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Cover Story
The Place to Be
Many Nurses Dedicate Their Careers to WMC
Eileen Letzeiser, R.N., High-Risk Obstetrics
Eileen Letzeiser,
R.N., was waiting
in line at a craft
store when she
overheard the
young woman
in front of her
excitedly telling
the cashier that
she was about
to graduate from
college with her
degree in nursing.
Letzeiser politely
interrupted and
asked the woman
if she had applied
to Westchester
Medical Center.
Medical Center because a supervisor at a community hospital
told her she could “spread her wings and learn and see more”
at WMC. In the years since, Letzeiser has worked in Med-Surg,
Gastroenterology, Ambulatory Surgery, Recruitment and, most
recently, in High-Risk Obstetrics. Along the way, she earned her
master’s degree in public health policy.
‘It Never Gets Old’
“There’s always an opportunity to learn something new here,”
says Donna Milidantri, R.N., who works in Ambulatory Surgery.
“I’ve never felt bored or unhappy in my job. If it starts to feel
stale, I switch it up.”
“When she said no, I said ‘You really should. Westchester
Medical Center is a phenomenal place to work,’ and I gave her
my card,” recalls Letzeiser, a nurse in High-Risk Obstetrics who
recently celebrated her 25th anniversary at the Medical Center.
At a time when many people switch jobs every few years,
Letzeiser is one of dozens of nurses who have spent virtually
their entire careers at WMC. Some have remained in the same
unit, choosing to specialize in a particular area of medicine.
Others have moved around the Medical Center, taking a variety
of positions from clinical to teaching to administration. Many
have advanced their educations and earned master’s degrees.
So why have they stayed? All of the career nurses at WMC
spoke about the opportunities afforded to them by working at an
advanced-care medical center, the respect enjoyed by nurses
who are valued members of the health care team, and the
institutional support they’ve received to master their jobs and
advance their careers.
Letzeiser, who earned her R.N. at Mohawk Valley Community
College and her B.S. at Pace University, says she came to the
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From L to R: Donna Milidantri, R.N., Helene Malaspina, R.N., and
Elizabeth Potts, R.N., Ambulatory Surgery
As an Ambulatory Surgery nurse for 25 years, Milidantri says
she has had a front row seat for the changes in medical surgical
practice. Many surgeries that once required large incisions
are now done using scopes and small incisions. Patients who
previously had to remain in the hospital for days are now
discharged the same day or the next day.
“I’ve worked with patients recovering from procedures using
scopes and lasers and fluoroscopy,” says Milidantri, who began
her career as a candy striper when she was a teenager.
A Team Approach
Working as a team with other nurses, and as part of a larger
health care team that includes physicians, technicians, LPNs and
nursing assistants, is one of the things long-time nurses say they
like best.
Janet Scully, R.N., a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) nurse,
says she has remained at WMC in part because she believes “as a
group, we give excellent care.” Scully says many of the nurses in
the PICU have been on the unit for a long time, so they instinctively
support one another and function well as a team. They also have
the expertise that comes with experience.
“You have to have very strong observational skills in the PICU
because kids don’t tell you when they are not feeling right. They
are talking to you one minute and the next minute you notice that
their vitals are changing,” Scully says.
Sal Manno, R.N., Operating Room Head Nurse, Neurosurgery
Learning is Constant
For Salvatore Manno, R.N., Operating Room Head Nurse for
Neurosurgery, the key to his long-time affiliation with the
Medical Center is the work itself.
“In Neurosurgery, the work we do affects our patients for the
rest of their lives. The surgeons clip cerebral aneurysms, fuse
spines, biopsy and remove brain lesions and also do functional
surgeries for patients in pain and those with movement
disorders,” says Manno, who has worked in Neurosurgery for 25
of his 32 years as a nurse.
What’s more, he says, “Learning is constant in Neurosurgery with
the residency program, rotators from nursing schools, medical
students and other health care students.”
As the OR Nurse Manager, Manno says, his role is to ensure
that patients are safe and everything runs smoothly by having
knowledgeable staff in the room and all the equipment and
supplies needed for the procedure. Like many of his nursing
colleagues, Manno says he enjoys the case acuity and case mix
seen at the Medical Center.
“Westchester Medical Center is big enough that we see a lot of
complex procedures and deal with very sick patients, yet it isn’t
so big that you become lost in an anoymous institution,” says
Manno.
The PICU has
changed a
great deal over
the course of
Scully’s tenure.
Patients in
the PICU are
sicker than
they once were
because many
have survived
motor vehicle
accidents and
other traumas
that they would
not have lived
through years
ago.
“Years ago,
you couldn’t
take a piece of
the skull out to
Janet Scully, R.N., PICU
allow the brain to
swell and put in
drains to control the swelling, so many more children with brain
injuries died,” says Scully. “Ventilators weren’t as advanced either,
so children would die from complications of lung disease.”
continued on page 6
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Cover Story
continued from page 5
Jiattashey Allen, R.N., 6 North East
Looking Ahead
Ed Goldberg, R.N., Behavioral Health Center
Autonomy
Ed Goldberg, R.N., who works in the Behavioral Health Center,
says he enjoys the autonomy nurses have at the Medical Center.
“Nurses have a lot of say in how the units are run in Behavioral
Health. You have to be confident, independent and strongminded to work here,” he says.
Like his long-time colleagues, Goldberg has witnessed many
changes in health care.
“Treatment is much more humane now. Older medications
for depression or schizophrenia had more side effects and
greater risks. We have whole new classes of medications
now,” Goldberg says. “Psychiatric patients also spent long
periods of time in the hospital 25 years ago. Now, many
patients can be stabilized in 72 hours and discharged with
proper planning to home.”
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What brings new nurses to Westchester Medical Center?
Jiattashey Allen, R.N., who joined the Medical Center after
college graduation less than two years ago, says she was
attracted by many of the same factors that drew her more
experienced colleagues. But Allen says she also came to the
Medical Center because of its reputation as an institution that
supports advancement among its nurses.
“Overall, there’s an expectation that we are world-class, and
it is supported by an environment of learning and constant
progress,” says Allen, who works on 6 North East, the
cardiothoracic step-down unit. “From the beginning, I was
supported by the Nursing Residency program, which really
helped in my transition from student to practicing nurse. And
I’ve received ongoing support from my more senior coworkers.
I look to them when a patient is deteriorating or has multiple
complications. I always have a resource.”
Allen says she wants to further her education with a master’s
degree in the future, but first she plans to obtain her CCRN
certification. “Westchester Medical Center is the perfect place
for someone like me who constantly wants to grow and acquire
knowledge,” she says.