Just doing his job

It's a typical break room at a city hospital. There's a sink, refrigerator, long table, and bulletin boards rife with information. One cork board is what the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) emergency room staff jokingly calls, "Bob's wall of letters." Robert Conley, an emergency room RN who is only in his first year of employment at the hospital, has already received so many thank you cards and letters from patients that they dominate the space. But Conley, 42, a burly kind-hearted nurse from Plymouth, humbly says, "I'm just part of a great team, and I'm just doing my job."

"Just doing his job" was what Conley was doing the night Esther Dezube encountered him. Dezube had to make an unfortunate detour to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center's emergency room when she experienced chest pains and breathing difficulties.

"While there, I observed Bob treat others - and me - with a compassion that goes beyond excellence," Dezube wrote in her letter nominating Conley for the BostonWorks Salute to Nurses. Conley regards his caring towards patients simply as being part of the healthcare profession, an occupational path that he started on more than 15 years ago.

Conley started his medical career as an EMT (emergency medical technician) and paramedic, working for a private ambulance service. But his wife, Jeannie, a nurse at Children's Hospital in Boston, encouraged him to go to nursing school. "No, no, this is what I want to be," Conley said.

But three kids later, and after his father's death from cancer, Conley started rethinking his plans. Maybe nursing school would be a good idea after all.

It was a long haul. During his two years at Quincy College, Conley often sat at the dining room table studying until 2 o'clock or 3 o'clock in the morning. "I missed out on a lot of trips for ice cream, baseball games, and trips to the swimming pool," he says of having to sacrifice time with his twin daughters, Abbi and Alexandra, 8, and his son Maxwell, 6. Then, when Jeannie was diagnosed with breast cancer, he vowed to stay by her side and do anything necessary to help her. "There were a lot of bumps in the road," says Conley. But he stuck it out and graduated last year.

Conley applied for a job at BIDMC's new emergency department, opened in July 2001, a Level 1 trauma center that treats almost 55,000 patients a year. That's where nurse manager Tricia Flanagan first met him. He was one of 16 applicants for two positions. If hired, he would be enrolled in the hospital's New Graduate Nurse Orientation Program, which provides one-on-one mentoring and guidance from clinical nurse specialists.

"When you hire someone like Bob, it has to be based on the potential you see in the person," says Flanagan, a nurse for 12 years. She remembers the interview, and his open, engaging way of communicating. "I'll give 110 percent every single day," Conley said at the time, and today, Flanagan says, "that is exactly what he does."

Patient Dezube saw Conley giving 110 percent during her long night in the emergency room. From her bed, she could see into the room next to her, as a mentally unstable elderly woman was treated. "They calmed her down," Dezube remembers. "They treated her with respect and gentle care."

Unknown to the staff, Dezube was actually the wife of Dr. Bruce Dezube, a Beth Israel AIDS oncologist and a member of the hospital's board of trustees, a fact they made known only later in their visit.

When Flanagan called Conley to tell him he had been chosen as a Salute to Nurses honoree, it was one of the few times she cried at work. "What did I do wrong?" Conley asked with concern in his voice. Perhaps, his question should have been, "Can I do anything wrong?" Conley had already been chosen by his fellow nursing peers as Rookie of the Year, honoring him for his excellent work and dedication.

Although Conley is known for showing caring and compassion to patients, he doesn't forget about his co-workers either. He's often up at 3 a.m. enjoying his favorite hobby, baking. When he arrives at Beth Israel at 7 a.m., it's with a plateful of sweets. "I make a mean oatmeal raisin cookie," says Conley.

And his co-workers agree.