The Elms Plus
7
ELMS ON THE FRONTLINE
Elms Community of
Heroes We reached out to members of the Elms community who are on the frontlines of the pandemic fight from a variety of perspectives: nurses, law enforcement officers, speech-language pathologists, psychologists, and a biostatistician, among others. Here is what they said, in their own words, about their experiences. Alumnus Combats Coronavirus in NYC Nurse David Lussier ‘00 Chief nurse of the 405th Field Hospital, Worcester, MA Nurse David Lussier ‘00 knows war. A 20-year Army Reserves veteran, he’s seen it in Iraq as a hospital intelligence officer. He’s seen it as an operating room supervisor at Baystate Medical Center (BMC) in Springfield. And, most recently, he’s seen it in the heart of the COVID-19 outbreak in New York City as the leader of a team of 85 U.S. Army Reserve soldiers. After earning his bachelor of science in nursing at Elms in 2000, he enlisted as a soldier in the Reserves. He completed a tour in Iraq in 2007, acting as the 325th Combat Support Hospital’s intelligence officer. He steadily worked his way up and, in 2019, became chief nurse of the 405th Field Hospital based in Worcester, MA. On March 25, Lussier got the call that his troops should be prepared to mobilize and assist with state responses to the coronavirus pandemic. Ten days later, he was named Commander of the Urban Augment Medical Task Force 804-2 (TF3) and headed to the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City, which had been transformed into a fully operational hospital with an ICU, pharmacy, labs, x-ray machines, and even patient showers. (continued on page 8)
