Sharing the “Jamaica Journey” of Diana Masabanda

Over 3,000 employees work for Jamaica Hospital Medical Center. Each has a different career path that brought them to where they are today. Today we share the Jamaica Journey of one such employee.

Diana Masabanda came to Jamaica Hospital as an intern in 2011 as part of a one-year New York City Department of Health grant. She was hired to assist colonoscopy patients by making sure they were prepared for their tests and helped them coordinate follow-up care after their procedure.

Coincidentally, just as the grant was about to expire, Jamaica Hospital was launching its Patient Navigator program, and based on her excellent work, Diana was offered a job in the newly formed department where she would continue to help patients coordinate their care.

However, as a Registered Nurse, Diana wanted to utilize her degree to provide direct patient care, so when an RN position became available in 2013, she applied for the job and was hired to work the evening shift in the hospital’s telemetry unit. Diana explained, “I loved working on the telemetry unit and I learned so much from my colleagues and supervisors but I knew I wanted another challenge.” So after waiting 3 ½ years to satisfy her desire to expand her knowledge, Diana transferred to the Surgical Intensive Care Unit (SICU) in 2016.  There she treated critically ill surgical patients, while at the same time earning her Master’s Degree in Nursing.

Now, having earned her degree, Diana wanted to take all that she learned from the past eight years working at Jamaica Hospital and share it with others in a managerial capacity. According to Diana, “I saw the difference a good manager can make and that is what inspired me to earn my degree.”

Diana applied for and was promoted to Assistant Nurse Manager of the SICU in 2019. At the time, there was only one nurse manager for both the MICU and SICU, but soon after, hospital leadership decided that each unit required its own dedicated supervisor, so, in April of 2022, Diana was promoted once again to the Nurse Manager of the Surgical Intensive Care Unit.

Diana credits her Jamaica Journey to the hospital’s culture of giving their employees opportunities to grow. She believes that Jamaica Hospital is “A great place to grow and learn.”  As a Queens resident, Diana also sees great value in her work, stating, “I understand how important Jamaica Hospital is to this community, and how much our patients need us. That is one of the reasons I am here.”  The other reason Diane enjoys working for Jamaica Hospital is the bonds she has created with her co-workers. “We really work well together. We have great teamwork and that results in better care for our patients.” 

Jamaica Hospital thanks Diana Masabanda for her many years of service to our patients.

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