very thankful that my life journey led me to nursing and I’m committed to not only being a strong leader for my staff (and my two sons, of course), but also to support the patients I care for every day.
“it is Not How MucH we Do — it is How MucH LoVe we Put iNto tHe DoiNg” Mother Teresa
Rockville Centre Housing Authority 160 North Centre Avenue Rockville Centre, NY 11570 516-536-4343
HiLArY H. Becker Broker/ Owner
516-887-0677
Becker Real Estate Services
1171616
IN THE SPOTLIGHT:
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50 Hempstead Avenue, Lynbrook, NY
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CELEBRATING NURSES - HERALD COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS — May 12, 2022
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Celebrating our wonderful nurses. Thank you for all that you do!
327 Beach 19th Street, Far Rockaway, New York 11691 | 718.869.7000
1173022
HAPPY NATIONAL NURSES WEEK!
IN THE SPOTLIGHT:
May 12, 2022 — CELEBRATING NURSES - HERALD COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS
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MEET SOME OF OUR NURSE HEROES BARBARA SIMMS I
Nurse Practitioner Mercy Hospital
spent 20 years working in the airline industry in the human resources department before I became a nurse. In fact, nursing wasn’t my first calling; I always felt I was better suited to work in the corporate world. However, all that changed in 2003 when my sister, Sheila Brown, a nurse aide at Catholic Health’s Mercy Hospital, who later became a patient on the oncology unit, succumbed to breast cancer. While my family and I were devastated to lose Sheila and to lose her at such a young age of 42, we felt comfort in knowing that she was treated with the utmost respect and received the best care possible by the clinical staff until the end. The Mercy staff became my Mercy family, so I decided to pay it forward and went back to nursing school in 2005. I began my career at Mercy in 2008. When I graduated from nursing school, I only wanted to work at Mercy and I still only want to work at Mercy. It’s a way for me to thank the nurses who worked with and treated my sister with so much compassion, a way to take care of my neighbors, since I live locally, and it allows me to keep my sister’s legacy alive. Mercy Hospital planted a tree on its campus in honor of Sheila. Every day, I drive past the tree on my way to work and say hello to Sheila before beginning my shift. During the height of pandemic, I found comfort in knowing that my sister was with me — during the ups, the downs and the inbetweens.
KAFAYAT ABBA I
Critical Care Nurse Mount Sinai South Nassau
have been a night shift nurse for almost 17 years, specializing in critical care and cardiac surgery. My parents influenced me to pursue nursing because they are both ministers and instilled the principles of "serving one another in love" in my upbringing. My mom, a nurse at SUNY Downstate for more than 45 years, took me there for Take Your Daughter to Work Day when I was nine, and it was where my passion for nursing was ignited. My role has evolved since the Covid-19 pandemic because the acuity and volume of patients grew exponentially in a very short time. Suddenly, we were caring for an illness we did not fully understand, and people were dying. Everyone was scared to go near each other. I was pregnant with my fifth child at the height of it, but I continued to work until I gave birth and I have no regrets. The experience bonded us as healthcare providers because we were dealing with the same patient condition regardless of our specialty. During that time, I evolved into a leader and was reminded of how essential we are to improving patient outcomes, and the response from the community during that time was encouraging and moving. Working during the height of the pandemic was mentally, physically and emotionally exhausting. But now, things are getting better. We only see a few Covid-19 cases, people are recovering and staffing is improving. The most rewarding aspect of my job is knowing that I am influencing the lives of my patients through excellent and knowledgeable care. Nursing is a calling. You have to feel compelled to care for someone in their weakest moments. If you enter the profession for the money, it will never be worth it, because you really can't put a price on what we do.
DONNA LEFRANC-MORAN
LAUREN ROSSI
Critical Care Nurse Nassau University Medical Center
Senior Nurse Clinician and Chair of the Quality and Safety Nursing Council NYU Langone - Long Island
just celebrated my 23rd anniversary at NUMC in the Critical Care Unit. Nursing to me is helping patients heal, trying to meet their needs and listening to them. Treating them with compassion and respect and to be their advocate. I like sitting next to them and trying to get to know them. When they tell you a little bit about themselves they are more at ease being in the hospital and feel that they can trust you and the healing process can start to begin. I especially enjoy talking to the elderly, they have so many stories to tell and you can tell how much they like telling it. I get such a good feeling when I take care of a very sick patient and then they get to go home. They look at you and say “thank you for caring for me.” Wow! I became a nurse because I wanted to help people. My mother who used to be a PCA told me that I have what it takes to be an RN. I'm glad I listened to my mom. Also, having a nursing degree gives you the opportunity to go into different aspects of nursing and the flexibility of hours is an added bonus. Working during the pandemic was physically and mentally draining. It's an experience I would not go through again but proud that I was there. To be with my coworkers and work as a unit was a great feeling. We dealt with the highs and lows of patient care like a family. To be a patient's family when their own could not be with them was rewarding and emotional especially during their final moments. And to have my husband and kids to come home to as my support group made me feel very lucky. My mindset of nursing will always stay the same. I love nursing! If anything, the pandemic made me a stronger nurse and more of an advocate for my patients.
knew from a very young age that I was happiest when helping people. For as long as I can remember, I wanted to be a nurse and help make a difference, no matter how big or small, in other peoples’ lives. As a child I was known as ‘Nurse Lady Ship’ by my grandfather, a nickname that came about because he worked for many years as an airplane mechanic at JFK and he would frequently visit my siblings and I at night with many bruises and abrasions on his hands and his arms. I would quickly come to his rescue to clean his abrasions and dress them and he lit up when I did that. I loved seeing the huge smile on his face when I treated his wounds. He told me that one day I would be the greatest little nurse in the world and bring joy to my patients.’ Those were some of my favorite memories growing up, and I know he’s looking down at me now and is proud of the nurse that I am today. I graduated nursing school and became a nurse in 2014 after passing my boards on my birthday, Feb. 11, and began working at Winthrop, which is now NYU Langone Hospital - Long Island. Whether at the bedside or behind the scenes working collaboratively with other nurses, I always strive to bring the best possible care and love and compassion to all my patients during the hardest times in their lives. Nursing is part of who I am.
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CELEBRATING NURSES - HERALD COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS — May 12, 2022
thank you to all of our nurses
you are and continue to be amazing for our residents We Have Successfully Decannulated 40 Covid Survivors. Every Life Matters!
“Saving One Life at a Time” Breathe Easy at South Shore Rehab
275 WEST MERRICK ROAD • FREEPORT, NY 11520 516-623-4000 • ventcarelongisland.com
1173025
Specializing in Vent Care, Trach and any Respiratory needs. Brand new renovated facility. 24 hr Respiratory Therapists
During National Nurses’ Week, we salute our nurses. Mount Sinai South Nassau’s nurses are here for our patients 24/7/365. We salute them all during National Nurses' Week, and offer a special congratulations to our award-winning caregivers:
Janice Campbell MSN, RN, LCCE, IBCLC 2022 National DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses in Patient Safety
Zapora Burillo MS, RN, CNN, CPHQ United Hospital Fund’s Tribute to Excellence in Health Care Award
Margaret Hempstead BSN, RN, CRNI ,VA-BC, EMT-B 2022 Infusion Nurses Society Leadership Award
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May 12, 2022 — CELEBRATING NURSES - HERALD COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS
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