Healthcare Heroes: Jill Agostino, RN

"I didn't go into nursing because I fell out of love with journalism. I still love journalism. It just made me want to do something better and be kinder.

Before I became a nurse, I was a woman working in sports, first as sports editor at Newsday, then briefly at the Daily News, and finally at The New York Times, where I spent almost 25 years. In 2010, a friend of mine who used to be a #nurse at #StonyBrook was going down to New Orleans to a medical clinic to volunteer, and she just wanted someone to go with. I’m always up for new experiences, so I went along. When I was there, I saw everything in a different light. I fell in love with the idea of being able to help people one on one.

In #journalism, you never really see the people you're impacting. It was really nice to be able to actually see the people that I was working with and helping. When you're a journalist, you often must ask tough questions, and sometimes it can be uncomfortable. And as an editor, you're working on someone else's story and trying to make it better, but you never want to offend them. You want them to feel safe with you, and that can be really tough sometimes. It's hard to build that trust. I think that’s really helped me with patients.

When patients come out of anesthesia, I always just want to make them feel safe because they're at one of the most vulnerable points in their life. They're out of their element, and it’s me trying to get them calmed down, and feeling safe and comfortable. When someone comes out of surgery, often they're anxious, they're scared, they're in pain. To be able to help that person and make them feel safe, that's the greatest feeling in the world.

The PACU is full of great nurses, and everybody helps each other out. You always feel like there's someone you can talk to, ask questions, and learn from every single day. I feel incredibly blessed to work in the #PACU alongside so many incredible nurses, who are so smart and such great nurses, because they are all great, great nurses.”

-Jill Agostino, RN at Stony Brook University Hospital