Nancy Harriman had been living in Peapack-Gladstone, N.J., for about 10 years, while working as a part-time nurse at Saint Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston. “And then I asked myself, ‘Why am I driving so far when there’s a place right in my town?’” she recalls.
Thus began Harriman’s now 19-year-career at Matheny. This July, she was named adult medical day nurse at Matheny’s Adult Learning Center in Hillsborough.
At the center, Harriman, a registered nurse, oversees the care and treatment of 27 adult day patients who come from Matheny’s group homes and from the community. In addition, another 12 to 14 adults from Matheny are transported to the Hillsborough facility every day, participating in recreation and fine art activities, computer classes and a variety of life skills classes.
Harriman, seen above with Matheny group home resident Paul Santo, received her BSN from Rutgers-Newark, and her first job was at Morristown Memorial. In addition to Saint Barnabas, she has worked at the Lyons VA Hospital in Bernards Township and Overlook Medical Center in Summit.
Matheny’s Adult Learning Center, she says, “is very special. The people who work here are selfless. They do everything for others. And the students and patients at Matheny become like family. You see them grow up. It becomes a part of you that you don’t want to leave behind.”
