Listening To Your Heart

For more than a decade, I was a secretary at Roswell Park. I loved my job but knew I wanted more.

I especially felt a passion for interacting with patients. When I witnessed everything they were going through, I felt a desire to be by their side during their journey.

So I made a decision to go back to school to get my nursing degree. My first position at Roswell Park as an RN was in the Chemotherapy Clinic. I was so happy to be a nurse at Roswell Park where I received the inspiration to go to nursing school. My career has come full circle, as I am now a nurse in the Department of Diagnostic Radiology where I was a secretary all those years ago.

I was nominated for the DAISY Award after a husband of one of our patients wrote a thank you letter for caring for his wife. He also thanked Dr. Stacey Akers and the Amherst Chemotherapy Clinic nurses. He wrote saying that his wife trusted us. We were doing what we do everyday for every patient but it is eye-opening to realize that those little things meant so much to her as a patient. I came to know her and her husband very well and am grateful for the time I spent with them.

I’m humbled to have been nominated for this award, but truly all of the nurses here at Roswell Park go above and beyond. Everything we do here is special. We really get to know our patients and families because of their frequent visits. We get to be part of their family and they get to be part of ours. It can definitely be difficult when you see what they are going through. You cry with them, laugh with them and just try to make everything as comfortable as possible. Often, the smallest conversations and gestures can go a long way.

I have no doubt in my mind that being a nurse is what I was meant to do. Not only that, but it’s what I love to do. I love the person-to-person interactions and developing the trust that is so important when it comes to taking care of someone. We are trusted with their hopes and their fears, and we just try to make everything go as smoothly as it can for them. Here at Roswell Park, I am fortunate to work alongside a whole hospital of nurses who are passionate about their jobs and who treat every patient as if he or she were one of their own family members.