At 90 years old, Ellie Ucci has well over half a century of experience on the job as a bedside nurse. She was a a volunteer aerobics instructor in her 60s, and a working nurse for the past 65 years. And the Arizona native still has much to give.
“I have to look at myself in the mirror and see my wrinkles and my white hair and I get maybe I am ninety, but I tell them I feel like I’m in my thirties when I come to work, I really do,” she told ABC 15.
Ucci’s passion for nursing sprouted in 1937, when she just four years old.
“When I was four, I had a dog that had a fractured foot, and I made a splint out of two pieces of wood I found outside in the yard,” Ucci said. “My mother said you did a good job, Ellie. I said, ‘Mom I think I want to be a nurse.’”
The health care hero has never looked back. Ucci’s greatest passion in nursing has been guiding new parents within the labor and delivery unit at Arizona’s Banner Gateway. Helping moms and dads find their footing during their first moments as parents isn’t really work to Banner Gateway’s most experienced nurse, however.
“They say that if you love what you do, you never work a day in your life and that’s exactly how I feel,” she said.
Arizona locals Priscilla and Jake Devere recently welcomed their baby, Owen, into the world, and Ucci has made a significant impact on the new parents.
“She’s been bringing personal stories and things like that, just making it fun and lighthearted while we’ve been here, so it’s just taken that stress away from all the new stuff we’re learning right now,” Priscilla told ABC 15.
Ucci is not slowing down, either. She’s still going strong and plans to work for many years to come.
“Retirement is not in my vocabulary,” she said. “Make sure you stay healthy because you have a lot to give the world.”
About the Author
