Pantagraph Media's NURSES: the heart of health care

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NURSES: THE HEART OF HEALTH CARE

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NURSES: THE HEART OF HEALTH CARE

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his section is about the incredible contribution this profession provides to our community. They are on the frontlines ensuring we are safe and healthy, from clinics, physicians’ offices and nursing homes to schools, operating rooms and battlefields. They educate, comfort, assist and mend.

They lead.

COVID-19 has brought into focus the critical importance of nurses in our society. Nurses are on the frontlines of the fight, despite increased

medical risk and personal sacrifice.

Nurses’ Week is May 6–12 and was created by the American Nurses Association to recognize, honor and celebrate nurses for the work they do for others. Pantagraph Media and our partners are honored to recognize this vital and tireless profession.

How they were selected Our honorees were nominated by our readers. We received 96 nominations ranging from those just starting out to ones who have been licensed for years.

We narrowed the list to 23 and our independent panel of judges picked nine. The 10th was selected by our readers.

NURSES: THE HEART OF HEALTH CARE Editor Chris Coates, Central Illinois Editor Regional Desk Editor Dan McNeile Writer Analisa Trofimuk Photographer Justin Hurt

Nurses: The Heart of Health Care is a publication of Pantagraph Media.

Contact us at 205 N. Main St., Bloomington, IL 61701.

Reach us on the internet at pantagraph.com.

Copyright 2021 by Pantagraph Media.

All rights reserved.

You

TO ALL

NURSES! 1702 W College Ave, Normal, IL (309) 226-4419 • merrymaids.com

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NURSES: THE HEART OF HEALTH CARE

LuANN EDMUNDSON

JD EDWARDS

LeRoy School District

OSF St. Joseph Medical Center

Interaction with students ‘best part of my job’ for school nurse

Getting to know patients and making difference for ‘so many’

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LOOMINGTON — Colorful children’s drawings and handwritten letters adorn school nurse LuAnn Edmundson’s office.

Edmundson, the district nurse for LeRoy Community School District, says the artwork is a heartwarming reminder of the students she serves.

“Interacting with the students is absolutely the best part of my job,” said Edmundson. “... they may not realize that I benefit more from their visits to my office Please see EDMUNDSON, Page 11

Taking care Taking ca are of th those hose wh take who e care e of others.

To All Nursess - Thank you for your care a and commitment to our community!

Proud Credit Union Partner of OSF Healthcare - Bloomington

LOOMINGTON — JD Edwards is a prime example of a nurse who goes beyond the confines of traditional job duties. His patients can expect individual care, a shoulder to cry on and a friend.

“Making a difference in a person’s well-being, even if it is just providing them comfort in their final moments, is a great responsibility. It has many highs, and it will have many lows,” said Edwards, a male nurse at OSF St. Joseph Medical Please see EDWARDS, Page 11

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NURSES: THE HEART OF HEALTH CARE

ANINA ENGELHORN OSF St. Joseph Medical Center

People's Choice Winner

MICHELLE HORSLEY St. Joseph Medical Center

40 years in the nursing field, but ‘always learning something new’

Many areas to practice in nursing field allow for finding your niche

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LOOMINGTON — Even after 40 years as a nurse, Anina Engelhorn says she is still excited about her job.

“As a nurse, I am always learning something new. I can empower others. I have the pleasure of meeting and helping people,” said Engelhorn. She enjoys that each day on the job comes with a new challenge. “... I know I am making a difference in a person’s life.”

The 63-year-old Bloomington resident currently works as a registered nurse in OSF St. Joseph Medical Center’s Post Please see ENGELHORN, Page 12

LOOMINGTON — Michelle Horsley has firsthand experience of battling the unknown.

Horsley, an operating room registered nurse at OSF St. Joseph Medical Center, has been in the field for over two decades.

Last year, she faced the harsh possibility of being out of work for an undefined period of time after some hospitals delayed elective surgeries due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“When the pandemic first hit, for the first time in 20 years I was faced with not Please see HORSLEY, Page 12

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Medical setbacks fuel passion for nursing career The Times-Tribune (Scranton, Pa.)

her rib cage but thought it was just a cyst, which she gets often. By October, however, she realized it had almost doubled or tripled in size. Doctors diagnosed her with leiomyosarcoma, a cancer of the connective tissues and muscles.

Madison underwent surgery on Nov. 30, during which doctors removed the affected area and tissue surrounding it. Subsequent testing showed she was clear of cancer and did not need chemotherapy. She said she feels a lot better with the cancer behind her.

“I got really lucky,” Madison said.

Showing strength

or compassion can be taught; you either have it or you don’t. ... I just think that her empathy and compassion is going to have a lot to do with the helping of her patients.”

Madison just tried to focus on getting through whatever she faced at that moment, knowing it would soon pass. And believes everything happens for a reason. Trials can make her a stronger person or give her more insight into her career.

“I just realized how resilient I was,” Madison said. “I have a really good perspective on life. No matter what happens, I just try to keep a positive attitude. “

Both Madison and her mother see how much she has taken away from these experiences, especially when it comes to nursing.

“I know what it’s like to be a patient in the hospital,” Madison said. “I’ve had some good nurses and bad nurses. And I kind of know how I want to be treated in a hospital. ... I’ll be able to sympathize and also empathize with my patients and know what situation they’re in.”

“She’s going to be the nurse that everyone wants,” Nicole Jarocha said. “I think first and foremost, as a nurse, the empathy and compassion is like 90% of the medicine.

I just don’t think empathy can be taught

PHOTO BY KAROLINA GRABOWSKA FROM PEXELS

“The nurses that I had, I feel like I definitely would not be where I was without them,” Madison Jarocha knows her life would look Madison said. “I kind of want to do for other much different if illness had not touched her. people what they did with me.”

