When Utica resident Iriele Chery thinks about her goal of graduating from the Herkimer-Fulton-Hamilton-Otsego BOCES Adult Practical Nursing Program this June, her mind first goes to her parents, who moved from Haiti to the United States in 1994.
She thinks about her mother, Irene Chery, dying in her arms from an aneurysm and heart attack in 2012 and her failed attempts at CPR. She thinks about her father, Fritz Chery, who always encouraged her to work in healthcare but won’t get to see her accomplish the goal because he died unexpectedly in 2023.
Iriele Chery, 27, who wears a necklace with a picture of her parents on it, works two jobs while taking the Herkimer BOCES program full-time because she wants to become a licensed practical nurse. While reflecting on her mother’s death, she said her goal is to help deliver babies as a nurse…