ToniAnne Petro, RN

ToniAnne Petro is humbled, honored, and proud to receive the Sister Nadine Casey, CIJ Award. A dedicated and caring nurse, she has served the patients of Mercy Hospital for over 33 years – a childhood dream realized. When she was eight years old she gave her father a birthday card and wrote in it that she would take care of him one day because she was going to be a nurse. True to her word, she kept that promise! She cared for both of her parents during their ailing years and felt privileged in doing so.

ToniAnne graduated with a BSN degree from Molloy College in 1988. As a nursing student, she was inducted into the International Honor Society for nurses, Sigma Theta Tau. While at Molloy, ToniAnne was the President of the nursing club and volunteered in many outreach programs throughout the communities. One of her proudest moments was when she volunteered in the Appalachian Mountains of West Virginia as a new graduate. She helped her mentor, Sister Eileen Catterson, in the community clinic that provided care to the underserved in the region. This experienced taught ToniAnne the importance of providing comprehensive and compassionate care.

Upon returning to New York, she accepted a position as a registered nurse on the medical surgical unit where she met other nurses, doctors, and staff that ToniAnne still works with today. In 1990, ToniAnne transferred to the operating room and was the youngest nurse in the perioperative department and understood that this area of nursing would be challenging, yet very exciting to learn. She quickly became interested in the thoracic/vascular service and eventually became a preceptor. ToniAnne’s fondest memories include working with expert surgical teams in the operation room and taking charge of the daily board throughout her years in the department.

After more than two decades as an operating room nurse, she accepted and remains in the role as the Perioperative, Special Procedures and Cardiac Cath Nurse Educator. She sees her position as a wonderful way to educate and help other nurses who seek to work in a procedural department. As part of the nursing education team, ToniAnne has worked with other dynamic nurse educators at Mercy Hospital on many hospital initiatives. Her most recent role was representing Mercy Hospital with the upgrade of the new Pyxis, med station system. She is also a Basic Life Support instructor for the hospital. ToniAnne demonstrates her passion in nursing by working closely with an interdisciplinary team that always seeks to benefit every patient that comes to Mercy Hospital. It has been her life dream to serve others during a time of illness or disease. As an educator at Mercy, her aim is to communicate, educate and promote patient safety and professional development to future generations of nurses. She is currently pursuing her Masters in Nursing Education.

ToniAnne is married to her best friend, Jimmy, for over 33 years and together they have been blessed with two beautiful children, Michael, and Sabrina who were both born at Mercy Hospital and were cared for by our wonderful staff! ToniAnne will forever be grateful for her loving family, her brothers, sisters and parents, for their endless love, encouragement, and support.