From an autoimmune disease that shook up her world as a teenager to broken bones to Switching paths a cancer diagnosis in her final year of college, Madison realized going into her senior the 21-year-old has faced — and survived — year at Abington Heights that nursing was more than some people do in a lifetime. the career for her. Ready for a fresh start, Madison, of South Abington Twp., she headed to Florida and plans to graduate Pennsylvania, is studying for a nursing this May with a nursing degree. She’s had degree from University of Central Florida. research published, made dean’s list each As a student in Abington Heights School semester and was picked to participate in a District, however, Madison thought she’d research study. one day study mathematics. That, along Madison expects to stay in Florida for with much more of her life, changed when another year after college before hitting the road to work as a travel nurse. She’s she was 16.

A basketball and field hockey player, considering a career in bone-marrow Madison initially thought she was having transplants or oncology, having done clinical issues with asthma when she started getting work in an adult oncology clinic last year that out of breath and passing out at practice. showed her how much she enjoys caring for When her mother, Nicole Jarocha, saw patients in a critical setting. Eventually, she’d Madison for the first time in a few weeks, like to move into nurse education. her intuition kicked in.

“There’s a lot you can do with nursing “She walked into the house, (and) I turned after school and everything,” Madison said. to my sister and said, ‘There’s something Early in college, while raising money for the wrong with her,’” Nicole Jarocha recalled.

Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children through Madison, who lost about 20 pounds over the Knight-Thon, she collapsed and was two months and felt seriously fatigued, had taken to that very hospital for treatment. seen doctors for a few months, but nothing She went blind for more than a month, came of the appointments. Her mother her mother said, as doctors suggested that pushed for bloodwork and other tests, flareups from Madison’s disorder could have and Madison ended up getting admitted affected the connective tissues in the eyes. to Geisinger Medical Center in Danville, While Madison regained her eyesight, she is legally blind without her glasses.

Pennsylvania.

“I had to stop everything,” Madison Then last year, Madison was riding on recalled. “l can’t walk up a flight of stairs the back of a moped with a friend when the vehicle crashed into a pole at 55 mph. without getting out of breath.”

Madison learned she has acute systemic Thrown more than 20 feet but miraculously scleroderma. The more common variety alive, Madison had a concussion and broke causes the skin to produce too much collagen, several bones in her foot. but in Madison’s case, her body produces too Still, she pushed forward through her much collagen internally, which the body recovery, and then another setback came: thinks of as foreign and then starts attacking cancer. her muscles, tissues and organs.

In June, she noticed a lump on top of Overall, the disease led to at least 10 hospitalizations, several surgeries and procedures, numerous trips to Baltimore and the possibility of needing a double lung transplant one day.

CAITLIN HEANEY WEST

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NURSES: THE HEART OF HEALTH CARE

RYAN JONES

KAITLYN NAFZIGER

OSF St. Joseph Medical Center

OSF St. Joseph Medical Center

Staying positive through the seriousness of COVID pandemic

New nurse finds inspiration in positive stories from pandemic

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LOOMINGTON — The scope of work nurses do range far beyond what the average person can imagine.

Ryan Jones goes above and beyond for his patients even during challenging times.

“Ryan was here for the first three nights of my stay after my heart attack and open heart surgery. He showed exemplary dedication to his patients and profession,” one patient wrote anonymously in an appreciation post announcing Jones winning a Daisy Award.

LOOMINGTON — Kaitlyn Nafziger, a nurse, remembers the husband of one of her patients who called daily to check in. The conversation always started out the same.

“Thank you,” was the first thing Nafziger heard on the other end of the line followed by appreciation for the work she was doing for the man’s wife.

“His optimism and appreciation was such an encouragement to me,” said Nafziger, a registered nurse at OSF St.

Please see JONES, Page 12

Please see NAFZIGER, Page 13

It is a beautiful thing when a career and a passion come together...

Thank you

Nurses

THANK YOU

1402 Leslie Drive Bloomington, IL 61704 309-603-2500 www.carriagecrossingsl.com

200 Enterprise Dr, Pekin, IL 866.736.0002 | ReditusLabs.com

TO OU ATS R GR

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from all of us at

To the Nurses and other healthcare workers, we say

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meet our

Nominated Nurses Congratulations to all the nurses who were nominated in our Nurses: The Heart of Health Care program.

In all we had 1,627 people nominate 96 nurses, and many were nominated multiple times. Please join us in thanking these health care heroes who make our world a healthier and happier place.

Abigail Cunningham

Allyson Otto

Ashley Banister

Cathy Coverston Anderson

Adam Livezey

Alysha Orrick

Ashley Dixon

Chelsea Hickey

Addison Pavlick

Andrew Tharp

Becky Smith

Clara Veal

Alexis Woodrum

Angie Walker

Brandon Wilson

Corey Fields

Alizarin R. Salmi

Anina Engelhorn

Brenda Bolduc

Danielle Campbell

Allison Osterholt

April Klevickas

Cassandra Avila

Danielle Ragle

Being a nurse is a choice,

being a retired nurse se is an honor While our 10 honorees are all currently working, we wanted to introduce you to recently retir tired nurse Ron Jaskowiak. Ron retired in March after 31 years of caring for others. Most of that time was spen in the as spent Emergency Departments, caring for people at their worst moments. As Ron’s nominator explained xplained “Ron has spent many, many years of putting the needs of complete strangers ahead off his own.” o

Ron Jaskowiak Retired RN

OSF St. Joseph Medical Center Certifications & Accreditations:

AND (Associate Nursing Degree; TNS (Trauma Nurse Specialist , PICC line nurse, Former member of RMERT (Regional Medical Emergency Response Team)

What do you like best about your job?

Seeing patients get better.

What keeps you up at night?

Wondering if I did everything I was supposed to do.

What is the best piece of advice you have received?

Treat all people with respect and you are seeing some people at the very worst st time.

What advice would you give to people thinking of entering the nursing field?

It is hard work but rewarding in the end.

