Becoming an R.N. was always her dream

“It is really a joy for me to work with children. I have a good rapport with the patients, the moms, the dads.” – Curdel Mcfarlane-Pierce, R.N. ’20

Curdel Mcfarlane-Pierce, R.N. ’20 is in her element in the pediatrics outpatient unit as a registered nurse at St. Joseph’s University Medical Center in Paterson. “It is really a joy for me to work with children. I have a good rapport with the patients, the moms, the dads … It is fulfilling to me because it is something I know and I’m able to be my best at it,” said Mcfarlane-Pierce. An employee in the pediatrics unit since 2009, she was able to become her best and advance in her responsibilities after earning her Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) degree from Caldwell. 

For many years Mcfarlane-Pierce worked as a licensed practical nurse (LPN) in pediatrics and was supervised by a registered nurse who “pretty much showed me everything that she was doing.” But there was a limit to how far Mcfarlane-Pierce could go without college preparation and a BSN degree. She found herself saying “I can do all these things. I need to step up the game and do what I need to do” to get to the next level. Her supervisor, Director of Community Medicine, Sister Fran Demarest, a Sister of Charity, encouraged her to take advantage of a partnership program between Caldwell University and St. Joseph’s, funded by Robert Wood Johnson, for those who were already working as health care paraprofessionals and needed the college track to become baccalaureate registered nurses.

And so Mcfarlane-Pierce found herself, a working adult with one of her sons still at home in high school and an aging mother to care for, as an undergraduate student, older than most of her classmates, in Caldwell University’s BSN program. When she started and saw the list of required credits, it was a bit daunting, but Sister Fran encouraged her, saying, “Curdel, don’t you worry … just do it one class at a time … keep going.” “That’s what I did,” said Mcfarlane-Pierce. “I had support from my family, my husband … my kids. With my age, I was not computer savvy, so my children helped me with maneuvering through the technology side of it.” 

After several years of hard work, Mcfarlane-Pierce is happy that she made the leap. Caldwell’s nursing program prepared her for “the ultimate,” the state board tests for registered nurses, the NCLEX. Everything she did in clinicals and the lab was relevant to what she does on the job.   She particularly enjoyed the clinicals at nursing homes and interacting with the elderly. “Some of them don’t have family who come” [and visit], said Mcfarlane-Pierce. Now on the job at St. Joseph’s, she is the “go-to” person for the doctors, is respected and depended on, and is assigned as one of the charge nurses when the regular charge nurse is out.  

When her graduation ceremony arrived in September 2020, months later than originally planned due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Mcfarlane-Pierce called it “self-actualization. “It is a time when you are at the point in your life where you want to be and you don’t have any regrets. Getting my R.N. was always my dream.”   

The dream was something she had realized and worked hard for. She thinks back to when she  joined St. Joseph’s 32 years ago, first as a switchboard operator, then moved up the ranks to  a case manager assistant on the pediatric floor, next as an LPN and now as a registered nurse. “It is a great profession … there is so much you can do in nursing, so many leadership roles.” She is not finished setting goals and is studying for her ambulatory certificate.  Having earned her degree, it is something she encourages others to do, even if it is a little later in life. “You have to make some sacrifices but it is so worth it, because you get the financial stability, you get respect, you get a better way of life.”  And she says you empower your family members to make healthier choices. “It is a win-win situation, helping your family, helping your community … helping everyone.”