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Inspired by her family, her life experiences, her faith and nurse-heroine novels, Nurse Rae Fierro found her niche in mid-career when she decided to pursue what turned out to be her true life’s work, focused on breast health patients at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital.

To listen to her tell it, from the time Rae Fierro was a young child growing up in Cherry Hill , she knew she was destined to be a nurse. Inspired by the sincerity of the nurses who cared for her during her own childhood illnesses and hospitalizations and captivated by the novels she read as a child, in which the nurses were the heroes, Rae was eager to serve and care for others when she grew up. Now, at 49, she doesn’t doubt for a moment that she did the right thing by following her heart.

As a perioperative nurse with 25 years of experience, Rae has worked in many capacities. She served as a sports medicine and hand surgery unit specialist in the operating room at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital for a decade. Before that, she was a staff nurse in Jefferson’s operating room. Then, for a short while, she transitioned to a management role, as a scheduling coordinator for perioperative services. During that period, she also implemented the computer system for the operating rooms that included the scheduling of all surgical cases for Jefferson and its campuses. Through the computer system, Rae provided statistical reports for hospital administration and surgical services.

Recently, after four years in the management role, Rae, who lives in Somerdale, N.J. with her spouse and son, made a career change and went back into the patient room. “I decided I had to return to bedside care,” she said. “I needed to have the personal fulfillment that comes from taking care of patients.”

Now, in her newest position as charge nurse at the Jefferson Surgical Center, Rae has the opportunity to deliver individual, one-on-one care and also provide support and education to the patients and families who are undergoing breast cancer diagnosis and treatment. The surgical center will eventually become part of the proposed Jefferson Breast Care Center, which will consolidate breast imaging and treatment options into a patient-centered facility that is personalized and private, offering state-of-the-art equipment and highly trained clinicians.

“The new Breast Care Center will enhance the care we currently give our patients,” Rae said. “They and their families will have a streamlined and cohesive experience with the best information and coordination of care.”

Rae traces her need for such personal caring interactions back to her childhood, during which she became very familiar with the world of medicine and hospitals. “I had several severe pneumonias, ear surgeries and kidney infections,” she recalled. “I can remember the nurses in the hospital comforting me in the oxygen tent, as my mother sometimes needed to go home to my siblings for a while. Also, I remember the nurses at the doctor's office gave me the ‘tender loving care’ I needed when I was there for weekly allergy shots. They always told me what a good little ‘nurse in training’ I was.”

Rae also feels that her inspiration to enter the caring professions came from a deep, spiritual relationship with her maker. Said Rae, “I was a sickly child, I felt if G-d allowed me to grow up, I was meant to be on this earth for an important purpose. Otherwise I wouldn't have survived.”

“I simply wanted to make a difference in someone else's life,” she said. The Jefferson nurse was also strongly encouraged by her family to pursue a career in medicine. Her father was an optometrist. In her youth, Rae enjoyed working in his office, which was at eighth and Walnut in Philadelphia. “Taking care of people was something that came naturally to me,” Rae said.

Rae is Jewish and three of her grandparents were born in Russia and emigrated to the U.S. in the early 1900’s.

As a child, Rae was an avid reader and was enthralled by the “Cherry Ames” series of juvenile novels by Helen Wells, which were published between 1943 and 1968, and featured a spirited and ambitious young nurse heroine. She still owns several editions and still has her first play nurse diploma.

In her role as charge nurse, Rae works with patients undergoing many examinations and treatments, including mammography, needle placement, and ultrasound guided biopsy. She offers her patients reassurance and information based on their personal needs. “Some patients have never had an illness or a procedure and are extremely anxious, while some prefer to be oblivious and do not want to be told what to expect,” said Rae.

A family member or support person often accompanies a patient to serve as an advocate and helpful presence, but at times the support person actually makes the patient more anxious, so Rae helps smooth uncomfortable situations.

At times, some patients purposely do not choose to tell their families that testing and biopsies are needed until they have definite results, so Rae befriends those who are “going it alone.”

There are many moments during her day in which Rae feels grateful and moved by her job. Her patients express their gratitude and feelings in different ways. “Sometimes it may just be holding a patient's hand during the entrance into the operating room or a conversation during a procedure at its conclusion,” she said. “It may be a tearful ‘thank you’ from the patient to make my day. It could be the support person appreciating the extra blanket I stopped to give their loved one. ‘Thank you’s’ may not be heard verbally, but I feel so satisfied when they leave feeling relieved it's over.”

Over the years, Rae has encountered many extraordinary patients and recalled a special connection she made with a patient and her sister, whose relationship reminded her of the one she had with her own sister. “I teased the sisters to make the pledge I took with my sister; to agree that since one sister was older the first 40 years, that sister should now be the younger sibling; it was only fair. The patient and her sister were hysterical with laughter. The older sister thought it was a good idea and the younger one balked.”