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NURSES: THE HEART OF HEALTH CARE

SHERI PIPER

MOLLY ROSSI

Proud to be part of a team that puts the needs of patients first

Meeting people and making a difference among job highlights

OSF St. Joseph Medical Center

Reditus Laboratories

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LOOMINGTON — Always extend grace. You never know what the other person is going through.

These words of advice have always stuck with Sheri Piper, a registered nurse and manager of the Comprehensive Care Unit at OSF St. Joseph Medical Center in Bloomington.

Piper has been in the field for 14 years, has critical care nurse certification and is currently earning a doctorate. She says it is an honor to oversee a team of medical professionals at OSF.

LOOMINGTON — For as long as she can remember, Molly Rossi always knew she wanted to be a nurse.

Careers in healthcare run in Rossi’s family. Her mother is a nurse and she has multiple family members who work in the medical field. She shadowed her mother who worked in several hospital departments. Rossi also worked summers in an operating room while she was in high school.

“During that time is where I really found my love (for) caring for people and

Please see PIPER, Page 13

Please see ROSSI, Page 13

Danielle Rangle

Jennifer Schmid

Kim Casali

Rachel Koerner

Darla Arnett

Jessica Kimball

Kimberly Shrode

Reyna Guzman

Dawn Conaty

Jill Deacon

Krista Stalter

Robyn Ewald

Dayna Roberts

Joan Nalley

Leslie Vetter

Ron Jaskowiak

Deb Ruiz-Rich

Jodie Bittner

Lori Mansell

Ryan Jones

Denise Graves

Joni Gibson

Luann Edmundson

Sara Belcher

Donna Yoder

Joy Pride

Maggie Jewitt

Sasha Miller

Elizabeth “Beth” Garrett

Judy Beall

Maia Scharf

Savanah Crull

Elizabeth Sprague Hoppe

Kaitlyn Duncan

Marilyn Nelson

Shannon Miller

Erin Piper

Kaitlyn Foster

Megan Mowery

Sharon Smith

Gina Medernach

Kaitlyn Nafziger

Michaela Elliott

Sheri Piper

Hayley Aeschelman

Kaley McDonald

Michelle Bender

Shirin Shoustrzki

Heather White

Karen Marquis

Michelle Dietz

Tabetha Ackerman

Heidi Kelleher

Kathy Moss R.N.

Michelle Doage

Tate Gaines

JD Edwards

Katie Horton

Michelle Horsley

Tayler Dance

Jen Kjeldgaard

Katy Northcutt

Molly Rossi

Teresa Boyle

Jennifer Ann Porter

Kayla Demlow

Nancy Susan Marcum

Terri Gardner

Jennifer Mool

Kendi Graf

Rachel Bunting

Vanessa Middlebrooks

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NURSES: THE HEART OF HEALTH CARE

BECKY SMITH

DONNA YODER

Heritage Operations Group

Carle Healthcare

Helping patients achieve wellness goals a rewarding part of job

Becoming a nurse turns out to be a childhood dream come true

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LOOMINGTON — Careers in medicine run in the Smith family.

Becky Smith is the senior vice president of Nursing & Clinical Services at Heritage Operations Group, and her husband, Ian, is a microbiologist at Carle Foundation Hospital where he has been assisting with COVID testing throughout the pandemic.

Their son, Cain, is a certified nursing assistant in a long-term care facility. His siblings, Ben and Hannah, currently attend Mahomet-Seymour High School.

LOOMINGTON — Many children say they want to be astronauts, princesses or the president of the United States when they grow up. Donna Yoder knew when she was about 3 years old that she wanted to be a nurse.

Yoder, now 65, has been helping for nearly 45 years.

“I had some fairly major surgery at around age 2-3 and said from that day I was going to be a nurse and never changed my mind,” said Yoder.

She attended Illinois State University’s

Please see SMITH, Page 17

Please see YODER, Page 17

From New England to the

front lines

of COVID-19 battle in Los Angeles JILL HARMACINSKI

The Eagle-Tribune (North Andover, Mass.)

LOS ANGELES — Right before Christmas, Mary Ellen Devine received her first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

“Your frontline workers are EXHAUSTED ... This a small light in the longest and darkest tunnel,” wrote Devine, 25, in a Facebook post announcing her vaccination

to family and friends.

Devine, a 2013 graduate of Salem High School in New Hampshire and a registered nurse, is among frontline workers in Los Angeles — where COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations are soaring.

California remains at or near the top of the list of states with the most new cases per capita. Even with vaccines now being

administered, albeit slowly, it is expected to take time to slow the virus.

In Salem, Mary Ellen’s mother Sue Ann Devine couldn’t be more proud of the work her daughter is doing on the West Coast.

Mary Ellen previously worked as a cardiac care nurse at Cedars-Sinai hospital in Los Angeles and is now primarily assigned as a labor and delivery nurse there.

Sue Ann said she tries to speak with her daughter by phone as often as possible but said she and her co-workers have all been working long hours to keep shifts filled and help patients.

She said Mary Ellen, who has lived in California for several years now, usually comes home for Christmas or family goes to see her in California.

But this year, along with COVID-19 precautions regarding travel, Mary Ellen and her hospital co-workers were prohibited from using vacation time due to hospital volume.

“The hospital is really stretched at this time and they are all being asked to fill in when needed,” Sue Ann Devine said.

In early January, 10 of Mary Ellen’s coworkers tested positive for COVID-19 and Cedars-Sinai ran short on oxygen supply for patients, she noted.

While a graduate of Quinnipiac University

in Hamden, Connecticut, Mary Ellen has long said the health occupation classes at Salem High were vital in preparing her for a nursing career.

“That’s where she really got her spark for nursing,” her mother said.

Sue Ann said she knows her daughter is taking all the necessary COVID-19 precautions and she “has peace” about her work.

“This is her calling. This is her sparkle.

This is what she was meant for,” Sue Ann said. “I know she is helping people and this is where she needs to be right now. I have serenity in that. I am very, very proud.”

