The unit had about 16 patient rooms and could hold around 30 people total. At the time, the unit was called MICU, standing for Medical Intensive Care Unit, which was the step down ward of the hospital's ICU.

Joyce's superior was called the Clinical Manager, and this person essentially looked after a number of units and spent her time checking on these units, communicating with peers and higher management, and attending hospital meetings. The Clinical Manager did not spend much time in 3 Main; she did not have to; Joyce ran the unit very well and her staff was exceedingly loyal.

Two of Joyce's many successes were getting telemetry in all of her rooms, and changing the white nurses' uniform that was required wearing, to scrubs, which were much easier to maintain and did not show stains as much as the whites.

Early on in her time at UCH, Joyce found the need to fill the position of unit secretary. At the time Margaret Chester was a secretary for one of one of the other UCH units, and Joyce selected her to fill the position. Margaret made it pretty clear that they were many things about an intensive care unit that she just did not understand and had no experience with. Joyce assured her that she would be soon trained and competent in all her new responsibilities.

And it was not long before Joyce and Chester - what Joyce called her - were a great team. Chester even took Telemetry Training and learned to read the monitors to backup the Tech when the Tech was away. (She was even the main planner for Joyce's wedding to Dr. Federico Pollicina, a cardiologist practicing at UCH.)

So the friendship has continued through the years, and there are many yet untold stories about their hospital and life experiences together

This was a day to meet and chat briefly, and a good excuse to begin documenting this long, long friendship.