LAST SHIFT! After 73 Years Combined Nursing, Best Friends Depart Health First’s Holmes Regional Medical Center to Hero’s Goodbye   

MARTHA ANDES and Lise Cormier logged a combined 73 years of nursing at Health First’s Holmes Regional Medical Center

“It’s the heart. You have to have the heart to be a nurse.”

BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA – On Tuesday night, two nurses – lifelong friends and self-proclaimed “work wives” – departed through an associate entrance of Health First’s Holmes Regional Medical Center for the last time flanked by a cordon of health system leaders and colleagues calling out their names, applauding, and waving signs and pompoms.

Martha Andes and Lise Cormier, nurses on the fifth-floor medical surgical unit, close out careers that span 38 and 35 years, respectively – a combined 73 years.

And they did it all at Holmes Regional, beginning for Andes in the summer of 1986.

“They call us the work wives,” Andes said, immediately following the sendoff, as the assembled were reaching out for a last hug – and any available tissue.

From the time Andes trained Cormier in the Oncology Unit at Holmes, the two have been nearly inseparable. Co-workers were able to predict their final route leaving the hospital for the last time, and exactly when it would happen – though the celebration was kept as a complete surprise to the two veterans.

The two nurses have survived hurricanes – often sleeping at the hospital during the worst of the weather – as well as the hardships brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. Through it all, they agreed, they witnessed a lot of changes – and some immutable things that sustained them.

“We lasted so long because of the people,” Cormier said. 

It’s not a coincidence the two became the very best of friends, Andes said. There’s a tremendous amount of heart that goes into nursing. It brings people closer naturally. 

“It’s the heart. You have to have the heart to be a nurse,” Andes said. 

“If you like to give and help people, go into nursing,” Cormier said. “There’s so many fields! [Holmes Regional] only touches on a few. There’s many more. But you have to care,” Cormier said.

Amid the cheering throngs were several health system vice presidents and its Chief Clinical Officer and Chief Nursing Officer, Cheyana Fischer.

“Martha and Lise demonstrated every day for decades what it means to deeply care for their patients and those associates they work with. They showed up when it mattered and stayed when it was so hard,” she said. 

“Not only are they lifetime friends and supportive colleagues, but they are also shining examples of what selfless, loving, and heart-led nursing looks like. My heart is filled with gratitude for the countless lives Martha and Lise have touched, and we wish them well as they enjoy retirement.”

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