The past year did have a huge bright spot for Mary Ellen. She and her boyfriend, Brandon Loureiro, got engaged to be married. The couple lives in Manhattan Beach, California.

“So 2020 wasn’t all horrible for them,” Sue Ann said, with a laugh.

She said her daughter’s advice to the family includes wearing masks, frequent hand washing and social distancing. She also said not to attend “social gatherings or get-togethers with extended family,” Sue Ann said.

“She is very optimistic about the vaccine and is hoping that will help turn the corner,” she said.

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NURSES: THE HEART OF HEALTH CARE

Edmundson From Page 4

than they do. They never cease to surprise, amaze, and entertain me.”

Edmundson has been in the field for 25 years, has a bachelor’s degree of science in nursing and is a registered nurse. Passion for medical careers runs in the family.

Edmundson’s grandmother was a nurse, which inspired her to pursue the same route. She credits her parents, Pris and Clarence “Robbie” Robinson, as being her key mentors.

The inspiration and guidance from family were particularly useful when the coronavirus pandemic hit last year. Edmundson said there were challenges when it came to juggling contact tracing while providing a healthy and safe learning environment for students and staff. Staff also had to make

frequent adjustment to school protocols to keep up with consistently changing state health guidelines.

“I am thankful and proud of the team effort of our school community in order to continue in-person learning during the pandemic,” said Edmundson.

She advises aspiring nurses to be a curious, constant learner, and not to be afraid of asking questions.

Spending quality time with family is a priority. Edmundson and her husband, Mark, enjoy watching their sons, Jack, 15, and Sam, 12, compete in athletics.

The family also frequently travels to Annawann, Edmundson’s hometown in western Illinois.

Edmundson has carried a vital piece of advice throughout her life.

“We cannot always control what happens to us, but we can always control how we respond.”

Students “may not realize that I benefit more from their visits to my office than they do. They never cease to surprise, amaze, and entertain me.”

Edwards From Page 4

Center in Bloomington. “... the work we do for people is important, and you can make a difference in so many lives.”

Edwards recalls one patient who regularly confided in him about her depression related to her ongoing disease, life and the world in general. Getting to know patients is what he enjoys most about being a nurse.

His compassion was highlighted when Edwards in 2018 received the Daisy Award, a national recognition honoring nurses who transcend what is expected of them in order to help patients and families.

A male nurse who treated Edwards inspired him to pursue a career in medicine.

Now, nine years after becoming a nurse, Edwards is facing a whole new set of challenges similar to nurses around the world.

IS MORE THAN A JOB

You help people who are at their most vulnerable, protect their rights and act as their advocate.

You continue to rise to every occasion, answering the call from rashes to pandemics. And whether serving at a hospital, doctor’s office, school, care facility or someone’s home, your sacrifice and devotion to others makes the world and our lives better.

THANK YOU FOR ALL THAT YOU DO!

When the coronavirus pandemic first hit at the start of 2020, Edwards volunteered to work in Chicago. But when he contracted COVID-19 in early May, he had to wait on the sidelines until he made a full recovery.

“Beyond my own struggle to get better, just knowing my friends and co-workers were working hard to serve our community with case after case of COVID coming in non-stop for months on end was frustrating,” he said.

The thought of people ignoring the science surrounding COVID, particularly when it comes to treatment and federal recommendations, keeps Edwards up at night.

When times are tough, Edwards leans into what he says is the best piece of advice he has ever received.

“When you fall, when things do not go right or you receive life changing news, gather your friends (and) loved ones and ask, ‘where do we go from here?’”

“Making a difference in a person’s well-being, even if it is just providing them comfort in their final moments, is a great responsibility.”

NURSING

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Engelhorn From Page 5

Anesthesia Care Unit. The most difficult thing about her job is that she shares the fear, anxiety and stress of her patients, especially when they have just come out of surgery.

The coronavirus pandemic created an additional layer of stress for nurses across the world. Hospitals at the start of COVID were overwhelmed, understaffed and understocked on personal protective equipment and ICU beds.

“Until recently, no visitors were allowed in (the) hospital due to the pandemic,” said Engelhorn. “Working in the recovery room, I witnessed people going through surgery without their loved ones. The nurses were their support.” Nurses made phone calls so that patients could speak to their loved ones after surgery.

One of Engelhorn’s patients received a phone call from his 4-year-old grandson while in the

recovery room. The child reassured his grandfather that he was praying for him and even sang him a song.

“That little boy brought so much joy not only to his grandfather, but to me as well. It was delightful to have been a part of that interaction,” Engelhorn said.

Her biggest challenge during the pandemic has been witnessing the death of hospital patients who could not be surrounded by family.

“Death is a very intimate event that normally involves a lot of family members,” she said. “... During the pandemic, all that has been removed.” She experienced this firsthand when her sister-in-law died last year.

Engelhorn’s advice for aspiring nurses is to evaluate how they will handle stress, react in emergencies and to assess their ability to multitask.

“If you love helping people and find personal positive feeling(s) about making a difference, then nursing is a great career.”

“If you love helping people and find personal positive feeling(s) about making a difference, then nursing is a great career.”

Jones From Page 7

The Daisy Foundation honors top nurses who are extra compassionate and go out of their way to make patients comfortable.

Jones has been in the field for 11 years and currently works as a registered nurse at OSF St. Joseph Medical Center in Bloomington.

His decision to become a nurse was somewhat simple. Jones never wanted to work behind a desk or at a cubicle and he knew he wanted to work with people.

The best part about his job is being there for patients when they need it most.

When asked what he loves about his job, Jones said “assisting those in need during difficult times of their lives.” Sometimes that means working hard and being underappreciated, he cautions.

Hundreds of thousands of nurses across

the world have faced extreme challenges of working on the frontlines of the coronavirus pandemic. The virus caused hospital staff to be overwhelmed, overworked and worried about what would happen next.

