Barbara Reese Concludes 58 Years at Princeton Medical Center
It was June 17, 1963 when Barbara Reese, RN, started her career at the old Princeton Hospital on Witherspoon Street. John F. Kennedy was President. The Beatles were still only famous in Europe. Vaccines were a hot topic – though, back then, it was about measles and polio, not COVID-19.
Reese graduated from Hartwick College in upstate New York – holding a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN), which was relatively rare at the time for RNs entering the field – and took the position at Princeton Hospital, serving as a staff nurse on the medical and psychiatric floor.
In 1971, psychiatric care was moved to the brand-new Princeton House Behavioral Health, and the hospital’s medical-psychiatric unit became medical-surgical, better known as med-surg.
For the next half century, minus four months in telemetry, Reese was a mainstay at med-surg. She served as assistant nurse manager of the unit for 43 years until retiring in July 2021. Along the way, Princeton Hospital – known today as Penn Medicine Princeton Medical Center (PMC) – increased in size and capabilities until it outgrew the site on Witherspoon Street and moved in 2012 to a state-of-the-art campus in Plainsboro.
Reese was closely involved in the move, being responsible for planning and carrying out the transition for her unit. She lists the move as one of the most memorable developments during her career at Princeton, along with the introduction of bedside computers in 1992.
Embracing new technology was typical of her time at the hospital, particularly in surgical care. Even when it was a relatively small community hospital, Reese said, PMC was always looking to invest in new surgical capabilities and provide new and better procedures for its patients.
“I stayed in med-surg because I loved the work, and I think it’s an important aspect of nursing,” Reese said. She was particularly proud of how her unit would consistently strive to provide a higher level of care – for example, by pursuing advanced certifications or center of excellence designations for specialties such as bariatric surgery and joint replacement.
For many years, Reese was a preceptor – a veteran nurse who helps to orient new nurses to the hospital, the unit, and their professional responsibilities. It was very rewarding, she said, when she saw people she had mentored progressing to leadership positions.
She also filled an important though less formal role in med-surg, helping to arrange celebrations of co-workers’ birthdays as well as professional achievements and other occasions. Reese joked that she got to know the lady who ran the cake counter at McCaffrey’s very well over the years.
Toward the end of her career, though no longer a preceptor, Reese continued to pay close attention to the new staff members joining the unit and the hospital as a whole.
“I am really impressed with the caliber of the nursing staff we are hiring – very bright, committed, compassionate, and caring,” Reese said. “It bodes very well for the future. The hospital will be in good hands.”
“Barbara is a true devotee of the nursing profession who worked selflessly and tirelessly caring for others,” said Carolina Biala, RN, nurse manager of the Surgical Care Unit at PMC. “She was the very essence of what a nurse should be. Her longstanding dedication and passion for nursing were inspiring. I will always emulate her work ethic and pursuit of excellence.”