02/18/2026
Sandra Powell, RN in Radiation Oncology celebrates her 40th anniversary at St. Bernards Healthcare! This month in our newsletter we took time to interview her. While it may be a long read, its worth hearing her story!
If you’ve stepped foot in the Radiation Oncology department in the last 40 years, you’ve probably met Sandra Powell, RN at the clinic.
When Sandra first imagined nursing, she pictured something almost idyllic, a crisp white uniform, gentle bedside moments, a kind of quiet glamour. What she didn’t expect was the grit: the long days, the hands-on realities, the emotional weight. But it was exactly that “nitty gritty” work that made her fall in love with the profession and kept her coming back for four decades.
Oncology is not an easy specialty. It demands emotional resilience, technical knowledge, and deep compassion. But for Sandra, it’s also where she feels she makes the greatest difference. Patients arrive overwhelmed, frightened, and unsure how to navigate a cancer diagnosis. She sees her role as a guide, someone who helps them move from the starting line to the finish line.
Over 40 years, Sandra has seen extraordinary change, especially in radiation therapy. When she started, everything was paper-based. Notes were handwritten. Diagnostic films had to be physically tracked and developed before treatment could proceed. Early treatment techniques were more manual and treated broader areas making side effects harder to manage.
Today, the difference is astonishing. Computerized machines now shape radiation beams with remarkable precision using multileaf collimators that move in real time as the machine rotates around the patient. Imaging can be viewed instantly while the patient is on the treatment table. Entire diagnostic histories are accessible with a click.
For patients facing a cancer diagnosis, Sandra’s advice is deeply human: don’t carry it alone. Find someone you can speak to honestly, someone who won’t brush aside the hard emotions. Sharing the weight, especially the difficult parts, can make an enormous difference.
And for nurses just starting out or questioning if they should stay in the field, she offers wisdom earned through decades of experience: find your spot. Nursing has many paths, and when you discover the part of it you truly love, it becomes easier to stay the course, even on the hardest days.
As Sandra reflects on her career, one thing stands out clearly, her pride in St. Bernards. She speaks warmly of the organization’s commitment to caring for everyone, regardless of social status, and its willingness to support both patients and staff with compassion.
“To be part of something like that for 40 years means a lot to me.”
And to those who have worked alongside her, or been cared for by her, it’s clear: her legacy isn’t just measured in years of service, but in trust earned, comfort given, and lives touched along the way.