Many hospitals had to dedicate whole COVID floors where staff were dressed in several layers of personal protective equipment.

Jones’ biggest challenge during the pandemic was simply trying to convince people to take the pandemic seriously.

That’s what keeps him up at night — people denying the seriousness of the pandemic and refusing to wear masks.

But even still, Jones keeps a positive attitude. And his patients see it firsthand.

“I have no doubt that he will continue to do great things with his positive attitude and strong work ethic. It was a pleasure to receive his care,” one patient wrote on the Daisy Award page in his honor.

“I have no doubt that he will continue to do great things with his positive attitude and strong work ethic.”

One of Ryan Jones’ patients

Horsley From Page 5

knowing if I would have a job and for how long I would be without work,” Horsley said. She decided to temporarily work at an OSF sister hospital in Chicago, where she said 90% of their patients at the time had tested positive for COVID. Horsley questioned what she would face on a daily basis, anxious about the risk of working in an overwhelmed hospital.

“I was also worried about what I might be bringing home to my loved ones, or even if I would be seeing them,” she said. “If I wasn’t able to see them, how long would I (go) without seeing them?”

After four weeks in Chicago, the

need for operating room nurses and medical floor assistance increased in Bloomington and Horsley returned home.

“I am proud to serve at OSF St Joseph Medical Center,” she said. “We have a strong, caring team.”

Prior to COVID Horsley started a local chapter for the Academy of Medical Surgical Nurses, a professional organization that supports medical-surgical nurses throughout their careers. Horsley in 2019 submitted a charter application and is now the current president of the Central Illinois chapter.

Horsley advises future nurses to research which area of the field they are most interested in.

“Nursing is a rewarding profession with a variety of areas to practice, allowing you to find your niche.”

“Nursing is a rewarding profession with a variety of areas to practice, allowing you to find your niche.”

Congratulations to Becky Smith, Senior VP of Nursing

Heritage Operations Group is celebrating Nurses Day: Thanks to Becky Smith and our team of nurses at Heritage Health for their commitment and passion to care for our residents.

Please visit HeritageOfcare.com/employment to join our amazing team!

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NURSES: THE HEART OF HEALTH CARE

Piper From Page 9

“Being chosen to lead a team of nursing professionals in critical care has been my proudest moment,” said Piper. She mentors and supports healthcare team members and gives them the tools to always put patients first.

Her team also frequently hears Piper remind them to maintain a work-life balance.

She leads by example. When Piper is off the clock, she enjoys spending time with her family or picking up where she left off on “Pale Blue Dot” written by Carl Sagan.

But there are times when finding the balance between a career and personal life can be tricky, especially for those working on the frontlines of a global pandemic.

Piper’s biggest challenge during

COVID has been fulfilling a patients’ need to be around family without risking the further spread of the virus. But when times are tough, she knows OSF can deliver.

“We are so blessed to have a strong presence of medical professionals in this community,” she said. “The expertise available is superior to comparable sized populations.”

Piper’s path to a career in nursing was not something she predicted. She was pursuing a different degree when a family member convinced her she would be an excellent fit in nursing.

The future for nurses is bright, according to Piper.

“The nursing profession allows you to have an enormous impact on the lives of others. It is a calling where you can truly make a difference,” said Piper. “I feel pride for the profession of nursing and so will you.”

“The nursing profession allows you to have an enormous impact on the lives of others. It is a calling where you can truly make a difference.”

Rossi From Page 9

challenging myself, so it just felt natural to pursue nursing.

Now, the 36-year-old Bloomington resident is a registered nurse and vice president of Clinical Laboratories at Reditus Laboratories. Rossi has been in the field for 14 years and is a certified emergency nurse and a trauma nurse specialist.

One of the best parts about her job is meeting new people.

“I have met and built relationships with so many different people I would have otherwise never met,” Rossi said. Her list ranges from healthcare providers across the United States, universities, professional sports teams, government officials, producers in TV, film and music.

But her favorite part about working as a nurse is making a difference.

“I cared for a woman in a very critical

situation early on in my nursing career.

Seven years later, in a completely different job, the husband saw me and immediately recognized my voice and came around a corner crying ‘Oh Molly, I am sure that you don’t remember me, but I will never forget you” and began to tell me the story, which I immediately remembered. I know that as a nurse we are making a difference, but in that moment, I truly realized how impactful that our interactions are to our patients and their families,” said Rossi.

When Rossi isn’t at work, she is spending time with her husband, Aaron, and their children Addy, 7, Harper, 5, Brynn, 3, and Olivia, 1. Spring and summer mean extra time outside in the sun for Rossi and her family and their two German Shepherds, Lola and Tito.

Self-care is something aspiring nurses can learn from Rossi.

“You can’t pour from an empty cup, in whatever capacity it is,” she said. “You have to take care of yourself before you can take care of others.”

“I have met and built relationships with so many different people I would have otherwise never met.”

Nafziger From Page 7

Joseph Medical Center in Bloomington.

She was part of a surprise visit the husband helped plan after he hadn’t seen his wife for nearly a month. “I will never forget the look on her face when she saw him walk through the door.” It was a reunion Nafziger said she will carry with her throughout her career, which began during COVID. Starting a new job during a global pandemic isn’t easy. But becoming a nurse working in an intensive care unit (ICU) where Nafziger said she sees people who are physically, mentally and emotionally at their lowest, is even harder. The 23-yearold Bloomington resident has been working in the field for 10 months.

“The biggest challenge for me during the pandemic has been remaining hopeful and optimistic while watching many people lose their lives to COVID,” said Nafziger.

“Sometimes I’m the last person someone had a conversation with and that is a really hard reality of my job.”

Nafziger turns to the team of medical professionals around her when she needs positivity and inspiration. The quality of healthcare carried out by those around her is what separates Bloomington-Normal apart from larger cities, she said. Patients are not just another room number.

