In honor of Jerome Schiro
When Hurricane Katrina struck in August of 2005, Jerome Schiro joined the Red Cross and spent three weeks manning shelters in Mississippi. He was on the front line of health services for evacuees along the Gulf Coast. If someone needed heart pills or cancer drugs or diabetes medication, he helped get these patients where they needed to be. If someone needed immediate care, he was there to respond.
This kind of dedication comes naturally in his day job as an outpatient hematology and oncology nurse at UNC, a job he’s had for eleven years. Easy going and quick with a smile, Jerome has always had a particular interest in working with people with life-threatening illnesses. For his dedication and care, he earned an Oncology Excellence Award in 2003.
“If I can provide some measure of comfort or convenience or resources, then I’ve done my job,” he says. “A long time ago I learned that patients and families need to go through this process themselves. But what I try to do is to help them get through it however I can. Every day these patients teach me a lot about perseverance and what it means to live each day at a time and not worry too much about tomorrow because today is what we have.”