‘Just remarkable.’ Mount Nittany Health staff honored for resiliency 2 years into pandemic
As the sun set Monday, more than two years after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, dozens of staff members at Mount Nittany Health walked around the hospital’s healing garden, reading messages of gratitude from the community.
The hospital held a special event for employees, “Luminary Reflection: An evening of Recognition, Remembrance, Gratitude and Hope,” with more than 1,000 paper bag luminaries featuring messages to hospital staff from their co-workers, friends, patients and community members. Some notes were thank yous, like one that read “Mega appreciate y’all! I’m back to health” and another that said “You were a light during a dark time — thank you!” Others were notes of encouragement, like “You are awesome!” and and some even had drawings of flowers, hearts and smiley faces.
Kathleen Rhine, president and CEO of Mount Nittany Health, said when the pandemic first began, there was a lot of fear, uncertainty and unknowns as things were changing each day. But the teams at Mount Nittany Health, Rhine said, were remarkable in the ever-changing operations.
“Whether it was setting up dedicated inpatient unit for COVID patients, whether it was virtual ER visits, virtual televisits, drive through testing clinics, screening sites in sheds in our parking lots, every day there was something new and our team was just remarkable in terms of the way we sprang into action to make that happen,” Rhine said.
The staff’s resiliency made it possible to treat more than 2,000 hospitalized patients, to administer more than 50,000 vaccines and more than 80,000 COVID tests during this period of time, Rhine said.
Dr. Thomas Covaleski, chief of Mount Nittany Medical staff and hospitalist, recalled when he and staff were first tested for the respiratory devices they wear for protection in COVID-19 infection rooms. He put on his protective gear and N95 mask and thought about how “strange” it was that he was going to enter a place that everybody else was cautioning to stay away from. He thought, “what if I bring this home to my family? What if I bring this to my co-workers? What if I bring this to another patient?”
“And then I thought of all the people that open that same door during the day. All the nurses that open the door, the people delivering food, people cleaning rooms, laboratory, X-ray, and how many of the people here at Mountain Nittany entered into danger,” Covaleski said. “Those people not only did their job but ... they were the physical contact of many people who were isolated from family and friends. Never in my life had we had so many people with no visitors and doors closed and in a room by themselves. But I saw over and over again how our staff would make conversation, talk about the weather, talk about what’s on television, share personal stories. They became the family for the people that were in these rooms.”
Susan Alters was a COVID patient at Mount Nittany when she was 34 weeks pregnant with her daughter. She was in the hospital for 12 days receiving treatments. Then her daughter needed extra care after she was born at Mount Nittany and was flown to Danville.
“We’re just so thankful that the staff here had taken care of myself so well and Lily, and understanding that part of the treatment that I received really helped boost Lily and her development in that last three weeks once we were out and then to her being born,” Alters said.
“Now I’m a mother of an 11 month old, I look back on so many articles and I read even what’s currently happening and I see so many stories about mothers and their children, and just how different my story and our family could have been had it not been for the excellent care.”
David Doll, psychiatric counselor at Mount Nittany Health, and his family experienced that “love and support” from the staff when his wife, Tina, a front-line provider, had COVID and was hospitalized. Tina died January 2021; David said he and his son, Jason, received a lot of support and reassurance throughout her hospitalization and after her death. When he thanked the COVID staff for their support they said, “David, don’t worry about it. You’re family.”
“I had gratification with the COVID staff, but also a great deal of gratification from my nurse manager and my co-workers. Again, they provided a lot of love and support, just not for me, but also Jason and they continue to do that. So the road, it’s, you know, it’s a tough one. We’ve all had some sort of loss, (the) pandemic added a whole lot of challenges, not just at work but at home, but with Mount Nittany Medical Center my hope is that we’ll continue to shine, like the moon stars and sun will continue to shine on,” Doll said.
This story was originally published May 10, 2022 at 2:51 PM.
