Cris Rockwell

Registered Nurse/St. Vincent’s Midtown Hospital / New York, NY

“My work teaches me how to accept my own vulnerability,” says Cris Rockwell, an RN on the psychiatric unit at St. Vincent’s Midtown Hospital in New York City. “When we can do that, we are doing something for our mental health overall. It makes us more sensitive to other people’s suffering.”

Rockwell, an 1199SEIU Delegate, says she’s always been drawn to helping those who need special care; whether it’s because of a stigma attached to their illness or because they live in a desperately poor community.

For the first 10 years of her 30-year career as a nurse, Rockwell’s work was dedicated to community-based public health programs in her native Philippines. Rockwell worked with the poorest residents of Manila, the Philippine capital.

“I was in Tondo, the biggest squatter area at that time. People were really poor and malnourished. There was a lot of crowding, so we had a lot of TB. We had health centers, a nutrition program. We did wound care and delivered babies; whatever the community needed,” says Alexander. “I was responsible for training community health workers. Many of these people didn’t even graduate from high school. You can’t even imagine what they did. They were so committed.”

Rockwell, who is currently in school working on an advanced nursing degree, says teaching workers was one of the most satisfying times of her career. She also feels she was able to help the most people.

“I always tell people I’m just one person, I can do one to one care,” says Rockwell. “When I teach healthcare workers to care for others, I multiply.”