Roslyn "Lynn" Cusack, RN
As Nurse.com celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2013, we are looking back at some of the nurses who were featured in the early issues of each of the Nursing Spectrum regional publications.
Roslyn "Lynn" Cusack, RN, BSN, NRP, BCLS, was featured in the third issue of the New York regional magazine on Dec. 18, 1989. Cusack, then a senior staff nurse in the NICU at New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center, wrote a column about neonatal care and was pictured in the magazine with an infant. Cusack remained in contact with the child’s family for several years after they appeared in the magazine.
She has spent her entire 38-year nursing career at that facility, now known as NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, although she is on her third building. Cusack’s job title has changed a few times over the years, but she has remained part of the same unit throughout her career. These days she works as a staff nurse in the NICU and also as a part-time pediatric home care nurse.
Cusack, who still sounds as energetic as the new graduate she was when she began her nursing career at the hospital almost 40 years ago, took some time during a typically hectic afternoon on the NICU to speak with Nurse.com in a phone interview about her career.
Nurse.com: What was it like being featured in the magazine?
Lynn Cusack: My coworkers were amazingly supportive. The magazine called the hospital and asked if there was someone who would write it, and the hospital picked me. I felt very honored to write it.
The article dealt with being a nurse in the NICU. The first part was why I became a nurse. When I was 7 years old, my parents encouraged me to go to the library. [That is where] I saw a book with a blue cloth cover about a student nurse. That should tell you how long ago that was (laughs). The sketches were all pencil drawings.
There was one picture of a girl with blond hair and a cap, and she was holding a preemie. I didn’t know what a preemie was, of course.
Later, I found out what they were, and I wanted to become a nurse. And I became a NICU nurse.
How has your job changed through the years?
LC: We have a much better grasp of respiratory disease. Our prenatal care has improved. The infants who wouldn’t have survived 25 years ago, now a lot of them survive. How has nursing changed during the years?
Our skill levels must be commensurate with the skill of the unit you’re working in. Twenty-five years ago, there were fewer hospitals that could accept these babies. We had a huge patient population. We had 60 beds, but sometimes we had 70 to 80 kids.
Now, we tend to see the sickest, the babies who require the most intensive care. What we do now is a lot better.
What is it about your specialty that has kept you in it all these years?
LC: No. 1, I love babies. No. 2, I love working with them. No two babies are the same. And it’s been like working in a new place. It may be the same unit, but it’s never been the same. Every few years, it’s like working in a new place because of the advancements we’ve made. It’s very gratifying.
Tom Clegg is a freelance writer.
Roslyn "Lynn" Cusack, RN, BSN, NRP, BCLS, was featured in the third issue of the New York regional magazine on Dec. 18, 1989. Cusack, then a senior staff nurse in the NICU at New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center, wrote a column about neonatal care and was pictured in the magazine with an infant. Cusack remained in contact with the child’s family for several years after they appeared in the magazine.
She has spent her entire 38-year nursing career at that facility, now known as NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, although she is on her third building. Cusack’s job title has changed a few times over the years, but she has remained part of the same unit throughout her career. These days she works as a staff nurse in the NICU and also as a part-time pediatric home care nurse.
Cusack, who still sounds as energetic as the new graduate she was when she began her nursing career at the hospital almost 40 years ago, took some time during a typically hectic afternoon on the NICU to speak with Nurse.com in a phone interview about her career.
Nurse.com: What was it like being featured in the magazine?
Lynn Cusack: My coworkers were amazingly supportive. The magazine called the hospital and asked if there was someone who would write it, and the hospital picked me. I felt very honored to write it.
The article dealt with being a nurse in the NICU. The first part was why I became a nurse. When I was 7 years old, my parents encouraged me to go to the library. [That is where] I saw a book with a blue cloth cover about a student nurse. That should tell you how long ago that was (laughs). The sketches were all pencil drawings.
There was one picture of a girl with blond hair and a cap, and she was holding a preemie. I didn’t know what a preemie was, of course.
Later, I found out what they were, and I wanted to become a nurse. And I became a NICU nurse.
How has your job changed through the years?
LC: We have a much better grasp of respiratory disease. Our prenatal care has improved. The infants who wouldn’t have survived 25 years ago, now a lot of them survive. How has nursing changed during the years?
Our skill levels must be commensurate with the skill of the unit you’re working in. Twenty-five years ago, there were fewer hospitals that could accept these babies. We had a huge patient population. We had 60 beds, but sometimes we had 70 to 80 kids.
Now, we tend to see the sickest, the babies who require the most intensive care. What we do now is a lot better.
What is it about your specialty that has kept you in it all these years?
LC: No. 1, I love babies. No. 2, I love working with them. No two babies are the same. And it’s been like working in a new place. It may be the same unit, but it’s never been the same. Every few years, it’s like working in a new place because of the advancements we’ve made. It’s very gratifying.
Tom Clegg is a freelance writer.
To comment, email editorNY@nurse.com.
