Jeffrey Bomba is a firm believer in the business theory that effective leadership is not just about making others better because of your presence, but also making sure that impact continues in your absence.

“I’ve really fallen in love with growing people and helping them reach their goals,” says Bomba, who graduated with his doctorate of nursing practice from Carlow University in May. “I think that’s what leadership is. If I can help someone reach their goal, be a better nurse, a better leader, whatever it is, that is my passion.”

Not one to lead from a desk, Bomba prefers to be in the trenches alongside his team. That approach became critical when his ICU became the first in Western Pennsylvania to have a patient with COVID-19.

“I watched my staff go through the fear, the terror, the understanding, and then the acceptance. And I was there with them every step of the way,” he says. “I walked into the room with them, with my PPE on, to take care of that patient so they knew I’m right there. You’re not going to do this alone.”

Bomba says the ingenuity nurses demonstrated through the pandemic is a testament to what they’re capable of in the future. Nurses figured out ways to limit unnecessary contact by running IV tubes and moving ventilator control panels and dialysis machines outside of rooms.

“That was all nurses. The pandemic drove them to take a step back, put their own fears aside and say, ‘We can do this better.’ They innovated the way we care for these patients, and that is what makes me proud of nursing. And if we can do this, we can do anything.”