#there is this lovely man from gaza at the marches with his sister (?) and family and he has pet rurik a few times
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posting him because if he can make one person smile today, its worth it
#there is this lovely man from gaza at the marches with his sister (?) and family and he has pet rurik a few times#and at the march three weeks ago he saw him walking behind him and exclaimed ’oh i know this dog!’ as in#’oh this dog is my friend’#i just started crying immediately#i couldnt even continue shouting the slogans for a good while#we’re all human you know#its literally that simple but people dont understand?#sorry but isnt that why we’re all here on this earth? pets included?#if he can make only one person smile; good#i dont really feel like smiling anymore but i wish it for other people#last week he told me he used to have a white dog but it got shot#thats the reality for some people and yet whats the difference between us?#geography#personal#this is from last week. there were ten times the usual crowd because it was a joint protest for different cities#it was so nice
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So I went to the Hozier concert on Friday, and it was lovely for all the reasons I wanted it to be of course, but at the end, Andrew spoke about the US voting against the ceasefire in Palestine. You can find a clip someone posted here. He said, truthfully, that the only reason Ireland knows peace is because of the intervention of the international community.
Some people on Twitter and tik tok have decided that his decision to mention and condemn the Hamas attack on October 7th in conjunction unnecessarily “muddles” and “softens” his otherwise pretty clear anti-colonial and pro-Palestine stance and I am over it. This is not actually coming from a place of stan culture and defending Hozier on the internet. It is coming from a deep disgust with the way my fellow white leftists consume war as if it’s a sporting event and ever acknowledging the humanity and pain of the “other side” makes you suspect and disloyal.
What took place on October 7th was horrific. It was terrifying. It was an act of unspeakable cruelty inflicted on the vulnerable. The collective punishment and war crimes perpetuated by the Israeli government in retaliation are inexcusable. To do so in the name of victims, many of whom have family members speaking out against the war crimes of the state, is awful. The Palestinian children, women, and men who have died as a result of Israeli war crimes over the previous decades and in the past few weeks deserve to be grieved with the same rage and lament as the Israeli victims of Hamas. All of these things are true.
That is basic humanity. It is not a sudden condoning of the actions of the Israeli state to acknowledge this. To pretend like Andrew, or anyone else, expressing similar sentiments was condoning or softening the violence of the Israeli state is the purity testing nonsense that continues to damage and divide leftists spaces. It is also deeply decontextualized.
Most Americans—again, especially white Americans— do not know what it is like to live with the the threat of violence and war daily. We do not even have a memory of domestic war on our land. Domestic war in 1998 in Ireland. People remember this violence. It’s not hypothetical. A desire and a call to action and a call for peace is fucking bold. A call for a cease fire is a call on the behalf of the Palestinians people. It’s realistic, though we may not want to believe it, but we must remain hopeful. Hope is a discipline.
I don’t know man. I’m so tired of Twitter fingers screaming for blood they’ll never shed, never bury, never know, and condemning people for grieving for lives that were truly lost. War is not sport teams with unfailing loyalty and anything that insists on dehumanizing a side to “win,” means we’ve already lost. I desire to see freedom and justice for Palestine, and I will not apologize for this. I will grieve for every brother and sister and child who is robbed of their life at the hands of violence, and I will not apologize for this either. I will continue to call my representatives and ask that the United States vote for the ceasefire and supply humanitarian aid for the Palestinian people. I will continue to donate and march.
We may all have opinions about the different methodologies that will be used for our own liberation and the liberation of oppressed people throughout the world, but if your methods require you to close off the part of yourself that is able to recognize the humanity of your neighbor, of a child on either side of the Gaza Strip, then you will only ever reinvent violence to inflict on those who were not able to preform loyalty the way you wanted.
#palestine#israel#ceasefire#Hozier#the old leftist adage about people who become right wing because their annoyed by leftists continued to be true#I’m a leftists and I’m exhausted by y’all every day#twitter is the worst
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Had some sleep and awake again so I thought I'd maybe drop some news.
First up all pro Palestine marches have been banned in town. Not even sure the local jewish folks agree with our non jewish secretary of state deciding that condemning Israel = saying it shouldn't exist let alone antisemitism but some Chetchen young man with clear PTSD went mad at seeing Gaza being well, Chechnya-ed into oblivion with international approval and killed a teacher so we're in right wing "terrorists under your bed" mode. I won't watch the news, there will be sound clips of horrific islamophobia like it's religion's fault and antisemitic dog whistles because this is french right wingers, they like Israel for strategic war reasons and also because they kinda hope all the jews will move there instead of their rightful ancestral lands which are Right Here in Europe. We did reparations so wrong. There have been jewish settlements, businesses, families, synagogues right here across Europe. A respected honored return and dedicated land for jewish refugees should have been right here, probably on German soil (I'd also say enclaves or debt from France... And Hungary and Lithuania but they're still in denial)
The profile as a terrorist is based on a single Allahu-ackbar. They had arrested him earlier that week, interrogated him and released him. The world saw him as a terrorist, he was watching another country like his get crushed, he lashed out with violence. Dude should have had a counsellor check in instead because of generational trauma. And now his stupid crime is propaganda for the machine. I hate this.
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J, like me, also had cramps last night and then spent the morning feeling nauseated in the loo and I knew exactly what items to hand her (water bottle, anti spasmodic, caffeine, bucket, towel for sweat, baby wipes in case of need for quick cleanup and vicks vaporub under the nose) she thought I was reading her mind, I've just been there.
Went to the dentist, a double booking with Mum to set up the 'family' account with a new dentist (9 have retired in the past year and there are only 4 close by so it's been two years to get a slot - once you're a registered client the wait times drop to 2 months) it was up a steep flight of stairs so a year ago I couldn't have made it. Hidden in a residential building between two shops and called 'le France' no I have no idea what that's about either I'm guessing it's le france because it used to be le bâtiment or le café france and got shortened or something.
I had a clear plan of action the night before (ask about neck, ask about tongue) but was hazy by the time we got there from car dizzyness and lack of sleep. Then the receptionist asks us to fill in forms while she's also asking questions on the form. It was hard to focus on either. And she goes "don't you recognise me?" and I say "oh I'm sorry we're terrible with faces! where do we know you from?" - guess! Anyway mum and i managed to throw out pretty much everywhere we've lived in France since 93 and any groups we've been part of together.
Five minutes later she explains she knows us from an address we never lived at LOL and knew my sister at 14yo. That actually narrows down the options because we know a ton of Valeries. I have never met this woman. This is horse lady Valerie. She took tourists on horse back rides through the lovely scenery to pay for her horse sanctuary and gave kids lessons.
Sis has loved horses forever despite only meeting them in fields. So one year we got her riding lessons, she paid for half with stable work. She had a wonderful time, V has very strange social skills and isn't good with kids (specifically not picking favourites) but sis bonded with a stubborn reliable mare who didn't like people but who did like my sister for her respect for boundaries and always asking the horse first (Show the brush, ask, then brush. Show the saddle, ask, then saddle... ). Yeah the horse loved her and she loved her back, and they got to do horse riding and it was as amazing as the books and period films showed it to be.
