Patients are Job One for LBJ Hospital Nurse

Cancer patients visiting the outpatient chemotherapy unit at Lyndon B. Johnson General Hospital should expect compassionate care at the hands of true professionals. That's what nurse Cynthia D. Greene and her co-workers guarantee.

For almost five years, Greene has worked in the unit and in the hospital's oncology clinic. In her time with the Harris County Hospital District, she has seen hundreds of cancer patients walk through the unit. Aside from hooking them up to what, for many, is a life-saving treatment, Greene does much more. Her soothing manner and individualized attention help patients allay fears and cope with the mental anguish of their difficult situation.

"The patients we provide services for come to us with limited resources and some prejudices about the Hospital District," she says. "However, after a few visits the response is one of genuine appreciation because the care is sincere and professional."

She realizes that for some, the future is bleak.

"Many of our patients want us to tell them they're going to be okay. You can see the desperation in their eyes," she says. "Although we can't give such assurances, our belief in the unit is that every day of life is a gift."

In her 23-year career in nursing and throughout her life, Greene's core beliefs in God and family have sustained and guided her life.

A history buff since childhood, Greene received a history degree from Tufts University in Medford, Mass. However, her dreams of teaching history vanished after she became disillusioned by segregation policies at the time. Seeing no future in teaching history, she joined several of her friends who decided to pursue nursing careers.

She earned her LVN license and began her career as an emergency nurse at Delta Medical Center in her hometown of Greenville, Mississippi. She worked there for five years, also working on and off at an area nursing home. Relatives finally convinced her of far greater job opportunities in Houston. So in 1982, she moved here and worked in the private sector. She also worked on getting a bachelor's degree in nursing from The University of Texas-Houston Health Science Center.

Needing a greater challenge, she joined HCHD in 1989.

"I'd always heard from the time I arrived in Houston that the best clinical experience available in nursing is to be found in the Hospital District," she says.

She began her work with HCHD in the coronary care unit at Ben Taub General Hospital and later worked briefly in the hospital's level I trauma center. She moved onto LBJ Hospital in 1991 where she worked in the level three trauma center. She moved through the surgery and medicine clinics before finally ending in the outpatient chemotherapy unit.

"All nurses eventually find that one area that feels right," she says. "You work and develop skills in a variety of areas that prepare you for that special little niche that fits."

She admits that over the years she's fallen under the HCHD idiom of "once you stay three years with the District, you're hooked." Her reason, she says modestly, is that she really cares about her patients. Nursing has afforded Greene tremendous opportunities and challenges. She hopes to some day parlay her years of nursing experience into an administrative position, but only if it allows her the opportunity to continue to interact with patients.

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©2006 Texas Medical Center

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