The “Thank You for Showing Up” Recognition Series is the Women & Girls Fund’s effort to share stories of local people who go beyond saying “What can I do for you?” to offer simple acts of kindness to help someone in need. “Showing up” is about seeing a need and taking action. Such supportive gestures of caring and generosity of spirit are all around us in the Mid-Shore and make our communities stronger.

The nurses pictured here have always shown up for their patients. However, “showing up” for work and their patients took on an entirely new meaning when the Covid-19 pandemic hit.

Showing up for work looks very different these days for nurses and all staff who are working in the hospital, most especially, in the Covid ward at the University of Maryland Medical Center at Easton. Each day the Covid ward nurses report for work involves a careful and complex procedure of dressing in multiple layers of personal protective equipment – protective outer layers of clothing, masks, hoods, and a self-contained suit providing oxygen. They wear this cumbersome equipment for their entire shift as they care for their patients, then go home and decontaminate before being with their families.

What has also changed with the pandemic is how they show up for their patients. Patients on this ward are sick, scared, scared and facing their illness alone due to No Visitor policies. So not only do they provide the clinical care necessary, but they also serve as friend, family, and counsel to their patients.

I can personally attest to this as the four nurses pictured here were involved in my husband’s care as he recovered from Covid on their ward. Their excellent care and compassion allowed my husband to walk out of that ward eight days after being admitted. Knowing they were there for him gave me some measure of comfort as I sat at home, alone, unable to be with him.

Gratefully,

Kathy Deouded, Board President, Women & Girls Fund

Thank you for showing up,

the Deoudes family is forever in your debt.

The Memorial Foundation has set up a fund for any employee of UMMCE who has encountered difficulties due to unexpected life circumstances: Employee Assistance Fund (EAF), P.O. Box 1846, Easton, MD 21601.