So Horse Valerie is a dental assistant now and has a weekend job doing kids yoga. She told us quite a bit about herself (we asked all the right questions: how many horses did she keep? She carefully rehomed the others, How was she adjusting? She does sophrologie (?) now... but didn't ask a thing about sis or us. So she's still her odd self. 😆 I had a flash thought and asked about the horse that spends time in a field in town as the conditions had distressed sis: she felt they were insufficient for a horse to stay all day let alone night when sis and I visited. She said it's a hardy horse from the region from a family who've owned horses for generations. (sis thinks this is a non answer)
By the time I got into the dentist my mind was blank, I managed to list what I'd tried for my tongue and eventually asked if he felt I should get my wisdom teeth out. Forgot to mention the neck!!!
I'm trying base mouthwashes and extra brushing for a month or two we'll see if that helps. As for my wisdom teeth, it'll help the lower teeth not be so cramped and at risk of cavities because I can't floss half of them and he knew the right one comes out partially on the regular.
But otherwise I've been really lucky because I mouthwashed daily for over a decade when bristles would make my teeth bleed while only really brushing my teeth once or twice a week in the bath (because of POTS - brushing sat down is a mess when you can't get up fast and need both hands to get up), I only have been brushing daily for 18 months and use kid fruity toothpaste because mint makes it hard to eat for the next few hours. If my health goes backwards I really want to work out a sat down system with an electric toothbrush and a towel bib or something.
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Ok so we get home J's feeling much better as she's fully emptied her system but has a fever. A friend called from the hospital to say covid cases are through the roof, time to mask up and avoid groups if possible: stomachs sink, we're all hoping J has a minor stomach flu, she'll be getting tested for Covid before the booster tomorrow.
I can't find the infection stats online in last years' places. Absolutely none of us want to go to hospital this winter unless pandemic protocols are in place. Me and the dentist were the only ones wearing masks, mine came off for the appointment, his came off to do computer work but he was right in front of a window. No-one in town, none of the five people in the waiting room or Valerie. Makes you feel like you're being paranoid. I'd be having a panic attack rn if I hadn't worn a mask today though.
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Got two parcels done 🎉🎈, i still get a little bitter throwing money at laposte because I don't trust them and the box they made me tick saying "i'd pay return fees if things don't work out" doesn't help. But on the bright side I got to choose some cool stuff to send a friend and also said goodbye to more handpicked baldies: 3 Licca modern l07, 5 Licca classic modern k29, Karen chan ribon (I will find you again someday) and Kurhn.
Yes I had concepts for most of them. Split hair, gradients, thermal hair, a proper Cinnamoroll themed gal, a twin stars dupe. Blank nicely spherical heads with a flattish top (+small, soft vinyl) let you play with dividing it up in a way that's less easy with Barbie. From about 1cm back the hair falls backwards and won't be seen from the front.
Ok speaking of hair, Hair Wear Summer's green underhair streak is doll grade kanekalon and matte. No wonder there were so many rerooted versions of her on flickr, that will have frazzled right up if a boil wash was too close to the boiling point. She's pre-gluehead era thank goodness. If my neck wasn't busted I'd have replaced those 40ish plugs with a nice shiny green saran or a ginger blend so the next owner doesn't ruin it. Good to be reminded Mattel was also making baffling decisions for higher end playline in 2007.
Today I took Lily for a short walk and the new neighbours' dog came running to the gate (which is up a steep slope about 4 yards in) and barked, I was going to walk on by but decided to walk up to the gate because Lily is super chill, I told the dog "no barking. we're neighbours and we're cool" handed him a piece of cracker, he let me stroke his nose but later still wanted to bark at Lily. This is going to take stronger treats! In the meantime, orange cat came running and tried to squeeze through the fence to play with the fluffy dog.
We left right as he finally wiggled that derrière out of the fence. Sorry lil orange mischief, some other time!
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andy wyatt headcanons?
AAAH THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ENABLING MY ANDY OBSESSION!! i love this woman so much. i’m sorry this is so late! it took my brain forever! (and it’s SUPER long and rambly oops)
andy is bi. YES I KNOW THERE’S NO CANON BASIS FOR THIS but, (as you know) this is one of my favorite tww things to think about. she’s known since college, and isn’t ashamed of it- the only reason she isn’t out is because of her job as a congresswoman. she isn’t one to back down from a fight, but this is one that she knows she won’t win. she doesn’t want to be a congresswoman and then retire- she wants to keep moving up in politics. but andy sometimes hates that she’s had to keep it a secret- she tries to make up for it by fighting for gay rights on a national and state level, and never backing down. it’s one of her biggest issues, and she’s made a lot of progress during her term, which is something she’s proud of.
she has always wanted kids- her and toby tried throughout their whole marriage. she had a lot of trouble conceiving, and had a miscarriage that was… horribly painful for both of them. this is basically canon, i think- we see in a flashback that andy and toby went through a lot, and went to a ton of doctors to try and get pregnant. they both really wanted kids, and even after the divorce, they wanted them together, so andy kept trying (with toby’s permission- they discussed the decision a lot.) the twins were still sort of a miracle, though, and she was thrilled.
andy bakes a lot when she’s stressed- she doesn’t LOVE to cook, that’s more toby’s area, but she can bake super well. she used to bake with her sisters as a kid, and she keeps it up now as a break from work.
ok, so you know this one too lmao- she is in love with cj and toby, she’s been in love with them for years, and they were together before andy and toby got married. this is an… extremely rare ship, you and i might be the only people who talk about it, but i LOVE IT SO MUCH. this is why she wouldn’t remarry toby- they don’t work without cj. the two of them will always be the loves of her life, and it breaks andy’s heart that they can’t be together (largely because of their jobs, they all still love each other,) and raise huck and molly as a family.
toby and andy met on a campaign in new york- they were the smartest people on the campaign. he was her boss, and was a few years older than her, so he refused to make the first move. andy is NOT someone to sit around and wait for a man (eyes-a-fluttering, parasols-a-twirling, as cj would say) so she marched up to toby one night when they were working and lectured him on his “misguided patriarchic principles that kept him from asking out a consenting adult, etc,” before dragging him into his office and kissing him. they both felt like they won that argument. needless to say, work got a lot better after that. they lost, and andy moved on to other things (she started working towards becoming the candidate instead of getting other ones elected), and toby found another campaign to work on. but they stayed together, and later, toby met cj, and they all fell into this THING of best friends and girlfriends and politics and the place they all meet in the middle.
she is definitely better friends with cj then we see- i have a TON of romantic headcanons about these two but even in canon, i think they were really good friends. andy and cj met when they were much younger, and were fast friends. cj helped her with her campaign while she was at emily’s list, and she still gives andy professional advice (mainly in the PR area, andy doesn’t need much help with politics.) anyway, they have weekly lunches that get cancelled sometimes when they are busy- but they do their best to replace the lunches with a phone call when they can. cj is a huge part of andy’s life, and the two of them know each other so deeply that being together is something that they both kind of need to get through the week. for both of them, it’s an escape from their daily lives- for cj it’s a much needed breather from white house politics, even though she loves the people she works with dearly. for andy, it’s a nice break from working with the same people, over and over again, and being able to hang out with someone for fun, not for networking purposes. (sorry this is so long i just love them so MUCH)
she was very busy during the first bartlet campaign, but always tried to join them when they made stops near where she was. andy used to hang out with donna and cj, mostly, but she got to know everyone eventually. they used to play hilarious drinking games, and... well, she found out a LOT of stuff about some of the assistants that she didn’t know before.
