A Father And Two Sons Bond Over Working At One LI Hospital

WEST ISLIP, NY —This Father's Day, one family reflects on the path that led a father and two of his sons to all share one workplace. Robert Marino Sr. is a nurse manager at Good Samaritan Hospital and he now comes to the same building to work with two of his three sons.

Robert and Kim Marino, who live in Smithtown, have three sons. Robert Jr., the oldest, began working at Good Samaritan as a performance improvement analyst in 2019. Chris, the middle son, started in the housekeeping department in 2018, while attending college.

The importance of good health hit home for the family during the pandemic year.

“My dad passed away a few years ago and I always feel like he’s our guardian angel looking down and protecting us,”the senior Robert Marino said.

Although the father and two sons work in one building, their professional worlds inside the hospital stay mostly separate.

“We may see each other from time to time, but for the most part, our worlds inside the hospital are separate,” Robert Sr. said. “We will, on occasion, try and meet up for lunch or during our breaks as time allows, but we keep things on a professional level.”

Robert Jr. and Chris' mother is also a nurse, and when Robert Jr. graduated with a math degree he never thought about the health care field for a career until his father suggested it.

“Even though my parents are registered nurses, I didn’t think about the medical profession as a career path,” he remembered.

“But working with data is something that was of interest to me and everything has worked out well.”

Robert's younger brother Chris was busy during the pandemic, cleaning rooms that housed COVID-19 patients: “One week I worked 80 hours,” he said. “Some of my co-workers are older and have some health conditions, and I was worried about them. Since I’m younger and in good health, it was important for me to step up and do more to help our patients.”

And his father couldn't be more proud.

“I had confidence in him and knew he would take the steps necessary to stay safe and protect himself,” Robert Sr. said.

“I would check in with him regularly to see how he was doing. I’m very proud of him for stepping up to help out when it was most needed.”