Our Nursing Alumni: Heroes on the Front Lines
Brianna Fogarty ’16
Malaika Feeley, FNP ’11, DNP ’17
Dominican University nursing alumni were among the heroes who worked tirelessly to care for patients stricken with the fierce and formidable virus – COVID-19.
Brianna Fogarty ’16 recalled that the first COVID-19 patient came into NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York City when the virus was being compared to the flu in the media. “I remember looking at the patient who was otherwise healthy, very young, so sick, and on a ventilator. I was thinking that we’ve never put an otherwise healthy patient on a ventilator for just the flu. It was extremely alarming.”
New York City quickly became the epicenter of the virus and Fogarty said the number of cases at NewYork Presbyterian skyrocketed practically overnight. The patients required a high level of care, and there was so much to manage that she likened the atmosphere to a “war zone.”
“We hadn’t seen so many people that were so extremely sick at one time like this. It was just such a shock,” said Fogarty. To add to the stress, co-workers began getting sick and some personal protective equipment was in short supply. “There were times we had to use the same N-95 – we were told as long as we could make it last – which was extremely nerve-wracking,” she said.
Malaika Feeley, FNP ’11, DNP ’17, works at Englewood Hospital in New Jersey and Good Samaritan Hospital in Suffern and said many COVID patients quickly deteriorated. “It was so overwhelming. I was just so scared – deathly scared,” she said. “Not only are you facing something that you are not familiar with, but then you are wondering, am I going to get it? Am I going to pass it along to my family?” Feeley’s mother and husband have underlying conditions and she has two children at home.
“Not only were we dealing with a virus that was so dreadful,” Feeley said. “We lost so many lives despite trying to take care of everyone to the best of our abilities. But we were also seeing a lot of thrombogenic events.” In other words, patients who appeared to recover from COVID-19 and were sent home from the hospital sometimes returned with heart attacks and strokes caused by blood clots.
In addition to coping with the debilitating effects of the virus, patients were alone without the support of family members. Nurses like Feeley and Fogarty tried to comfort patients, sometimes helping them FaceTime loved ones. “We all tried to be there for the patients in a more nurturing way because of the fact that they couldn’t have their family members there with them,” said Fogarty. “It just seemed like such a scary experience for them.”
Unfortunately, some nurses paid the ultimate sacrifice, including alumna Pamela Orlando ’95, an Emergency Room nurse at Valley Hospital in Ridgewood, NJ. Orlando, 56, died at Valley hospital from complications from COVID-19 on April 16. She was featured in news stories as a hero who was an extraordinary nurse to her patients, a beloved mother to her sons, and a caring friend and neighbor. She was also remembered for her infectious laugh and home-cooked Sunday Italian meals. Orlando documented her battle with COVID-19 on video to help others learn about the disease. The heart-breaking videos that showed her rapid decline were featured on CBS This Morning.