andy is a lot closer with donna after gaza- she feels very guilty, at first, but she eventually realizes the only way to start getting over that was to talk to donna. and while at first it was awkward, once they established that donna didn’t blame andy at ALL for anything, their conversation came a lot easier. donna told her about the trauma therapist she had seen, just in case andy needed it. they started going out to lunch every week- or whenever their schedules permitted it, and when donna made the choice to leave the white noise, andy offered her a job. donna didn’t take it, of course. andy completely understood- she had a feeling the choice to leave was a bit more personal that she let on. the job was in washington, and, well, donna wanted to get as far away from josh lyman as she could. but she kept in touch with andy, asking for her advice a few times on the campaign trail.
she likes to watch soap operas!! this is completely random, but ihave grown attached to the thought of andy watching elaborate soap operas at home in her sweats, shaking her head as the main character is revealed to have yet another sibling. toby draws a line at her watching them with the kids, even though they’re far too young to understand. andy still sneaks it in, though- molly always stops crying when she turns it on, and she’ll take whatever method she has left.
i think she was a lawyer, but only practiced for a year or two before going into politics. andy loved law school, but she quickly realized that practicing wasn’t her favorite thing to do. when she decides to run in the upcoming election, she puts that education to good use. she loves being a congresswoman more than she’s loved anything, but she doesn’t regret the path that got her there for a second.
i loved doing this!! if anyone wants me to expand on this, shoot me an ask!! i could talk about her... forever. xoxo
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March 27, 2019: Columns
The Bat...
Ted Holder and his sister Sylvia H. Day
The engraving on the bat
By KEN WELBORN
Record Publisher
It seems that often I begin a column with something to the effect of "...my company is the best part of my day."
I hope that doesn't change.
One day last week, a visitor who has only been by three of four times over the years came by — that visitor was Ted Holder, who, on this visit, brought with him his lovely sister, Sylvia Holder Day, who lives in Statesville. Ted had been by a while back to tell me his sister had found some very hard to find newspapers that she was willing to give us for the "Poor Man's Museum," we have managed to evolve into here at The Record and Thursday Printing offices on Main Street in North Wilkesboro.
Of course, I told Ted I would be glad to have them, but I was also glad to see Ted for another reason.
The Bat.
Some years ago, Ted came by the office with a baseball bat, a Ralph Kiner bat. The truth is I had never heard of Ralph Kiner, so I asked Ted about him. He told me some basic information about Kiner, who played pro ball for several teams as an outfielder. I did a bit of research and found that he was a pretty big deal —playing from 1943-1955, when his career was cut short by injuries. Kiner later managed some minor league teams, did announcing for the New York Mets from 1961-2013, and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1975.
Kiner died in 2014, at the age of 91. He also had four wives, a fact I felt somewhat compelled to throw in.
But none of this is why the visit from Ted and his baseball bat from childhood was so special that day. It was when Ted showed me the trademark which was burned into the barrel of the bat.
It read: "seasonized," yes, seasonized.
Below that word which means Lord knows what, was a baseball player swinging a bat with the words "Rutherford and Hodges Bat Co. North Wilkesboro N.C."
We took some pictures and I went about learning about the bat company. After remembering Conley Call telling be all about the North Wilkesboro Flashers, a semi pro baseball team that was partially owned by Merrill Wiles and who played their home games at North Wilkesboro's Memorial park, I called him.
Conley was always an amazing source, and after a day or so he called me back and told me the bats were manufactured at the old Sidden Plant on Toll Road in North Wilkesboro, just past Cashion Oil Company. Yes, that would be the same Sidden Plant where Mark Goodman and me would go to "find" the iron wheels we needed for our homemade wagons we constructed.
A bit more digging revealed that a Google search for Ralph Kiner showed up pages and pages of information. And, while the same Google had information on a Ralph Kiner bat by Louisville Slugger, it seemed to have never heard about the Rutherford and Hodges Bat Co. of North Wilkesboro. At any rate, during one of our legendary computer crashes here at The Record, one of the casualties was anything to do with Ted Holder or his bat, so I was especially glad he dropped by to tell me about his sister’s newspapers.
To that end, I asked Ted to bring the bat with him when his sister visited. My plan was to somehow talk him out of the bat and to put it on display in the aforementioned Poor Man's Museum at our office. Clearly we had a great visit, Ted is always fun to talk with and his sister was a delightful addition. But, when it came time to leave, Ted, who has had that bat since he was about 7 years old, assured me that it was leaving when he did.
At least he let me take new pictures.
It’s not complicated
By EARL COX
Special to The Record
The land of Israel is once again headline news perhaps not so much here in the United States but throughout the Middle East and Europe.
This past Sunday night and on into Monday, Hamas terrorists in Gaza lobbed dozens of rockets toward civilian communities north of Tel Aviv. While Israelis are confronted by this sort of aggression on an almost daily basis, the news media rarely report such incidences as most of the rockets land in open fields causing no physical damage however the psychological trauma is beyond measure.
This time the situation is different. The home of an innocent Israeli family was destroyed and seven people were injured to include children.
Israel does not respond to the almost daily rocket attacks from Gaza however the Palestinians have been warned and repeatedly reminded that any escalation in their attacks would be met with the full force, strength and determination of the IDF (Israel Defense Force) in order to protect Israel and her citizens. IDF Reserve forces have been called up and are ready to respond the moment Prime Minister Netanyahu, who is also serving as Israel’s Minister of Defense, gives the green light. The situation is so tense that Prime Minister Netanyahu cut short his visit to the U.S. to meet with President Trump and address the annual AIPAC convention.
While the ink is still drying on this article, the rockets are continuing to rain down on Israel. Between 3:09 p.m. and 3:29 p.m., Monday afternoon, more than 48 rockets were launched into southern Israel and communities around Tel Aviv.
With all of this turmoil taking place, it’s entirely possible that Iran, through its proxy Hezbollah in Syria and Lebanon, will take advantage of the situation and increase hostilities on Israel’s northern border. The purpose would be to divide Israel’s attention and military forces in the hopes of diluting Israel’s response to Hamas.
Why would they do this? Because Hamas is also a proxy of Iran.
On the surface, the situation in Israel and the Middle East seems complicated, but it is not. It’s just that there are so many players. What it all boils down to is Israel’s Muslim and Arab neighbors, especially Iran, are determined to live in a world free of Israel and all Jews (and also all Christians). They want to eliminate the Saturday people followed by the Sunday people.
Here in the United States, it’s hard for the average person to grasp the dangers facing Israel because we have natural defenses protecting two of our major coastlines. They are the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. Aside from what is happening on our southern border, we also have thousands of miles separating us from our enemies. Israel has no such luxury.
From north to south Israel measures only 263 miles and its width ranges from only 9.3 miles to 71 miles at its widest point. Israel is a very tiny country. The rocket that destroyed the home and injured seven people in one family was a home- manufactured rocket capable of traveling a distance of 75 miles. When you live in a small area and your neighbors possess the capability and the heartfelt desire to manufacture weapons in order to destroy your homes and communities, you have to be tough. Israel must respond to this latest and ongoing attack with force. She has no choice. Tel Aviv is a major Israeli city. It’s where many high tech companies are located and also Ben Gurion Airport. It’s one thing for Hamas’ rockets to land in open fields but quite another to possibly land in the center of a major city such as Tel Aviv or blow a plane out of the sky on takeoff or landing.
As you say your prayers this evening, remember not only to pray for the peace of Jerusalem but also for the peace and protection of all of Israel.
Israel must respond forcefully. Strength is the only language her neighbors understand.
