BARRY WILLIAMS/ Special

Felisa Herring, a nurse at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston, takes Samantha Lundy's blood pressure as Shrek stops in to say hello. Herring came to the United States from the Philippines in 1967.

In 1967, Felisa Herring was selected to participate in an exchange visitor nurses program that brought 11 nurses from the Philippines to work at University Hospital in Birmingham. The purpose was to have the group learn American nursing practices for two years and take them back to their homeland.

"I wanted a challenge, and that's why I came," said Herring, RN, BSN, CPN. "I was proud of being selected. It was what so many of us had dreamed of — practicing in America, where everything was modern and people enjoyed the highest standards [of health care and living]."

Herring, 65, could already read and write English, but had to pass the National Council Licensure Examination and improve her speaking accent. Hospital instructors held daily classes for the visiting nurses and gradually brought them into clinical areas, but the experience was still overwhelming for Herring.

"Everything was so advanced and made me realize how primitive our hospitals were in comparison," she said. "There were machines used for patients in every department. We didn't have all those tests, procedures, gadgets or supplies at home. There were a lot of medicines that we hadn't even heard of."

She was amazed at how many supplies were disposable. "At home, we boiled syringes and gloves and used them over and over again."

What started as a temporary nursing job became a career after she married Glenn Herring, a University of Alabama student, in 1969. She took a job in a pediatric hospital in Birmingham, which led to a position at Egleston Hospital when her husband was transferred to Atlanta in 1971.

Herring resisted becoming a U.S. citizen until after her daughter was born.

"I wanted to hold onto the last part of me that was Filipino," she said, "but I realized that my own family was here and this was my country now. I have no regrets and still keep in touch with my siblings."

One constant during Herring's 32 years at Egleston has been her desire to keep evolving as a nurse.

"There's no stopping the learning. This hospital is always encouraging us to learn and keep growing," said Herring, who works in an observation unit for short-stay patients that is transitioning to a surgical step-down unit.

She has seen Egleston and Scottish Rite hospitals merge, expand and evolve into Children's Healthcare of Atlanta.

"I feel so lucky to have worked for Children's, because it is such a progressive hospital and always emphasizes excellence," she said. "I am proud that this hospital maintains high standards for its employees — in the care we give, with ourselves and in our relationships with one another."

Herring recalls having almost no voice in what happened at the hospital in the Philippines, where she started her career. "The decisions were made by the hierarchy, and they told us what was going to happen," Herring said.

In the United States, she's been part of the trend for nurses to have more autonomy and a greater say in patient care and hospital operations. "Here, nurses sit on committees and make decisions. You have the means to reach your highest potential."

Herring recently passed the Certified Pediatric Nurse national exam after taking hospital-sponsored review classes. Although she is at retirement age, she plans to keep working, saying that she would miss nursing and her young patients.

"I think working is good for your health and your mind, and there is always a need for nurses," she said. "I have nothing but gratitude for what has been given to me."

If any of her five grandchildren want to pursue the field, she intends to encourage them.

"Nursing is one profession where the satisfaction within lingers on and on," she said.