Every year, in honor of Nurses Week, the Houston Chronicle releases a ‘Salute to Nurses’ list – honoring the best of the best nurses. This year, nine HMSL nurses made the list and two of them made the Top 15 list. Maria Cuesta, RN, BSN is a charge nurse on the night shift in the Brazos ICU. Chung-Win “Joy” Yuan Fey, RN-3, BSN, OCN is a charge nurse on the day shift in Brazos. Both were interviewed about their journey as nurses. Learn more about them below.
Maria Cuesta
Maria Cuesta has been a nurse for more than 25 years. She wanted a career that would constantly challenge her and at the same time, she wanted to make a difference in someone’s life. She felt honored to be selected as a Top 15 nurse and adds its validation that nurses are respected, highly regarded and valued in our society. When asked what inspires her as a nurse, Cuesta said nursing is always evolving with the latest innovation and technology. Nurses are taking it to the next level with their education and practice and most of all, nurses are everyday heroes.
Share a particular patient story that you can recall where you thought ‘this is why I am a nurse’. Collectively, all the patients we had during the COVID 19 pandemic. We were designated as a COVID ICU unit. We were running on adrenaline to save our patients. We celebrated with the patients/ families for those who made it home and shed some tears for those who did not. Those two years of the pandemic were the culmination of everything I have learned and the realization that “this is why I am a nurse.”
What do you want people to know about nursing? Nursing is a very fulfilling and rewarding job. There are many aspects of nursing such as bedside, education, research, nurse practitioners, management, clinics, etc. There are a lot of opportunities for career advancement and the flexibility to move from one specialty to the next. Nursing is a calling.
What’s the best thing about your team at HMSL? The management is supportive; the team is diverse and the I CARE culture is inherent.
Fun facts about you:
Favorite food? Bok choy and Cheetos
Favorite TV show? Korean Dramas
Favorite music artist? Led Zeppelin
Favorite place to shop? The Heights Area
Favorite hobby? Photography
If you could have lunch with a celebrity, who would you sit with and where would you go? Elon Musk. We’d have lunch where there is a food truck.
Chung-Win (Joy) Yuan Fey
Chung-Win (Joy) Yuan Fey has been a nurse for more than 40 years. She became a nurse because she always enjoyed helping others. Nursing clicked with her character and enabled her to help others. She felt honored to be selected as a Top 15 nurse and recognized. She said she was humbled since many nurses perform their duties in difficult situations. When asked what inspired Yuan Fey to be a nurse, she remembered a childhood memory. When she was nine, she fell and broke her wrist, and a nun took care of her at a Catholic hospital in Taiwan – that nun has been Yuan Fey’s role model ever since. She made up her mind that she wanted to be like her. She wanted to be knowledgeable, kind, helpful and well respected.
Share a particular patient story that you can recall where you thought ‘this is why I am a nurse. A mother was living in a rural area without financial means to have a nursery or basin to bathe her baby. I had to utilize what she had at home to help her care for the child when I was a public health nursing educator.
What do you want people to know about nursing? Nursing is a work of compassion with wisdom. It requires critical thinking, collaboration with multidisciplinary teams and evidence-based practice with innovation for better processes, tools or skills. It also requires some flexibility while always putting safety first. We perform the job from the bottom of our hearts because our patients are somebody’s loved ones. Nursing serves the patients and their families. We always need to provide quality care with safety always in mind. Nursing also requires us to update our knowledge on a regular basis.
What’s the best thing about your team at HMSL? Four Brazos was the first Covid-19 unit and IMU. We learned and grew together. We fought against the disease together. We always helped and supported each other during challenge time.
Fun facts about you:
Favorite food: good cake and delicious dark chocolate
Favorite TV show: YouTube and America’s Got Talent
Favorite music artist? Vivaldi, Mozart, Beethoven, Bach
Favorite place to shop? T.J. Maxx, HomeGoods, Marshalls
Favorite hobby? cooking, reading, watching tv, fast walking, crochet
Ann says
I love you Chung Win Fey, you’re a good RN, Jesus bless you!
Mary Thompson says
I wish to extend my congratulations to all of the HMSL nurses in the Houston Chronicles’ Salute to Nurses List. I have worked with JOY and know firsthand of her dedication, knowledge, wisdom and compassion. She always went the distance for patients, nursing staff and other colleagues.