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Pompey: MiLiTaRy gENiUs first consulship - civil war pt.1 first consulship - returning from the 3rd Mithridatic war
70 BC - FIRST CONSULSHIP
🌇In 70 bc, Pompey and Crassus became consuls
Remember he was very underage and
🌇Their main feat was that they repealed basically everything Sulla did
🌇The tribunes’ powers were fully restored; criminal juries were divided between senators and wealthy non-senators; and, for the first time since Sulla, two censors—both supporters of Pompey—were elected, who purged the Senate and, in compiling the registers, at last fully implemented the Italians’ citizenship - possibly angered urban poor
🌇The system then continued to rely essentially on mos majorum and auctoritas —potent forces in the status society of the Roman Republic. The solid bases of law and power that Sulla had tried to give it had been surrendered. MAKES IT EASIER TO CORRUPT
🌇In the ‘Life of Crassus’, Plutarch wrote that the two men differed on almost every measure, and by their contentiousness rendered their consulship "barren politically and without achievement, except that Crassus made a great sacrifice in honour of Hercules and gave the people a great feast and an allowance of grain for three months”
🌇Towards the end of their consulship, when the differences between the two were increasing, a man declared that Jupiter told him, to "declare in public that you should not suffer your consuls to lay down their office until they become friends".
🌇The people called for a reconciliation. Pompey did not react, but Crassus "clasped him by the hand" and said that it was not humiliating for him to take the first step of goodwill. aw
🌇Plutarch wrote that Pompey "had determined to restore the authority of the tribunate, which Sulla had overthrown, and to court the favour of the many" and commented that, "There was nothing on which the Roman people had more frantically set their affections, or for which they had a greater yearning, than to behold that office [the tribuneate] again." Through the repeal of Sulla's measures against the plebeian tribunate Pompey gained the favour of the people.J
67 BC - MITHRADATES AND PIRATES
Pirates
🎃In 67bc, Pompey did lots of military things like how a military person does
🎃 PIRATES: A large network of pirates coordinated operations over wide areas with large fleets. According to Cassius Dio, many years of war contributed to this because many war fugitives joined them. Pirates were more difficult to catch or break up than bandits. The pirates pillaged coastal fields and towns
🎃So he was given the Lex Gabinia
🎃This was proposed by Aulus Gabinius, tribune of the Plebs.
🎃It granted Pompey extraordinary proconsular powers in any region within 50 miles of the Mediterranean Sea and was introduced to allow Pompey to deal with pirates that were patrolling the Mediterranean Sea and preventing grain from reaching Rome.
🎃 He was allowed to have 200 ships, levy as many soldiers and oarsmen as he needed and collect as much money from the tax collectors and the public treasuries as he wished. The use of treasury in the plural might suggest power to raise funds from treasures of the allied Mediterranean states as well.
🎃Such sweeping powers were not a problem because comparable extraordinary powers given to Creticus to fight piracy in Crete in 74 BC provided a precedent.
🎃 Cassius Dio claimed that Gabinius "had either been prompted by Pompey or wished in any case to do him a favour … and … He did not directly utter Pompey's name, but it was easy to see that if once the populace should hear of any such proposition, they would choose him."
🎃Plutarch described Gabinius as one of Pompey's intimates and claimed that he "drew up a law which gave him, not an admiralty, but an out-and‑out monarchy and irresponsible power over all men"
the third mithradatic war
🏮Mithradates was still a huge big huge huge problem, yes he was.
🏮 Lucullus was conducting the Third Mithridatic War (73–63 BC) against Mithridates VI the king of Pontus and Tigranes the Great, the king of Armenia. He was successful in battle; however, the war was dragging on and he opened a new front (Armenia)
🏮In Rome Lucullus was accused of protracting the war for ‘the love of power and wealth’ and of taking from royal palaces as if he had been sent, 'not to subdue the kings, but to strip them.’ Some of the soldiers were disgruntled and were incited by Clodius not to follow their commander. MUTINY
🏮Because of this, Mithradates won back some territory
🏮Pompey was sent to help, given the Lex Manilia
🏮It gave Pompey command of the forces and the areas of operation of Lucullus and in addition to this, Bithynia, which was held by Acilius Glabrio.
🏮It commissioned him to wage war on Mithridates and Tigranes.
🏮 It allowed him to retain his naval force and his dominion over the sea granted by the lex Gabinia.
🏮Therefore, Phrygia, Lycaonia, Galatia, Cappadocia, Cilicia, Upper Colchis, Pontus and Armenia as well as the forces of Lucullus were added to his command.
🏮Plutarch noted that this meant the placing of Roman supremacy entirely in the hands of one man. The optimates were unhappy about so much power being given to Pompey and saw this as the establishment of a tyranny.
🏮They agreed to oppose the law, but they were fearful of the mood of the people. Only Catulus spoke up. The law was passed.The law was supported by Julius Caesar and justified by Cicero in his extant speech Pro Lege Manilia
🏮According to Cassius Dio, while this was happening, Pompey was preparing to sail to Crete to face Metellus Creticus (see campaign against the pirates).
🏮Lucullus was incensed at the prospect of his replacement by Pompey. The outgoing commander and his replacement traded insults. Lucullus called Pompey a "vulture" who fed from the work of others.
🏮Lucullus was referring not merely to Pompey's new command against Mithridates, but also his claim to have finished the war against Spartacus
An overview from wiki about what Pomps did:
The Roman province of Bithynia was enlarged and became the province of Bithynia et Pontus (Pompey added the western part of Pontus).
Galatia was divided between Deiotarus ruling the Tolistobogii in the west, Domnilaus ruling the Tectosages in the middle, Brogitarus ruling the Trocmi in the east, and Pylaemenes ruling Paphlagonia in the north.
Capadocia was restored to Ariobarzanes (Pompey actually increased his lands).
The Roman province of Cilicia was also enlarged (Pompey added Pamphylia and several other inland areas). Cilicia kept its name.
The coastal strip from Gaza to the gulf of Issus was formed into a new Roman province. The province of Syria.
Deiotarus (the ruler of the Tolistobogii) was given an extensive kingdom east of Bithynia et Pontus; consisting of the eastern part of Pontus and Lesser Armenia.
Colchis was given to Aristarchus.
Commagene was given to Antiochus.
Osrhoene was given to Abgar.
The Amanus range was given to Tarcondimotus.
Tigranes was allowed to remain king of Armenia.
Sophene became independent of Armenia (but a client of Rome).
Gordyene became a client of Rome.
Hyrcanus was reinstated as ruler a high priest of Judaea (although much of the power in Judaea passed into the hands of Antipater).
his return from the east and cicero - 63 bc
🦀Pompey went back to Amisus. Here he found many gifts from Pharnaces and many dead bodies of the royal family, including that of Mithridates. Pompey could not look at Mithridates' body and sent it to Sinope.
🦀Before he departed for Rome Pompey paid his army, the sum distributed amounted, we are told, to 16,000 talents (384,000,000 sesterces). He then travelled in greater pomp.
🦀On his way to Italy he went to Mytilene on the island of Lesbos. He decided to build a theatre in Rome modelled on that of this city. In Rhodes he listened to the sophist philosophers and gave them money. He also gave rewards to philosophers in Athens and gave the city money towards its restoration (it had been damaged by Sulla during the First Mithridatic War).
🦀In Rome there were rumours that Pompey would march his army against the city and establish a monarchy. Crassus secretly left with his children and money. Plutarch thought that it was more likely he did this because he wanted to give credibility to the rumours rather than through genuine fear.