She said the staff is able to make close connections with patients and their loved ones, which can positively impact their experience.

But Nafziger’s greatest inspiration hits closer to home. Her older sister, Hayley, also works in the ICU at OSF St. Joseph Medical Center.

“I learn so much working alongside her, and I am super thankful for the constant encouragement she gives me,” said Nafziger.

Positive attitudes run in the family.

Nafziger says that anyone looking to get into nursing should find what they are passionate about and do it everyday.

“Don’t stay in a field or a job that you don’t enjoy. That is a disservice to yourself and to your patients. Do what you love, so you can be the best nurse you can be.”

“Do what you love, so you can be the best nurse you can be.”

To o our superheroes,

Thank you for the hard work & amazing care you provide patients every day.

m c l e a n c o c h a m b e r. o r g

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| SUNDAY, MAY 9, 2021

NURSES: THE HEART OF HEALTH CARE

Georgia WWII veteran,

100

NURSE TURNS SHANNON BALLEW

I

Marietta Daily Journal, Ga.

nez Long of Marietta, Georgia, one of Cobb County’s few surviving World War II veterans, celebrated her 100th birthday in January.

“It’s good to be alive,” Long said before the approaching milestone.

Born Minnie Inez Scurry on Jan. 30, 1921, in the south Georgia town of McRae, Long said her older sister became a nurse despite their father’s insistence that she be a teacher. She followed in her sister’s footsteps, and graduated as a registered nurse from Emory’s Crawford W. Long Hospital School of Nursing, according to family records. That hospital is now Emory University Hospital Midtown.

She worked a little over a year as an industrial nurse in a Savannah shipyard, enlisted in the Army Air Corps in 1943 during the Second World War. “The war was on, and that was it,” she said of her decision to use her skills in supporting the war effort.

Inez went through basic training in Greensboro, North Carolina, and Santa Ana, California, and spent the rest of her time stationed at the hospital at Numa Army Air Field in Arizona. There, she tended to patients, administered medicines and shots, and worked on the floor, doing whatever the doctors needed her to do. She especially loved helping with surgeries, she said.

It was at the Numa base hospital that she met her husband, Ed “Bud” Long, who served as a B-17 bomber pilot. As the family story goes, the two lieutenants first met when Ed Long was waking up from a tonsillectomy. He was just as struck by Inez’s beauty as he was by the punches she was landing on him, forcing him to breathe.

Edward Long, who died in 2016, would later tell people that he chased the young Inez all over the hospital for the rest of his stay there,

according to an article from their church, Maple Avenue United Methodist Church in Marietta.

The couple married in Yuma in 1944 and would be together for 72 years.

Inez Long was discharged when she was pregnant with their first child and moved back to McRae. She waited there for about a year, and when the war was over the Longs and their daughter, Georgia, moved to Marietta.

In Marietta, they had a son, Ed Long, Jr., and Inez continued her nursing career at a local doctor’s office and later became an assistant at a dentist office, while her husband worked at Delta and Lockheed Martin.

Long Jr. remembers his parents being the hosts to many parties on their front porch and in their backyard, always loving to have company. His mother was always active in their church, selling baked goods for church fundraisers at the old fairgrounds. One favorite was pecan tarts.

“I told her when she was selling them at the bazaar at church, she was selling them too cheap. They were always gone,” he said.

Inez Long could also often be found tending her garden, and she loved to can the vegetables she grew, especially mustard pickles.

Her son said she also loved pranking her children, and would often spray water at him or play other jokes.

“They were just good parents. We didn’t have much when we were coming up, but they always seemed to provide,” Ed Long Jr. said.

Life has been quieter in recent years for Inez Long. She doesn’t remember as well since a stroke a few years ago, and she is hard of hearing. But she still enjoys walks and having company, though the pandemic has curtailed visits by family and friends. The one place she and her son go out together is the occasional trip to the beauty parlor for a haircut.

“One of the doctors said she was a tough old bird, and she is,” her son said.

Sunday, May 9, 2021 | 15

NURSES: THE HEART OF HEALTH CARE

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USING ART

TO COPE Some health care workers seek out creative outlets

MAKEDA EASTER

Los Angeles Times‌

The Pantagraph

to communicate nonverbally and “allow a lot of all those feelings, emotions and right sided things that are all pent up in there to come out.”

During the pandemic, Gibson has created about 10 paintings. About half are directly related to the pandemic. He was particularly inspired by a nurse in a Dove commercial, struck by her exhaustion and the marks the mask left on her face. He said it captured “not just the outward appearance but the inward appearance of so many health care workers who’ve been traumatized by the violence.”

Other paintings have been more abstract, but still the pandemic showed up in subtle ways — like the increased use of grays, red and blues. “They’re not very happy paintings,” he said.

A recent ray of light: He helped to administer vaccines one weekend in Central Falls, Rhode Island. “It reminded me why I was a doctor. It was a really good experience.”

LOS ANGELES – As the pandemic ‌ stretched toward the one-year mark, with about half a million deaths in the U.S. alone, health care workers were increasingly burned out and traumatized.

For some, staying creative is a form of escape, a way to cope with stress or a strategy G. Sofia Nelson: pulmonologist for sharing a message of hope with their and choreographer community. The Times spoke to four health care workers — who are also a painter, a As a physician who specializes in the rechoreographer and an illustrator — to learn spiratory system, Dr. G. Sofia Nelson splits more about how the pandemic has affected her time between clinic and hospital settheir artistry. tings in Oxnard and Camarillo, California.

When making hospital rounds before the C. Michael Gibson: pandemic, Nelson typically saw about 15 patients each day. But during the recent interventional cardiologist, COVID-19 surge in Southern California, researcher, educator, painter Nelson saw between 50 and 60 patients In Dr. C. Michael Gibson’s oil painting every day.

