The Villages Daily Sun

THE VILLAGES — Maureen McGillicuddy’s life has been spent caring for others.

It’s what she likes doing, it’s what comes naturally to the Village of Piedmont resident.

She’s spent 37 years doing it on duty as a nurse, and her entire life off duty.

“Her whole life has been about giving to others,” said her sister, Carol Packard. “If not her patients, then her friends and her family.

“She’s always gone out of her way to help people. It’s just her makeup, her personality.”

An Early Start

When McGillicuddy went to nursing school, she opted to become a licensed practical nurse rather than a registered nurse because it meant more interaction with the patients.

Specifically, she wanted to work with children.

“I’ve always been a child-lover,” she said.

As a teenager in Massachusetts, McGillicuddy used to go to a local hospital and visit with the kids in the pediatrics unit.

After graduation, McGillicuddy went to work in pediatrics at Saint Vincent Hospital in Worcester, Mass.

Turns out, not only does she love children, but she has a knack for working with them.

As a result, she was assigned to work with failure-to-thrive kids, kids who are not socially and nutritionally developed. They typically end up hospitalized with nutritional deficiencies, she said.

“Failure-to-thrive kids just need a lot of TLC,” McGillicuddy said.

And she was one of the few people on her floor who had the patience to get them to eat.

“I always used to just pick up the kids,” she said, holding them for five-10 minutes before trying to feed them. “Letting them get used to me.”

McGillicuddy really took the welfare of her failure-to-thrive kids to heart, and would even see them on her own time to get them to eat if needed.

“These kids needed the continuity,” she said. “They needed the familiarity.”

McGillicuddy planned to make pediatrics her whole career, but a statewide policy change disallowed LPNs from working in specialized units, such as pediatrics.

So, as much as she didn’t want to, McGillicuddy found herself interviewing for jobs in other units.

Other End of the Spectrum

After being forced out of pediatrics, McGillicuddy found herself in geriatrics.

“It was a very difficult adjustment,” she said. “You had to get used to the way you talked, the way you related with the patients.”

McGillicuddy was used to doing everything for her patients, and suddenly she was having to help her patients only when they wanted the help.

“You do not want to take their independence away,” she said. “It’s very important.”

Geriatrics eventually combined with oncology, and McGillicuddy found out she was good at dealing with oncology patients.

“A lot of time is spent doing things for the patient,” she said. McGillicuddy said she thought it was important to sit with the patients and let them talk about how they were feeling.

She thought that was another part of providing them the care they needed.

“It’s very important with oncology patients, letting them know it’s OK to feel like that,” she said. “I found with oncology patients, I’d spend extra time with them.

“They may be comatose, but I honestly believe they know someone’s there with them.”

McGillicuddy said she went into nursing not because of the money, but because she wanted to help people and make them feel better.

She felt she got a lot of that with oncology patients. Although she said it was hard when she lost oncology patients.

“If you’ve been with a patient from start to finish, they become a part of your extended family,” she said. “It affects you when they die, too.”

Regardless, McGillicuddy said oncology is something she would seriously consider going back to if ever given the chance.

Time for a Change

When McGillicuddy moved to The Villages last year, she knew she wouldn’t be able to handle being retired, but she thought she’d take some time off to figure out a new career path.

That lasted six months.

“Those six months where I wasn’t doing it, it was like I was lost,” she said. “I missed being able to help people.”

She’s now back working as a nurse at The Villages Regional Medical Center in the medical/surgery unit.

She said her first day on the job was a little nerve-wracking, because she knew she’d have some extra responsibilities.

“I was more nervous and scared about the job than I was about taking care of the patients,” she said. “Doing patient care, that was completely natural, it was like I’d never left.

But, aside from getting used to the clerical duties and learning how things work at the VRMC, McGillicuddy said it was a great first day.

“I came home that first night and I was just rejuvenated,” she said. “It was like I was back at home.”

McGillicuddy works three days a week at the VRMC, all in a row. She said it means she has a better chance of encountering the same patients.

She said that six-month stint without nursing was enough to let her know she didn’t want to quit any time soon.

“I would expect that I am going to be there for a while,” she said. “As long as I can physically do it, I’ll be there.

“I love my job, I can’t imagine doing anything else.”

Katie Evans is a reporter with the Daily Sun. She can be reached at 753-1119, ext. 9067, or katie.evans@thevillagesmedia.com.vbnvbn