🦀However, Pompey disbanded his army when he landed in Italy. He was cheered by the inhabitants of the cities he passed on his way to Rome and many people joined him. Plutarch remarked that he arrived in Rome with such a large crowd that he would not have needed an army for a revolution.
🦀In the Senate Pompey was probably equally admired and feared. On the streets he was as popular as ever. His eastern victories earned him his third triumph, which he celebrated on his 45th birthday in 61 BC, seven months after his return to Italy.
🦀Plutarch wrote that it surpassed all previous triumphs. It took place over an unprecedented two days. Much of what had been prepared would not find a place and would have been enough for another procession.
🦀Inscriptions carried in front of the procession indicated the nations he defeated (the Kingdom of Pontus, Armenia, Cappadocia, Paphlagonia, Media, Colchis, Caucasian Iberia, Caucasian Albania, Syria, Cilicia, Mesopotamia, Phoenicia, Judaea and Nabataea) and claimed that 900 cities, 1,000 strongholds. 800 pirate ships and 1,000 pirates were captured and that 39 cities were founded.
🦀Some also claimed that his conquests were adding 85 million drachmas to the 30 million drachmas of the public revenues from taxes and that he brought 20,000 drachmas in silver and gold.
🦀The captives led in the triumph were the leaders of the pirates, the son of Tigranes the Great with his wife and daughter, a wife of Tigranes the Great, a sister and five children of Mithridates VI, Aristobulus II, the king of the Jews, and hostages from the Caucasian Albanians, the Caucasian Iberians and the king of Commagene.
🦀The tribune Rullus wanted to make a land bill to give the poor land - yet Cicero spoke out agaisnt it.
🦀This is most likely because Cicero knew it would make Pompey trying to give his veterans land harder.
🦀Cicero exaggerated the power which the land commission would be given by the bill. He described the commission as "... ten Kings of the treasury, of the revenues, of all provinces, of the whole Republic, of the kingdoms allied with us, the free nations confederate with us - in fact, ten Lords of the world are to be set up under the pretence and name of an agrarian law."
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Lost On The Frontline
America’s health care workers are dying. In some states, medical staff account for as many as 20% of known coronavirus cases. They tend to patients in hospitals, treating them, serving them food and cleaning their rooms. Others at risk work in nursing homes or are employed as home health aides.
Some of them do not survive the encounter. Many hospitals are overwhelmed and some workers lack protective equipment or suffer from underlying health conditions that make them vulnerable to the highly infectious virus.
Many cases are shrouded in secrecy. “Lost on the Frontline” is a collaboration between The Guardian and Kaiser Health News that aims to document the lives of health care workers in the U.S. who die of COVID-19, and to understand why so many are falling victim to the pandemic.
These are some of the first tragic cases.
Lost On The Frontline
This project aims to document the life of every health care worker in America who dies from COVID-19. If you have a colleague or loved one we should include, please share their story.
Memory Care Nurse Set Fear Aside
(Courtesy of Jessica Forbes)
Nina Forbes
Age: 56 Occupation: Licensed practical nurse Place of Work: Silverado memory care facility in Alexandria, Virginia Date of Death: April 25, 2020
Nina Forbes refused to let fear stop her from living.
She was terrified of flying. But a few years ago, Forbes got on a plane for the first time to watch her younger daughter Jennifer play volleyball.
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COVID-19 also scared Forbes, and as a nurse at an assisted living facility, she knew the virus posed a serious risk. Still, she continued showing up to work.
Forbes tested COVID-positive just after Easter. Chills, body aches and a fever kept her from attending family dinner that Sunday. By the following weekend, she struggled to breathe and couldn’t walk on her own. An ambulance took her to the hospital.
Her older daughter, Jessica, said her mother didn’t have the necessary protection at work. Forbes sometimes wore trash bags to protect herself, she said.
In a statement, a representative for the facility said it met the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines for personal protective equipment. Employees sometimes used trash bags as an added layer of protection, worn over a disposable gown, according to the representative.
Forbes appeared to do what she wanted even in her final moments. Jennifer was able to visit her mother in the hospital, and Forbes died shortly after she left, Jessica said. “It was like she waited for her to leave.”
— Carmen Heredia Rodriguez, Kaiser Health News | Published May 19, 2020
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A Family Man Who Loved Disney, Took Risks To Help Others
(Courtesy of AMR Southwest Mississippi)
David Martin
Age: 52 Occupation: Paramedic Place of Work: AMR Southwest Mississippi, covering Amite and Wilkinson counties Date of Death: April 22, 2020
On March 22, David Martin changed his Facebook profile picture. Around his smiling face, the frame read, “I can’t stay home … I’m a healthcare worker.”
Outside of work, he was a dedicated family man with two children, known for his love of Disney.
Martin, who covered 1,420 square miles across two rural counties, had cared for people with suspected COVID-19 in the weeks leading up to his death, said Tim Houghton, chief of operations for AMR Southwest Mississippi.
“We do what we do knowing the risks,” Houghton said. But Martin’s death was “a hard hit.”
On March 23, at the end of a shift, Martin told a supervisor he had mild flu symptoms. A month later, he died at a hospital in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
AMR paramedics had N95 masks and protective gear and followed Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines, Houghton said. “We have not yet had a shortage.”
In Facebook posts honoring Martin, colleagues described his excitement before trips to Disney World. In his memory, his fiancee, Jeanne Boudreaux, shared a photo of a hot air balloon ride at Disney Springs.
— Michaela Gibson Morris | Published May 19, 2020
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For a 9/11 First Responder, ‘Sitting on the Sidelines Was Never in His DNA’
(Courtesy of Erin Esposito)
Matthew ‘Matty’ Moore
Age: 52 Occupation: Radiologic technologist Place of Work: Northwell Health’s GoHealth Urgent Care in Eltingville, Staten Island, New York City Date of Death: April 17, 2020
Matthew Moore “would give the shirt off his back to help others,” said his sister, Erin Esposito.
A former firefighter and Staten Island native, “Matty” Moore volunteered as a first responder for weeks after 9/11, “even when everyone else stopped going,” Esposito said.
Moore was known as “a gentle giant” in Prince’s Bay, his brother-in-law Adam Esposito said. He was a devoted churchgoer and a beloved member of “The Beach Boys Firehouse” (as Engine 161/81 was nicknamed).
He even came through as Santa Claus, delivering gifts on Christmas morning to the children of two firefighters who died on 9/11.
Moore became an X-ray technologist, cherishing the ability to help those seeking urgent care. When COVID-19 emerged, he continued showing up to work. “Sitting on the sidelines was never in his DNA,” Erin Esposito said.
At the time, the family was reassured that he was receiving the personal protective equipment he needed. Despite his precautions, when Matty contracted COVID-19, it tore through his lungs, which had been damaged at ground zero.
As Matty lay dying, Esposito sought to reassure her brother. “You’ve done enough for us,” she told him, over the phone. Moments later, Matty’s heart stopped beating.
— Eli Cahan | Published May 19, 2020
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‘Gentle Soul’ Had A Brilliant Mind And A Big Heart
Neftali “Neff” Rios
Age: 37 Occupation: Registered nurse Place of Work: St. Francis Hospital’s intensive care unit in Memphis, Tennessee Date of Death: April 26, 2020
Hospital colleagues loved working with Neftali “Neff” Rios. He was humble, kind and capable, a “gentle soul” who always strived to learn something new. Not just smart — “I’m talking extremely intelligent,” his brother Josue Rios said. And he simply loved people. Nursing was a perfect fit.
