Periodically, the Temple Health Newsroom will recognize employees whose contributions to the health system exemplify its mission and values.
A half-century ago, Ercele Reyes, BSN, MSN, moved from the Philippines to Philadelphia. The 21-year-old nursing student arrived at Temple University Hospital–Main Campus — and she has never left.
Reyes, the Director of Nursing Services at TUH–Main Campus, retired in October. She has extensive professional experience in nursing leadership, recruitment, organizational transitions, and building a strong and sustainable nursing workforce. She has supported patients through advanced cardiac life support, critical care nursing, and health care management, and has served the last three decades in various units, including surgical and trauma.
“After 50 years,” Reyes said, “it’s hard to say goodbye to Temple.”
“I had the privilege of working alongside Ercele as a trauma surgeon and chair of surgery, and she represents the very best of Temple,” said Amy J. Goldberg, MD, FACS, The Marjorie Joy Katz Dean of the Lewis Katz School of Medicine. “She takes tremendous pride in her nurses, celebrates their successes and brings teams together to provide exceptional care. For 51 years, Ercele has helped make Temple a place where patients are cared for and colleagues become family. I am deeply grateful for all she has given to Temple and the community we serve.”
Reyes shares more from her extensive career with Temple Health, and explains why young healthcare professionals should seek opportunities in the system:
How long have you been with Temple Health?
I’ve been at Temple since May 1975. At the time, I was a head nurse in the Intermediate ICU in the Philippines. There was a state of Martial law in the Philippines, so I had no choice. I was 21 years old at the time. I’m the youngest of six children and I have two sisters who were already living in the States. I arrived as a foreign nurse with a few other classmates from the same nursing school. Three of us came to Temple. I took the boards to begin practicing nursing at Temple and I’ve been here ever since.
In your 51 years at Temple, is there a single moment that’s been most rewarding?
There are so many. I will tell you a story: My first experiences at Temple were working night shift with patients who had open-heart surgery. I was part of a Temple team that was sent to Cleveland in 1984 to receive the appropriate training before Temple Hospital performed its first heart transplant. That may have been the first, but Temple has performed many of these transplant surgeries in the years since. Also, in 1996, I was part of the Temple transition team when the system acquired TUH–Northeastern. I later traveled to the Philippines to recruit nurses. These experiences reflect the depth of my commitment to Temple.
What do you enjoy most about your work?
As a Director of Nursing, you are the backbone of your nurses. The nurses I have worked with — I am so proud of them. I call them my kids. I don’t have children, so they are my kids. You celebrate the successes, you acknowledge the areas that need improvement, and you work collaboratively including the surgical physicians to enhance the quality of care we provide. I am very lucky that, in my career, I have seen at least 20 of my nurses who have become nurse anesthetists and nurse practitioners.
How would your colleagues describe you?
Most people, I think, would say that I am supportive of their individual goals and our teamwork to achieve team goals. I would hope they would say I am collaborative, too. In my career, when I first moved to trauma and became a head nurse, I remember seeing the way that our surgeons collaborated with our nurses. That is the same today. It is exceptional. The doctor-nurse relationship at Temple is so different here. If you want to be respected, to learn, to have opportunity, to be part of a team, to care for the communities your hospital serves, you need to come to Temple. I would tell anyone this. That is a direct result of our collaboration.
What makes Temple Health a special place?
When you think of 51 years, so much has changed — like our lines of services. But Temple has never changed. We are a family. No matter the status of the patient, Temple treats everyone the same way. There is nothing like saving a patient and getting them well. Over my career, so many have come back and said thank you to me and to my nurses. That’s the Temple difference, and it’s still the same. We serve the community. It’s what I’m proud of and what makes Temple a special place. I had several opportunities to move on in my career and I didn’t. Temple is family. Saying goodbye to a place that I have known and grown with for so long is hard, but I leave knowing that I hope that I have made a difference in the lives of my nurses, patients, and others who are a part of Temple.