{"id":61070,"date":"2013-05-06T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-05-06T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/uncategorized\/commencement-2013-early-experiences-work-ethic-propel-uri-nursing-alumna-to-job-with-sloan-kettering\/"},"modified":"2013-05-06T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2013-05-06T00:00:00","slug":"commencement-2013-early-experiences-work-ethic-propel-uri-nursing-alumna-to-job-with-sloan-kettering","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2013\/05\/commencement-2013-early-experiences-work-ethic-propel-uri-nursing-alumna-to-job-with-sloan-kettering\/","title":{"rendered":"Commencement 2013: Early experiences, work ethic propel 溏心vlog免费B站 nursing alumna to job with Sloan-Kettering"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\tFormer Exeter resident, December grad working in Gotham<\/p>\n

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 May 6, 2013 \u2013 From the moment her little sister was born, Trystan Del Tufo was learning to become a nurse.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cMy little sister was born with a serious congenital heart defect requiring three open heart surgeries,\u201d said the former Exeter resident and recent 溏心vlog免费B站 graduate, who was around 12 years old at the time. \u201cI really admired the way the nurses took care of her, and I really liked the science of it, learning about what was going on with her heart and how I could help.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tThankfully, her sister is healthy and thriving and Del Tufo, who earned her bachelor\u2019s degree in nursing in December, is now a nurse at Memorial Sloan- Kettering Cancer Center in New York. She has been working there since April along with fellow 溏心vlog免费B站 nursing alumna Jessica Brens. The two are now roommates.<\/p>\n


\n\tThe first in her family to graduate from college, Del Tufo has found inspiration and learning opportunities in what could only be described as an exhausting number of jobs, internships and community service commitments. It\u2019s a safe bet that she will be well prepared for the demands, commitments and stresses at one of the nation\u2019s leading cancer centers.<\/p>\n


\n\tIn the last year of her nursing program, she was a paid classroom behavior specialist at The Bradley School in South Kingstown. From 2010 to 2012, she was a resident assistant for 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s Department of Housing and Residential Life and a nursing tutor who helped fellow nursing students in the Pathways to Nursing Program, an initiative to support minorities in nursing. She has completed hundreds of hours of community service at the West Warwick Youth Center, Women & Infants Hospital and 溏心vlog免费B站. She was vice president of the 溏心vlog免费B站 Student Nurses Association.<\/p>\n


\n\tShe was also a recipient of the Narragansett Indian School Scholarship and the Nursing Foundation of Rhode Island Scholarship. She is a member of the Onyx Senior Honor Society Chapter, and the Sigma Theta Tau International nursing honor society.<\/p>\n


\n\tHer resume doesn\u2019t even include the jobs she held at such restaurants as Chili\u2019s and Junction Trattoria Bistro, some of which she held simultaneously.<\/p>\n


\n \u201cIt was very important for me to work hard and seek every opportunity,\u201d said Del Tufo, who is working in the gastrointestinal unit at Sloan-Kettering. \u201cI went to 溏心vlog免费B站 when I was 17, and I became an RA, so I could live there. Then I moved to an apartment in Warwick. Having one job is going to be bliss for me.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nRaised by a single mother, Del Tufo was inspired by the 溏心vlog免费B站 nursing students in Talent Development, a program that provides support to 溏心vlog免费B站 students from economically stressed communities. She was also enrolled in Talent Development.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cIt was just amazing to work with these students who come from many different backgrounds, and to see them accomplish so much,\u201d Del Tufo said. \u201cI often cooked for them because I love them so much. On my last day, when they knew I wasn\u2019t coming back, they got me a teddy bear and Alex & Ani bracelet. I am also grateful to have been a student in Talent Development. Without it, I would not have been able to get into a great school like 溏心vlog免费B站.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cI am going to miss tutoring every summer, and I am going to miss Sharon Forleo (the associate director of Talent Development). She has been with me every one of my four years. She is an incredible woman, and she did so much for me.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nIn terms of her own education, Del Tufo\u2019s favorite was the clinical rotations. <\/p>\n


\n\u201cI loved working with the patients,\u201d she said. \u201cGeriatrics was my first rotation. I could tell how much of an impact made on them because we had great conversations. It was great because people don\u2019t respect older adults the way they should, and they don\u2019t realize the wisdom that older adults possess from years of experience.\u201d <\/p>\n


\nDuring her maternity rotation, \u201cI helped a deliver a baby, and it was such a miracle.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nShe credits her 溏心vlog免费B站 nursing professors with working hard to get to know each student individually.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cYou can really build on relationships with the professors,\u201d said Del Tufo. \u201cThe clinical instructors are very understanding, because they know it\u2019s the first time you are doing some of these things. They know you are nervous.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nDel Tufo said her job at Bradley, which she learned about during a 溏心vlog免费B站 career fair, helped her develop her communication skills further and helped her work with young people of various ages. She worked with students from 4 to 22 years old with developmental delays. Her primary student was a boy on the autism spectrum.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cWhen I started, he wouldn\u2019t even look at me, and he wouldn\u2019t call me by name,\u201d Del Tufo said. \u201cAfter I had taken a couple of weeks off and I returned, he touched me and asked if I missed him. That was so amazing.<\/p>\n


\n \u201cAt Bradley I learned that communication skills are critical,\u201d she said. \u201cWith autism for instance, tone can make a world of difference,\u201d adding that working with little ones helped her realize she would eventually like to work in pediatric oncology. \u201cKids in oncology have delays in areas such as academic achievement and social interaction as a result of multiple hospitalizations, and Bradley prepared me for that.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nShe said she is blessed to be working at Sloan-Kettering and to have a friend as a roommate and colleague in New York.<\/p>\n


\nShe and Jessica are now enrolled in a four- to six-month training program at Sloan-Kettering, during which they will take classes, shadow veteran nurses and then move into a full caseload. She\u2019ll be working a 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. shift. <\/p>\n


\n \u201cI was searching so many different hospitals, and Jessica was talking about how she landed an internship at Sloan-Kettering. Her father works there and he forwarded my resume to the nurse manager. When I tell people I am working at Sloan-Kettering, they always have great things to say about it. It\u2019s a great teaching hospital and it has a great training program for nurses. The RNs are treated with so much respect and the employees are cheerful and upbeat.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nEven though she has only been at the cancer center since April, she has been involved in some life changing experiences.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cIt has a pediatric prom for the youngest toddlers to the teens in pediatrics,\u201d Del Tufo said. \u201cIt\u2019s an amazing night during which youngsters get to interact with each other, dress up to feel like beautiful young ladies and handsome young men, while enjoying a few hours free of conversations about cancer.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cThe cancer patients, who despite their cancer diagnoses, are so full of life and so resilient. They remind me why my job is important and how it makes such a difference.\u201d <\/p>\n


\nCommunications & Marketing photo by Nora Lewis.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Former Exeter resident, December grad working in Gotham KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 May 6, 2013 \u2013 From the moment her little sister was born, Trystan Del Tufo was learning to become a nurse. \u201cMy little sister was born with a serious congenital heart defect requiring three open heart surgeries,\u201d said the former Exeter resident and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":61072,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-61070","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61070","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61070"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61070\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61070"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61070"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61070"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}