Like many in the medical field, Manny Gomez, RN, is following in a parent’s footsteps, in this case, his mother’s. Nursing is a career he’d been considering for a long time, especially after hearing his mother talk about her work. 

“I grew up with her as a role model and seeing what she did,” he says. “She would come home from work and tell us stories about what happened that day. And I always thought it was so cool, and I knew I wanted to do that.” 

In fact, Manny knew in 6th grade that he wanted to be a nurse. “We did a project in English class: what do you want to be when you grow up? And that was the first time I wrote that I wanted to be a nurse. Years later, it came to fruition.” 

Learning on the job 

Manny now works on H50, the colorectal surgery postoperative floor at Cleveland Clinic Main Campus, helping to care for patients who have had surgery related to Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis or colon and rectal cancer. 

Manny attended Cuyahoga Community College (Tri-C) nursing school and started working at Cleveland Clinic as a Patient Care Nursing Assistant (PCNA) while he was a student. His route to his current degree was PCNA, Clinical Technician, LPN and then RN.  

“I was very happy that I went to Tri-C because I could practice as an LPN for a year in between my LPN and my RN,” he says. “I thought that made me a much stronger nurse when I graduated, because I had a year where I was working right alongside an RN and got to observe them and learn from them and bounce ideas off of them.” 

In his current position, Manny continues to learn from his fellow nursing caregivers. He chose to work on the H50 floor specifically for that reason. 

“I knew that H50 had a really strong group of experienced nurses,” he says. “I wanted to go somewhere where there were people I could learn from, and H50 definitely had that. There are nurses who have been here for 25+ years who are very, very good at what they do. So that was the main driving force — somewhere that I could learn how to be a strong, safe nurse.” 

Mentoring for the future 

Manny’s gratitude to his fellow caregivers for their guidance and his own passion for education have created a desire to pay it forward. Before he was a nurse, Manny worked as a tutor, and he would like to replicate that experience as a mentor to the future nurses he is working with.  

“The nurses who took me under their wing really benefited my career,” he says. 

“I love the inpatient setting, but I also really value passing along the knowledge that I’ve learned. When I’m working with PCNAs who are in nursing school, I love to be that role model for them that I had in my career. So, when a PCNA is with me, I like to point different things out to them and help foster their critical thinking, as well.” 

Education is the key 

Manny’s message to nurses (and prospective nurses): at Cleveland Clinic, you will learn a great deal that will benefit your education and your career.  

For prospective nurses, “I would talk about how working at Cleveland Clinic will facilitate their education,” he says. “What you’re doing at the Clinic is definitely going to help in the classroom, because we’re practicing as safely as possible, which is exactly what nursing school trains you to do.” 

For someone who is already a nurse, “I would talk about what we see on a routine basis, things that other hospitals don’t see normally. For instance, we always get patients from other hospitals who are coming in for an increased level of care, because we’re the place that’s able to provide it. The experience of seeing things that you’re not going to see anywhere else is huge. At Cleveland Clinic, you really get to use all of your skills.”