Hospital employees are on the front lines of any health crisis, and one South Florida hospital honored a couple who have spent decades helping people. Nancy and Jose Perdomo have been happily married 42 years, and together, they have a combined 86 years of service working for the Nicklaus Children’s Hospital in Miami. For Nancy, she has dedicated 45 years as a registered pediatric nurse. She said her passion for helping others started out at an early age. “I started as a graduate nurse, I was 21, and I picked this hospital because I wanted to take care of children,” she said. Jose, who currently works as a senior manager at the hospital’s administrative division, had humble beginnings in the emergency department, nearly 41 years ago. “I helped clean rooms after patients used them, I took lab samples from the emergency department to the lab, I pushed patients around,” he said. “It was my entry to the hospital.” The couple’s dedication and commitment are an inspiration to many. It has even inspired their daughter to work in the medical field. She is now a pediatric physician at the same hospital where she saw her parents serve the community. “It is so rare,” Dr. Joanna Perdomo said. “I think, these days, people move jobs a lot. They work in one place for a few years, then another place for another few years, and having two role models who have been so committed to the same place for their whole lives, and [who] really see this place as their extension of home and the place that they love and is still much a part of their identity, has inspired me, continually inspires me every day.” Jose said the hospital family environment is one reason they’ve stayed there for so many years. “I don’t think we can walk down the halls without stopping and seeing someone that we know or someone that knows us,” he said. Nancy credits a good work ethic and teamwork as part of her success. She also had advice that she wanted to share to others. “Find what it is that you’re passionate about and just pursue it,” she said. “And I know it’s clichéd, but if you’re doing something you love, it feels, really feels like you’re not working. It feels like you’re just doing what makes you feel good.”