Neff worked at a small hospital in Clarksdale, Mississippi, then earned his master’s in business administration with an emphasis on health care, and moved to St. Francis, hoping to enter management.
In mid-April, he came down with fever, body aches and a terrible cough and tested positive for the coronavirus. Several family members got sick, too. His parents were hospitalized.
On April 26, Neff collapsed at home, unable to catch his breath. His wife, Kristina, called 911, started CPR and waited for the EMTs. When they arrived, he had already died.
The family believes he was exposed at work. A spokesperson for the hospital declined to comment, citing family privacy.
“Neff was never scared” of catching the virus at work, Rios said. “You take an oath to take care of people, no matter what.”
— Maureen O’Hagan | Published May 19, 2020
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His Warmth And Generosity Brought Diverse Clients To His Pharmacy
(Courtesy of the Titi family)
Saif Titi
Age: 72 Occupation: Pharmacist Place of Work: Noble Pharmacy in Jersey City, New Jersey Date of Death: April 7, 2020
When the pandemic hit, Saif Titi was working six days a week at his Jersey City pharmacy and had no interest in slowing down. As was his way, he wanted to be helpful.
“He didn’t really run it as a business,” said Titi’s son, Justin. “He wasn’t trying to make profit. He was really just trying to help people.”
Titi was born in Jaffa in the last days of British rule in Palestine and grew up a refugee in the Gaza Strip. After studying in Egypt, Austria and Spain, he immigrated to New Jersey in 1972 and bought Noble Pharmacy a decade later.
The pharmacy became a fixture in the community, known as a place immigrants could go for help and advice, often in their native language. If they couldn’t afford medication, Titi would give it to them for free. “All different types of people from different cultures would come and they would instantly fall in love with him,” Justin said.
Active in the local Arab American community, Titi gave to charity and sent money home regularly. A Facebook tribute included dozens of stories of his generosity and mentorship. “We all lost the sweetest and the most noble man on earth,” wrote one relative.
Titi, a father of three adult children, developed symptoms of COVID-19 in late March. He died in the hospital on April 7. His wife, Rachelle, also became infected and has taken some six weeks to recover. In quarantine, the family has been unable to grieve together.
— Noa Yachot, The Guardian | Published May 19, 2020
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Social Worker Was A ‘Big Voice’ In His Community
(Courtesy of Donna Welch)
Gerald Welch
Age: 56 Occupation: Social worker and behavioral specialist Place of Work: Opportunity Behavioral Health in Reading, Pennsylvania Date of Death: April 15, 2020
Donna Welch had sworn she would “never, ever, ever get married again.” Then Gerald appeared.
They met on MySpace, and she quickly realized that “our spirits connected.” On their first date, at Donna’s house in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Gerald proposed — and Donna said yes. “It was like he came down on a bolt of lightning from heaven,” she said.
Gerald’s fiery passion and courage to speak out served him as a boardroom advocate for underperforming students in the school district, and at the St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church, where he resurrected a scholarship now named in his honor.
“He had a big voice,” Donna said, “and he was not afraid to use it.” His “Families, Organizations and Communities United in Service” podcast combined Gerald’s lived experience overcoming drugs and his spirituality to support others struggling with addiction.
So even as the state’s COVID cases mounted, Gerald was a dutiful companion for his clients with severe autism — he took them to the supermarket in Lancaster and the laundromat in Lebanon. “Wherever they needed to go, he went,” Donna said. “He cared so much for them, and they loved him dearly.”
“We all did,” she added.
— Eli Cahan | Published May 19, 2020
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Hardworking Immigrant Realized His Dream To Practice Medicine In US
Jesus Manuel Zambrano and his son, Jesus Manuel Jr. (Courtesy of the Zambrano family)
Jesus Manuel Zambrano
Age: 54 Occupation: Pediatrician Place of Work: Private practice in Freeport, New York; attending physician at Mount Sinai South Nassau hospital Date of Death: March 30, 2020
Jesus Manuel Zambrano studied medicine in the Dominican Republic and immigrated to New York in the 1990s.
He hustled, working in fast food and as a school bus driver between studies, his wife, Sandra, said. He completed his residency in 2010.
In the meantime, they had two children: Jesus Manuel Jr., 22, and Angelyne Ofelia, 18. Jesus Manuel Jr., who uses a wheelchair, never veered far from his father during family outings to restaurants and parks, and Holy Week vacations.
Zambrano’s bond with his son informed his care for his patients. “There was not a single day we met and talked when we didn’t talk about his son,” said Dr. Magda Mendez, a former colleague.
Zambrano spent days in private practice, Sandra said, and in the evenings treated others at the hospital, which saw COVID cases.
In early March, he felt ill. He took the next day off — a rare occurrence, Sandra said. He was taken to the hospital where he worked, where he died after a week and a half of care.
In becoming a physician in the United States, Zambrano had realized his lifelong dream. He wished the same for his family.
“He had a lot of plans for his children, a lot of dreams,” Sandra said. “He took them with him.”
— Carmen Heredia Rodriguez, Kaiser Health News | Published May 15, 2020
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Quick-Witted And Quick To Serve, Firefighter ‘Always Had Your Back’
(Courtesy of the Zerman family)
Robert Zerman
Age: 49 Occupation: Volunteer firefighter Place of Work: Pioneer Hose Company No. 1 in Robesonia, Pennsylvania Date of Death: April 16, 2020
Anyone who met Robert Zerman would see two things: He was devoted to firefighting and emergency medical services, and he had a quick sense of humor.
“He probably went on tens of thousands of calls,” said Anthony Tucci, CEO of the Western Berks Ambulance Association. Tucci, who knew Zerman for over three decades, added, “he always had your back, always knew his stuff.”
Most recently, Zerman was a volunteer assistant fire chief. He responded to an emergency in March in which the patient had COVID-19 symptoms.
“That was before there was really any guidance to wear PPE,” Tucci said.
Soon Zerman got sick, leading the family to suspect that he’d contracted the coronavirus on that call, Tucci said. Zerman tested positive and was hospitalized. He seemed to be improving before taking a bad turn.
Berks County, in eastern Pennsylvania, is among the state’s hardest hit, recording around 3,500 total cases and nearly 200 deaths by mid-May.
Representatives from two dozen first responder agencies lined the streets for Zerman’s funeral procession.
— Maureen O’Hagan | Published May 19, 2020
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Lighthearted Nurse ‘Lit Up the Room’
(Courtesy of Alisa Bowens)
Linda Bonaventura
Age: 45 Occupation: Licensed practical nurse Place of Work: Wildwood Healthcare Center in Indianapolis Date of Death: April 13, 2020
Even on bad days, Linda Bonaventura’s lighthearted sense of humor made people feel better, her sister Alisa Bowens said.
Bonaventura dedicated her career to children with special needs and seniors. She did her best to keep her spirits up while working 16-hour days.
“We like to say she was laughter,” Bowens said. “She lit up the room.”
In a statement, Ethan Peak, executive director of Wildwood, called Bonaventura a dedicated nurse who “would do anything for her residents and co-workers.”
As the list of patients and employees with COVID-19 grew longer at Wildwood, Bonaventura refused to live in fear, Bowens said.
Bowens recalled the day her sister confessed she was spraying herself with Lysol to kill the germs on her clothes. She did the same for a co-worker. A Wildwood spokesperson said the nursing home had sufficient personal protective equipment for employees.
The sisters, in one of their last conversations, told each other they would be at peace if death came during the pandemic. A short time later, Bonaventura tested positive for COVID-19. Just a week after coming down with a sore throat and fever, she died.
