Grow With Us: Cheryl Presto

We continue our TidalHealth series “Grow With Us” with our May Q/A and Cheryl Presto, Surgical Spine Coordinator at TidalHealth.

Nearing 37-years of employment, Cheryl has been through three hospital name changes, two academic degrees, five children, one grandchild, and as she tells us is “still going strong!”

Starting as a registrar in the emergency department in 1987, Cheryl had an early taste for healthcare that led to a career as an RN, a clinical patient care unit leader, and now someone every spine patient relies on for a smooth and seamless surgical process.

Monthly, we’ll introduce you to team members, like Cheryl, who began their career at TidalHealth and advanced in the health system and beyond, and/or who have taken their careers to the next level with significant certifications and achievements.

We’re always looking for people to profile. Send your thoughts and ideas to our Strategic Communications Director at [email protected].

Here’s Cheryl’s “Grow With Us” story.

Thanks, Cheryl, for the opportunity to grab a few minutes from your busy schedule and to learn more about your career at TidalHealth. Before we dive into that, introduce yourself to our readers by telling us about where you’re from, where you grew up, what makes you happy in life…the good stuff!

Thank you, Roger. I was born in Baltimore but grew up on the Eastern Shore of Virginia and graduated from Broadwater Academy in 1984.  After that, I came to Salisbury and attended Salisbury University.

We mentioned at the top that you started at what was then Peninsula General Hospital in 1987 as an ED registrar. Was that right out of school and what led you to that initial job here?

I began working as a registrar just before my senior year at Salisbury University (SU). I had a few friends who worked at the hospital, so it was an easy decision and a great place for a job while in school. 

At some point, the “nursing lightbulb” goes off and you begin your studies at Wor Wic Community College and earn your LPN. Do you remember that “aha” moment for you?

At the point of my hiring, I had changed my major and, sadly, left the nursing track. About a year into the job, a position became available in the treatment area of the Emergency Department (ED) as a unit secretary, and I jumped at the chance. Being in this atmosphere, again sparked the desire to finish nursing. The staff was phenomenal and so encouraging. They saw something in me that I couldn’t see in myself, and the nurses would sit with me on our dinner breaks and tell me all of the reasons I needed to go back and finish. Therefore, having already graduated from SU with a Liberal Studies BS, I opted to enroll at Wor Wic so that I could finish a wee bit faster and get to the bedside as a nurse. I was so excited!

You then spent some time on 3 West as an LPN: your first introduction to nursing. What was that like?

Once I finished my LPN, I took a part-time, 3 to 11 pm, position on 3 West A.  I found the nurses to be exceptional, the blinders I had donned in nursing school were torn away and the entire world of nursing seemed to open. I was scared, excited, and very green. I wanted to learn everything! The seasoned nurses shared their expertise with such grace and so much nurturing. I am so thankful for those first few months of their unfailing patience.

Obviously, the desire was there because you went on to earn your BSN from Salisbury University. Did you do that while working as an LPN, and how challenging was it juggling both?

As soon as I finished my LPN at Wor Wic, I re-enrolled at SU to complete my bachelor’s in nursing and graduated in 1991. Working part-time and being in school full-time was challenging and exhausting but I did it!

I like to ask every nurse this: what is it about the career that burns so passionately?

When I was about five years old, I looked at my mother and told her I was going to be a nurse and a mommy when I grew up, just like her. I loved watching her don her starched white uniform dress and put on her pristinely polished white nursing shoes to go to the office she worked in for over 25 years. She was a fine lady and a wonderful role model. I would play “hospital” with my dolls and never pictured myself as anything other than a nurse.

You’re on the floor, full-time, for three years as an RN before advancing to the clinical manager of 3 West. How did that opportunity come about?

Well, Roger, that’s a funny story. I had absolutely no interest in applying for that job.  However, the manager of the unit and the overseeing Director both came to me and requested that I apply. I was shocked and genuinely thought they had lost their minds.  But the more I thought about it, the more excited I became about this opportunity. I was up against excellent nurses who were all deserving of the management position, but I was chosen.

For 16-years you stayed in that leadership role, not the easiest of jobs. You must have loved it.

There is no doubt that it was a tough job, but I did love it. I made mistakes and I achieved triumphs. I loved helping our unit grow and take on new types of patients.   

How important was it for you to mentor others during your time there as the clinical manager?

Through the course of those 16 years, I mentored a nurse who went on to become a clinical education specialist, several nursing supervisors, two clinical nurse managers, three nurse practitioners, and a director. Watching other nurses grow to get their advanced degrees and then soar was my biggest joy. The smiles on their faces with their newly earned achievements were just the best. Every nurse needs to be a cheerleader for other nurses!

In 2010, you transitioned to the Peninsula Spine Center as its program manager, and excelled in that role until the program disbanded, but you didn’t get discouraged or get too far away from that specialty. What are you currently doing?

Currently, I am the surgical spine coordinator. I provide pre-operative education to patients undergoing spinal surgery and then follow their care through their hospitalization and on to their discharge. I am a resource to the phenomenal nurses of 5 Layfield. I oversee our Disease Specific Certification for Surgical Spine by assisting with staff prep, I review our disease-specific care data, and I direct our spine team on preparing our annual required staff education.

How important is what you do for our spine patients?

EXTREMELY!  Patients who attend pre-operative class have a shorter length of stay, are much more prepared for how to take care of themselves at home and are less likely to be re-admitted in the first 30 days after discharge. All of this is not only good for the patient, but good for our hospital as well.

And congrats, I also noticed in my notes that you earned your master’s in health care administration in 2019. From where, and why did you pursue that?

I began my master’s degree journey at Wilmington College, Georgetown campus, in the fall of 2011. I had wanted to complete this educational goal years before but as the mother of four small children, it was never the right time. But in the summer of 2014, with only my theses left to complete, baby number five came along, and my world changed again. I finally completed my degree in December 2019, after my older four children had graduated high school and my littlest had started Kindergarten. I wouldn’t change any piece of that for the world though.

Did you use the TidalHealth tuition reimbursement program to assist you?

Yes, I did. I used it for every class and had only a fraction of the cost out of my own pocket. It was well worth it!

I know you, personally as well as professionally I’m happy to say, and I think I can safely say that the career you love as much as this one, maybe more, is being a mom. And, now a grandmother, too!

Oh goodness yes!  I have reached the goals that I set as a wide-eyed little girl of 5 years old to be a nurse and a mommy. Yes, I am a nurse. But the greatest gift of all is being a mother. All five of my children bring such joy to my life and they each make me so proud.  And, I must say, the icing on the cake is being a grandmother.

You’ve seen healthcare from a bunch of different angles and perspectives during your nearly four decades here. What advice would you have for anyone, not just those considering nursing, as they enter the healthcare workforce?

Oh my, there are so many things. Always remember that healthcare is dynamic.  It always has been and always will be, so be flexible. Regardless of your job title, remember that the patient comes first. Treat them with the same compassion and respect that you want extended to your own family members. Hold the dying patient’s hand, let the momma who just lost her baby cry on your shoulder, cheer for the patient who rings the bell at the end of their chemo treatments, smile and speak gently to the child who is afraid, be kind to your coworkers – they’ve had a rough day, too.  Advocate for the patient and their family. Advocate for your profession. Never stop learning. Listen more, speak less. Just be kind. Always.