St. Anthony’s Nurse Shows 32 Years of Compassion

Cindy Roma has been caring for people more than half of her life. As a registered nurse at for 32 of her 53 years, she earned the nickname, “St. Cindy” because of her positive work at the hospital.

“I honestly think that because I was shown so much love and caring in my own family, it was a natural thing for me to want to care for other people the same way,” Roma said in a news release.  “I have the gift of faith, which enables me to offer hope to patients that things can get better.”

Roma, from South County, starts her day at 8 a.m. to patients waiting in the urgent care unit with maladies ranging from a cold to serious injuries. She can be seen working in the urgent care centers in and Fenton, but has also worked in the surgery and emergency departments.

“It’s so interesting, working at the urgent care, because you never know what you will see on any given day,” Roma said.  “We serve different cultural communities and even encounter language barriers at times – it can be challenging.  But we have the opportunity to touch people’s lives for a moment – give them care and send them back home – and, hopefully, they feel better when they leave us than when they arrived.”

Roma credits her positive attitude to her coworkers along with family. Early in her career, when an elderly patient was dying, Roma sat with her at nights when her husband left.

“My head nurse called and asked me to come in and sit with the woman, because she thought ‘tonight might be the night’; that nurse was passionate about not wanting the lady to die alone,” Roma said.  “I held the woman’s hand, touched her forehead and stroked her hair, through the night. Sometimes touching is all it takes to give someone comfort and reassurance that they are not alone.”

The nurse said the best part of her job was knowing the difference she makes in peoples’ lives after caring for them.