Sharing her skills, gifts, and talent with others gives joy to Jeniece Roane, MS, RN, NE-BC – both personally and professionally.
“I do love giving back, helping people, and making connections with patients, children, and families,” says Roane, vice president of operations for Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU.
On April 30 at five in the morning, the veteran nurse and administrator was on hand for CHoR’s history-making opening of the CHoR Children’s Tower, helping patients who were moving from the pediatric floor in VCU Medical Center Main Hospital to their new rooms in the Children’s Tower.
“We chose 5 a.m. because it’s the lowest volume time,” she says.
Over seventy volunteers were on hand to help families get set up in their new space.
The long anticipated tower includes seventy-two inpatient beds in all private rooms, an emergency department, Level 1 trauma center, and helipad. A healing environment, it will also have an indoor garden, multi-faith chapel, performance space, on-site Ronald McDonald House, indoor gym, and more.
There is also a three-story atrium with an indoor garden that patients and families can access.
Roane has been at CHoR since the initial planning of the pediatrics tower. At first, there was talk of dedicating a few floors to pediatrics in the larger tower of VCU Medical Center, a more adult-focused space.
“It was the vision of Leslie Wyatt, retired executive director of CHoR, and Michael Rao, Ph.D., VCU, and VCU Health System president, that a space and tower be dedicated to children, so we pivoted away from a larger adult tower to one block solely dedicated to care for children,” she says.
Roane says it’s hard to believe the tower is finally open. “It’s been incredible, being here where we are and being connected to VCU and having relationships with adult colleagues that enrich the care we provide to children,” she says.
Roane’s Path to Nursing and CHoR
Born in Philadelphia, Roane was eight years old when her family moved to Aylett in King William County. Her interest in caring for children started when she was young and while she was babysitting and working in childcare.
She fell in love with science thanks to a high school teacher, Sue Perry. The teacher, who later became a nurse, ignited Roane’s interest in science and nursing.
After graduation, Roane went to Virginia Commonwealth University where she graduated in 1993 with a Bachelor of Science degree in nursing from the VCU School of Nursing. She later received her master’s in nursing there and is now enrolled in the Ph.D. program in nursing.
Before attending nursing school, she briefly thought about being a pharmacist, but she realized the career was not a good fit. “What was missing for me was human interaction,” she says. After the first year I switched my major to nursing. I wanted more direct patient care contact.”
Roane describes herself as an introvert, and says she loves learning and challenging herself.
She started her career at Children’s Hospital before it was affiliated with VCU, then moved to Bon Secours St. Mary’s Hospital, working in pediatrics, and eventually the pediatric intensive care unit. She went to the VCU Medical Center in 1997 to work in the pediatric ICU.
“I came into my own there,” she says of VCU. “I learned to advocate more about how to take care of kids with all types of issues. I feel like my time bedside in the pediatric ICU at VCU shaped who I am now as an administrator, person, and wife.”
After working in the pediatric ICU for a few years, she realized the toll it takes on a nurse. “It’s a challenging environment to work in for a long period of time,” she says, noting she went hourly with the PICU and worked at Anthem as a nurse consultant for a year before returning to VCU full-time.
“I missed being part of a team and making a meaningful contribution to the lives of children,” she says.
Those years of accepting challenges, learning, and serving kids and families have paid off. “I am grateful for what I had been able to do, but I wanted to learn more about hospital operations,” she says of moving from patient care to administration.
Why the Children’s Tower at CHoR is a Wonder
Planning, preparing for, and watching the new tower come to fruition has been a labor of love for Roane. She says seeing the environment match the level of care provided to children and families is incredible.
She also wants her team to have an “environment they can be proud of, an environment that makes work easier with spaces where you can take a break,” she says.
The play rooms in the new tower are some of Roane’s favorite spaces for kids. “They did an exceptional job in designing play spaces for small children, as well as adolescents and youth where control is given back to children, where they can experience normalcy at the appropriate development stage,” she says. “We want to foster that.”
Noting that food insecurity exists among families seeking care at CHoR, she’s glad families who are are staying at the Ronald McDonald House will receive meals. “Our partnership with Ronald McDonald Charities enabled us to take that stress out,” she says. “That area is one of my favorite spaces in the hospital.”
Being part of the team that helped plan for and open the new Children’s Tower is the “greatest honor of a lifetime and my career,” she says. “I hope that I am doing my job with grace and compassion. For me, this represents an elevation of our commitment to our teams and the families we serve. It’s a commitment that reflects how much we care about them.”