“The Last Shift,” a line of dark, floating silNelson, 33, would often return home houettes drifts off into a hazy light. Gibson from work, not because she had treated evshared the painting, which was auctioned ery patient, but because she was exhausted. for $25,000 to support health care workers, There was also triaging, she said, deciding on Twitter last March, adding: “Welcome which patients could benefit from continhome to all of our courageous #CoronaHe- ued treatment.

Flow arts, a form of dance that involves roes who made the ultimate sacrifice.”

The isolation of the pandemic has meant prop manipulation, such as hoops, or jugmore time to look inward. For Gibson, “The gling, was one way Nelson coped with the Last Shift” is a meditation on spirituality stress. and vulnerability, “not afraid to talk about “It’s been long days, but it’s very powerit, knowing that so many other people were ful having something to come home to, for probably facing the same concerns about which I can pretty much shut off my brain. where’s everyone going after this. Are I can just really focus on my body,” Nelson they going to be OK? All those issues we said. “The more I’m working my mind and all struggle with.” the more I’m thinking, the harder my job As a practicing physician, Gibson spends becomes, the more I actually have to dance one day each week doing procedures, open- to maintain that balance.” ing up people’s arteries. It’s a visual job, he She’s also the director of Lumia Dance said. “You’re looking at a screen and finding Company, which she launched in 2019 as a these blockages and making them better, so way to give back to the arts community. In we’re kind of visual athletes. And being a December the company premiered its depainter has always made me a better visual but show virtually, “Light Through Darkness,” featuring dance, aerial arts and fire athlete.”

In addition to his work as a cardiolo- spinning — all filmed in an empty North gist, researcher and educator, he paints Hollywood theater. most nights and weekends at his studio Nelson choreographed three dances in in Natick, Massachusetts. Art is his way the show over several months, typically

rehearsing on Zoom during evenings and weekends. One dance was a post-apocalyptic hoop piece about the pandemic experience, another was inspired by what she described as the government’s increased militarization and fascism, and a duet explored the pitfalls of social media.

Now that the show is over, Nelson mainly dances at home as a form of movement meditation, reaching the same type of head space many surgeons use in their practice, she said. “It’s really important that we create a culture where physicians are encouraged to have creative outlets like this.

We create a society in which not just physicians, but anybody, really has that kind of opportunity.”

Bing Li: medical resident and illustrator Drawing was part of Dr. Bing Li’s life before she considered studying medicine.

Last year, as a medical resident who works in a Brooklyn emergency room, Bing turned to art as a way of managing the grueling hours and pervading feeling of helplessness while New York was the epicenter of COVID-19.

Drawing landscape pieces and comics is a relaxing escape, a way to “feel like I have

control and creating something that feels productive that’s also fun,” Li said.

Maintaining an art practice is crucial for the 32-year-old. “We all see a lot of suffering that doesn’t necessarily have a meaning,” Li said. “But then the desire to make art is kind of like a desire to put a meaning into something.”

Although most of Li’s art practice doesn’t intersect with her work in health care, she made a comic last November based on a conversation between medical residents working through COVID-19. “I’d like to maybe eventually make more stuff that’s related to what we’re experiencing in health care, but it also feels like you’re kind of reliving the moment, and you may not feel necessarily ready for that.”

Since the pandemic began, Li has made close to 30 pages of a lighthearted web comic described as being “about adventure, friendship and a weird squishy creature.”

Although the pandemic doesn’t show up directly in the work, experiences of the last year are often prioritized in the storytelling — themes of working collectively for the greater good, Li said, and “having a society that will care for each other, rather than a selfish society where people care just about their individual comforts.”

SUNDAY, MAY 9, 2021 |

NURSES: THE HEART OF HEALTH CARE

Smith From Page 10

When Becky Smith was in high school, she began her first steps toward her career in nursing. She volunteered at Little Sisters of the Poor in the Chicago suburbs, and spent time with residents, getting to know their stories. She also volunteered at Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights, witnessing nurses in action.

“Both these experiences were the catalyst for my desire to enter the healthcare arena. What brought me into long-term care were my volunteer experiences as well as my clinical experiences at Illinois Wesleyan University,” said Smith. She received a BSN from Illinois Wesleyan University in 1998. In 2011, Smith received a MSN from the Mennonite College of Nursing at Illinois State University, where she coordinated with colleagues to bring nurses across the organization to their simulation lab for a day of scenario based training.

After 23 years in the field, Smith says she the hardest part about being a nurse is being able to juggle the demands of providing quality care while following regulations and being fiscally responsible all at once.

But there are many good moments.

“My favorite stories all revolve around seeing residents regain some or all of their independence because they worked hard with the support of CNAs, nurses, therapy, and the rest of the health care team guiding and encouraging them along the way,” said Smith.

The rewarding moments help Smith when she is up at night worrying about the nursing workforce. She says the profession will always need new people who have the passion, desire and empathy to care for others. That need is greater today than ever before, she said.

Aspiring nurses should explore all of the various paths the nursing field offers.

“Often we find our passion and true calling after one defining moment,” says Smith. “Sometimes we find this when (or) where we least expect it.”

“Often we find our passion and true calling after one defining moment. Sometimes we find this when (or) where we least expect it.”

FROM ALL OF US AT

THANK Y U

NURSES NATIONAL NURSES WEEK MAY 6 - 12

Rob Dob’s 309-590-3434 robdobsbn.com

Yoder From Page 10

Mennonite School of Nursing and started her first job as a nurse on February 15, 1977.

She currently works at Carle Healthcare, having served in many roles including as a trauma nurse specialist, CPR instructor, emergency communication registered nurse, advanced cardiac life support and pediatric advanced life support.

“I love my job all around,” said Yoder, who is always ready to take on new challenges. “Teaching others is one of my favorite parts. When in the (emergency department) there is always either nursing students or EMT students and I love spending time with them and trying to teach them and encourage them.” She also enjoys getting to know patients.

There is never a dull workday for Yoder.

