Terri McCaffrey, RN
St. Cloud Hospital
St. Cloud, Minnesota

Terri McCaffrey, RN, is a Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS) providing services as the Coordinator of the Cleft & Craniofacial Clinic, Perinatal and Pediatric Bereavement program and the Pediatric and Perinatal Palliative Care program. She has been a St. Cloud Hospital employee for the past 25 years.

Terri began her career as a staff nurse in the Family Birthing Center and while at a bereavement conference in 1988, found her “calling.” She began what proved to be a successful grassroots effort to develop a formalized bereavement program at the hospital.  She began with development of materials and education and in 1989, Terri in conjunction with one of the Benedictine nuns initiated a miscarriage burial ceremony that continues today with a memorial service twice per year to honor and acknowledge the silent forgotten losses suffered throughout our community.  It is an opportunity for the women, and whomever they choose to bring with, to say goodbye and get support. More than 200 families participate annually. While the St. Cloud Hospital has a lower than the national average rate of miscarriages, this multi-disciplinary team established and led by Terri meets the needs of hundreds of families each year.

In 2000, a physician had a dream to establish a Cleft & Craniofacial Clinic; Terri volunteered to become the Clinical Nurse Specialist and Coordinator.  She began with no policies or protocols and no template to follow. Today, a highly respected program is in place that serves more than 100 families each year across central and northwestern Minnesota. Since this condition requires on-going services from the time of birth and even prenatally until their 18th birthday, Terri has significant case management responsibilities and demonstrates superior organizational skills and clinical expertise. When the Minnesota Department of Health observed the high level of care and depth of the program that Terri developed, it gave the clinic a $15,000 grant to continue the work. The clinic continues to grow each year and allows the patients and their families to obtain a high level of care in the region, staying close to home.

Terri has been a lifelong volunteer. In 1990 she and her husband established a Community Pregnancy Resource Center in St. Cloud. They raised funds through word-of-mouth over a ten-year period and realized their goal of providing confidential emotional and financial support to pregnant women in need. This center has now expanded to be the only free service for HIV and sexually transmitted disease testing in the community. Terri also has been a volunteer on mission trips, taking her talents and gifts to China and Guatemala, providing healthcare to children who have cleft and craniofacial deformities and burns.

Terri is a nurse who believes in “hands-on” care. Terri states: “Grieving people are my passion.” She feels that people let her know what their needs are and she then follows her heart. She is committed to helping them work through their grief in a dignified manner. She states that she continues to learn each day through the people she comes into contact with. Terri has established a grief support group at her church and has continued to volunteer there even though she recently suffered the unexpected death of her husband of thirty years.  She believes in educating others and is a clinical instructor for two local colleges, as she saw a need for masters-prepared nurses to teach young nurses.

Terri is motivated by her family, friends and her faith and vows to “live each day looking for opportunities, making positive choices about what that day can become.”