“She believed in fate,” Bowens said. “We shared that belief. But it was still a shock.”
— Cara Anthony | Published May 15, 2020
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Nurse’s Death Ripples Through The Heart Of An Extended Community
(Courtesy of Courtney Christian)
Sheila Faye Christian
Age: 66 Occupation: Registered nurse Place of Work: Care Pavilion Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Philadelphia Date of Death: April 19, 2020
So many people are mourning the death of Sheila Christian, her daughter set up a website to comfort them all.
Christian was a longtime friend of Tina Knowles-Lawson ― the mother of Beyoncé — who posted about the loss on Instagram.
But Christian was also a superstar at the center where she worked for 26 years and among those who knew her. She was the kind of person who brought lunch to a new co-worker and hosted a baby shower for someone without close family, according to her daughter and a memorial board.
At the outset of the COVID crisis, Christian was not given personal protective equipment, her daughter, Courtney Christian, 30. She said her mother received a mask only in late March. A lawyer for the center acknowledged Christian’s death and said federal guidelines were followed but didn’t respond to specific questions about protective gear.
Christian was diagnosed April 2. She endured more than a week of fever, chills and coughing, but seemed to be on the mend. She had been cleared to return to work when she collapsed at home. An outpouring of grief followed, her daughter said.
“She just helped and cared for so many people,” she said. “People I had never met.”
— JoNel Aleccia, Kaiser Health News | Published May 15, 2020
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At Work, Church And Home, Army Veteran Gave It His All
(Courtesy of Shlonda Clark)
Roy Chester Coleman
Age: 64 Occupation: Emergency medical technician Place of Work: Overton Brooks VA Medical Center in Shreveport, Louisiana Date of Death: April 6, 2020
Shlonda Clark calls her father her “favorite superhero.”
It was one of Roy Coleman’s many roles. For the past 11 years, the Army veteran and EMT worked as a housekeeper at the VA hospital in his hometown. He was a church deacon, Sunday school teacher and usher. He also volunteered with special-needs adults.
Roy had a big family, with three children, eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
“He was funny, he was kind, he was giving,” said Mabel Coleman, his wife of 40 years.
“If he didn’t like you, something was wrong with you,” added Clark.
Coleman fell ill March 23. After three trips to the emergency room, he was admitted March 27, with a fever and labored breathing.
“It was the last time I saw him,” Mabel said.
He tested positive for COVID-19 and died at the hospital where he had worked.
His family said he was concerned about the lack of personal protective equipment. The VA medical center said by email it “has and continues to use PPE in accordance with CDC guidelines.”
— Katja Ridderbusch | Published May 15, 2020
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Beloved Doctor Made House Calls, Treated Patients Like Family
(Courtesy of the Giuliano family)
Michael Giuliano
Age: 64 Occupation: Family practice physician Place of Work: Mountainside Medical Group in Nutley, New Jersey Date of Death: April 18, 2020
For 39 years, Michael Giuliano practiced old-fashioned family medicine.
He made house calls. He visited his patients in the hospital rather than asking another physician to check in on them. He saw generations of the same family.
“Some patients would show up here at the house,’” said Giuliano’s wife, Marylu, a nurse and the office manager of his solo practice. “Patients would call and he’d say, ‘Come on over, I’ll check you out.’ He always went above and beyond.”
A father of five and a grandfather of four, Giuliano was jovial, with a quirky sense of humor and love of Peanuts characters, especially Charlie Brown. He liked to tell patients, “I’ll fix you up.”
“He treated all of his patients like family,” said Nutley Mayor Joseph Scarpelli.
When COVID-19 hit the U.S., Giuliano ordered N95 masks, his family said, but suppliers were out and sent surgical masks instead. Giuliano wore two at a time.
The week of March 16, Giuliano saw four patients with respiratory symptoms who later tested positive for COVID-19. About two weeks later, he tested positive.
Giuliano continued to see patients from home using telemedicine until he was hospitalized. He died 11 days later.
— Michelle Crouch | Published May 15, 2020
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He Tried To Reassure His Family Until The End
(Courtesy of Sheryl Pabatao)
Alfredo Pabatao
Age: 68 Occupation: Orderly Place of Work: Hackensack Meridian Health Palisades Medical Center in North Bergen, New Jersey Date of Death: March 26, 2020
After 44 years of marriage, Alfredo Pabatao still bought his wife, Susana, flowers.
“They were that type of couple that you rarely see nowadays,” their youngest daughter, Sheryl Pabatao, 30, said. “They set such a high standard for us, their kids — that may be the reason why I’m still single.” She said her father was a patient man who could fix just about anything.
The Pabataos came from Quezon City, just outside Manila, in the Philippines. Alfredo worked at a car dealership, and Sheryl said she and her siblings grew up comfortably.
But the couple wanted more for their five children, and immigrated to the United States in October 2011. “The first year that we were here, was really, really tough,” Sheryl remembered. Her oldest two siblings, already adults by the time the Pabataos’ immigration application cleared, had to stay behind.
Alfredo found a job as an orderly at a hospital in New Jersey, where he worked for nearly two decades. In mid-March, he told his family he had transported a patient with signs of COVID-19; he fell ill days later. In a statement, his employer wrote: “We have policies and procedures in place to protect our team members and patients that are all in accordance with CDC guidelines.”
Sheryl said the family’s last conversation with her father was via FaceTime, with him on his hospital bed. Connected to oxygen, he insisted he wasn’t gravely ill. He made jokes and even demonstrated yoga poses to reassure his wife and children. He died soon after.
— Danielle Renwick, The Guardian | Published May 15, 2020
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A ‘Selfless’ Mother Who ‘Always Had The Right Words’
(Courtesy of Sheryl Pabatao)
Susana Pabatao
Age: 64 Occupation: Assistant nurse Place of Work: Bergen New Bridge Medical Center in Paramus, New Jersey Date of Death: April 30, 2020
Susana Pabatao became a nurse in her late 40s, after her family immigrated to the United States.
It eased some of her longing for her own mother, whom she had left behind in the Philippines, her daughter, Sheryl Pabatao said. “It helped her to know that she was helping other people — something that she couldn’t do for my grandmother,” Sheryl said. Susana treated her older patients as if they were her own parents, she added.
Susana was warm, selfless and a constant source of comfort. Sheryl said, “My mom always had the right words.”
Susana’s husband, Alfredo Pabatao, began showing symptoms of COVID-19 in mid-March, and Susana became ill soon after. Sheryl, who described the two as “inseparable,” said: “When my dad got sick, it’s like part of her was not there anymore.”
Alfredo was hospitalized, and Susana spent her last days at home resting and speaking with him on FaceTime. Sheryl, who lived with her parents, said she overheard the two console each other one morning. “My mom was telling my dad, ‘We’ve gone through so many things, we’re going to get through this.”
Alfredo died on March 26. Susana died four days later.
— Danielle Renwick, The Guardian | Published May 15, 2020
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Air Force Doctor Had Served In The White House
(Courtesy of the Medical Center of Annandale)
Steven Perez
Age: 68 Occupation: Internal medicine physician Place of Work: Medical Center of Annandale in Annandale, Virginia Date of Death: May 7, 2020
When George H.W. Bush announced his 1988 run for the presidency, Steven Perez was one of the doctors who gave him a clean bill of health.