Things were especially difficult when the coronavirus pandemic hit early last year.

17

Yoder saw patients and family members who struggled with COVID. “Physically it was hard to see people so ill and I lost a cousin to COVID as well, so the reality really hit home,” Yoder said. “I always try to keep patients’ family members updated on a patient’s status especially during the times when visiting was so restricted.”

Some nights are harder than others.

Yoder said she often replays some of the toughest cases that she has handled during a shift and will go over everything she did to make sure she took care of the patient and their family.

She advises current and aspiring nurses to always take care of themselves so they can be at the top of their game for patients.

“It is a very challenging but also a very rewarding field. I have never regretted my choice of career,” said Yoder. “It makes it so much easier to go to a job every day when you love your job and the people you work with.”

“It is a very challenging but also a very rewarding field. I have never regretted my choice of career.”

Happy

M ther’ s & Day

801 N. Hershey Road, Bloomington

18

| SUNDAY, MAY 9, 2021

NURSES: THE HEART OF HEALTH CARE

RETURNING

THE GIFT OF LIFE

Registered nurse Lizzy Murphy, left, gives the second dose of COVID-19 vaccine to her mother, Lynn Griesmaier, who is also a nurse, at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.

YOUNGRAE KIM PHOTOS, CHICAGO TRIBUNE

Sunday, May 9, 2021 | 19

NURSES: THE HEART OF HEALTH CARE

Oncology nurse receives COVID-19 vaccine from her nurse daughter HEIDI STEVENS | Chicago Tribune‌

‌A

s soon as the COVID-19 vaccine became available to her department, Lynn Griesmaier, nurse coordinator for breast medical oncology at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, jumped at the opportunity.

“I took the first available spot,” Griesmaier said. “I said, ‘I’ll go anywhere, at any time.’”

As soon as administering the COVID-19 vaccine became an option, nurse Lizzy Murphy, education coordinator at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, jumped at the opportunity.

“We’re just so excited to have a vaccine,” Murphy said. “I was like, ‘As many hands as they need.

‘I gave birth to Let’s get this in arms.’” her. And she’s people’s Griesmaier going to keep signed up to receive her first me alive.’ dose of the vaccine at 9 a.m. on Dec. 18. Murphy signed up to work one of Northwestern’s vaccine tables all day on Dec. 18.

Griesmaier is Murphy’s mom. The two have leaned on each other and drawn strength from each other and shared tears and the occasional lunch (when there’s time) and rides to work (masked, with the car windows down) as the novel coronavirus crashed through our lives, infecting more than 1 million Illinoisans.

“At the beginning I was keeping a log, ‘How many patient exposures do you think you had today?’” Griesmaier said. “And then I was checking it against the statistics on TV. I mean, it was nuts. I was really so worried about how things were going for her.”

Griesmaier was in awe, she said, of her daughter’s calm, and her lightningfast mastery of COVID-19 protocols and personal protective equipment needs and severe respiratory illnesses.

“I’ve been a nurse for a very long time,” Griesmaier said. (Forty years, to be exact.) “I just kept thinking, ‘How does she know all of this? How is she doing all of this?’”

Working at the same hospital was a tremendous relief, Griesmaier said.

“Not only because I had such confidence in her,” she said. “But because I still felt like I could make sure she’s OK.” Murphy was supposed to get married on May 30. She and her mom had been planning the big wedding for more than a year.

“At the beginning it was like, ‘It’s going to be fine by May,’” Murphy said. “And then the realization of it all finally hit us. So that

Registered nurse Lizzy Murphy, left, asks questions as she checks in her mother, fellow nurse Lynn Griesmaier, before giving her the second dose of COVID-19 vaccination at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago on Jan. 8. emotional side of canceling your wedding, my mom was there for all of it.”

And then, as the year like no other drew to a close, a vaccine arrived.

And Griesmaier was scheduled to receive it on the day her daughter was scheduled to administer it.

“I knew my mom was coming that day, but there were 18 stations,” Murphy said. “The chances of all of it happening just right ...”

Murphy had received her first dose Dec. 17, the day before her mom was scheduled to receive hers. Murphy knew the drill, and she also knew the emotions. Griesmaier felt them all, the moment she walked into the hospital to receive her shot.

“It felt so reverent,” Griesmaier said. “I’m just so grateful we’re getting to do this. I was in awe of the moment.”

Then Murphy’s table had an opening. And it was Griesmaier’s turn.

“I thought, ‘I gave birth to her. And she’s going to keep me alive,’” Griesmaier said.

Murphy administered the shot, which Griesmaier says she barely felt. On Friday, three weeks after that first shot, Murphy administered her mom’s second dose.

“It feels sort of full circle,” Murphy said.

“I wouldn’t be a nurse without my mom. I owe my work ethic and everything and the opportunity to go to nursing school and have a great education to my parents.

“I always feel like I can never repay her for everything she’s done for me,” Murphy continued. “This I feel like is the greatest gift I could give her.”

“I’m just so proud of her,” Griesmaier said.

“She’s done such beautiful work. Her heart is just — she’s a nurse, true and true. And it’s just amazing. Here’s your child. Here’s your daughter. How this all came together, it’s just amazing.”

Griesmaier helps patients who’ve been diagnosed with breast cancer. She sees fear and hope every workday, pre- and midpandemic.

“I’m just amazed at the resilience,” she said. “The strength and courage that my patients have and their families have, I’m always just amazed.”

The arrival of this vaccine, she said, gives her hope for their futures, for their ability to ward off a dangerous virus while their immune systems are already severely taxed.

“It’s a good powerful moment between us,” Murphy said. “And it’s also a sense of hope that we’re all moving in the right direction.”

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We value medical excellence and the health care professionals providing essential care.

Happy National Nurses Month to the exceptional nurses in our community!

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WE’RE CELEBRATING

Read stories and messages from nurses who inspire us at:

begin.illinoisstate.edu/mcn