An “Air Force brat” who was born in the United Kingdom, Perez served as a flight surgeon and medical director in the Air Force Medical Service Corps before practicing as a physician in the White House from 1986 to 1990, according to a statement from his family.
“It was the honor of his life,” his son, Benjamin Perez, said.
Perez went into private practice in San Antonio in the early ’90s before opening his own clinic in Northern Virginia. He also taught at the University of Virginia.
According to his family, he made a promise to God and “never refused medical aid to the poor who came to his office, even accepting yams as payment on occasion.”
Perez’s family describes him as a proud grandfather to his three grandchildren (with two more on the way); he loved the University of Southern California Trojan football, the Dallas Cowboys and the Nationals.
“He could make anyone laugh, knew just what to say, and showed profound love for his friends and family,” his family wrote in an obituary. “Every person he met felt like they were the reason he was there.”
— Danielle Renwick, The Guardian | Published May 15, 2020
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She Jumped At Chance To Lend Her Nursing Skills To Her Beloved New York
(Courtesy of the Sell family)
Rosemary Sell
Age: 80 Occupation: Pediatric nurse practitioner Place of Work: New York City public schools Date of Death: April 17, 2020
Rosemary Sell was a New Yorker through and through. Born in Washington Heights in northern Manhattan, she went to nursing school in Greenwich Village and raised her five boys on the Lower East Side.
In the 1960s, she traveled to Berlin, where she worked as a nurse for the British army and met her future husband, Peter. A lifelong love of travel was born. Gregarious and high-energy by nature, she loved meeting new people. “Wherever she’d go, she’d make a new friend,” said her son, also named Peter.
In later years, Sell spent much of her time in Florida. But she jumped at opportunities to lend her nursing skills to her home city and see her grandchildren and friends.
In February, she was contacted by a firm that places nurses on temporary assignments. Her children were concerned about the encroaching pandemic, especially given her age. “But they need a nurse,” she responded. She traveled to New York to fill in as a nurse at several schools citywide just as the pandemic took hold. The firm, Comprehensive Resources, did not respond to questions on protections for its contractors.
Sell began developing symptoms in mid-March, just before the citywide school closure went into effect. She returned home to Florida, where she died from pneumonia caused by COVID-19.
Before Rosemary died, she had been hatching her next adventure with a friend: to travel to India. She wanted to see the Taj Mahal.
— Noa Yachot, The Guardian | Published May 15, 2020
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A Hands-On Pharmacist Who Made The Big City Feel Smaller
(Courtesy of Zair Yasin)
Ali Yasin
Age: 67 Occupation: Pharmacist Place of Work: New York City Pharmacy in East Village, Manhattan Date of Death: May 4, 2020
Ali Yasin was a small-town druggist in a big city filled with impersonal, chain-store pharmacies. He found a way to operate a robust business and still be on a first-name basis with his customers. Over the years, he became their medical consultant, insurance whisperer and friend.
Jen Masser said she stumbled into Yasin’s pharmacy the first time, covered from hands to elbows in hives. “Something is happening, see someone right away,” Yasin advised. “This could be a serious disease.” He turned out to be right, encouraging her to keep seeing doctors until she finally got the proper autoimmune diagnosis.
Born in Pakistan, Yasin moved to the United States in 1979 and worked in various pharmacies before opening his own in 2001. He ran it with the help of his four sons.
In March, after serving customers in hard-hit Manhattan in his typical hands-on manner, Yasin contracted a cough and tested positive for COVID-19. By month’s end, he was in the hospital on a ventilator. He died May 4.
The storefront window of the Yasin family pharmacy is pasted with condolence cards. Son Zair Yasin said the outpouring has been immense: “I didn’t realize until he was gone how many people he touched.”
— Kathleen Horan | Published May 15, 2020
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Nurse Wouldn’t Abandon Her Patients Or Let Family Worry
(Courtesy of the Isaacs family)
Marsha Bantle
Age: 65 Occupation: Registered nurse Place of Work: Signature Healthcare in Newburgh, Indiana Date of Death: May 1, 2020
Marsha Bantle’s family begged her to quit after a resident in the nursing home where she worked was diagnosed with COVID-19.
But Bantle wouldn’t leave. “My patients can’t leave their rooms, they can’t see their families. They really need me right now,’” she told her cousin Carol Isaacs.
Bantle tried to reassure relatives she would limit her exposure, but, on April 17, her temperature spiked. Bantle, who lived alone, holed up at home. She finally called her family when it was clear she needed to be hospitalized.
“That’s Marsha for you,” her cousin John Isaacs said. “She didn’t want us to worry.”
Even while hospitalized, Bantle was selfless, said Shay Gould, the ICU nurse who cared for her. She offered to turn off her medication pump to save the nurse a trip. She asked for other patients’ names to pray for them.
After about a week, Bantle had a stroke, likely brought on by the COVID-19 infection. Within days, she died.
Since April, the nursing home has had 52 positive cases and 13 COVID-19 deaths, including Bantle’s. In a statement, Signature Healthcare said: “The loss of any of our residents or staff, for any reason, is devastating.”
— Michelle Crouch | Published May 12, 2020
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Pharmacist, Feeling Sick, Didn’t Want To Let Patients Down
(Courtesy of the Boynes family)
Sean Boynes
Age: 46 Occupation: Pharmacist Place of Work: AbsoluteCare Medical Center & Pharmacy in Greenbelt, Maryland Date of Death: April 2, 2020
When the coronavirus began circulating in the Washington metropolitan region, Sean Boynes went to work.
“Patients need their medicine,” he told his wife, Nicole.
The medical center where he worked bills itself as “a medical home for the sickest of the sick”; many of its patients struggle with chronic illness and poverty. Boynes was the Greenbelt branch’s first pharmacist.
He was an “incredible, loving guy,” said Dr. Gregory Foti, chief of innovative operations at AbsoluteCare.
Boynes was a proud Howard University alumnus and had three degrees — a bachelor’s of science in biology, a master’s in exercise physiology and a doctorate in pharmacy — from the institution.
In early March, Boynes and his wife began feeling sick. Boynes didn’t want to stop working but thought “taking a sick day might be OK,” Nicole said. He also took a break from being a jungle gym to his eight- and 11-year-old girls. Nicole called him “Super Dad.”
Nicole got better, but Sean, who had asthma, saw his breathing deteriorate.
On March 25, Nicole dropped him at the hospital doors. The medical staff confirmed COVID-19. The family never saw him again.
Foti said AbsoluteCare follows CDC recommendations, such as providing staff with face masks, and declined to comment on where Boynes became infected. He said “it was literally impossible to tell” where Boynes had contracted the virus.
To honor him, AbsoluteCare is naming the Greenbelt pharmacy after Boynes.
— Sarah Jane Tribble, Kaiser Health News | Published May 12, 2020
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A Spry EMT, He Made ‘The Ultimate Sacrifice’
(Courtesy of Toni Lorenc)
John Careccia
Age: 74 Occupation: Emergency medical technician and rescue squad chief Place of Work: Woodbridge Township Ambulance and Rescue Squad in Iselin, New Jersey Date of Death: April 17, 2020
“That’s not the way you throw a curveball!” John Careccia famously declared to his grandson at a family picnic, according to his daughter, Toni Lorenc. Careccia then threw the ball so wide that it broke a window in her shed.
“That’s how you throw the batter off,” he said, brushing off the mishap.
“Typical Pop-Pop,” Lorenc said. “He had so much confidence in himself.”
Careccia, who worked for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey for 30 years, harnessed his self-confidence into a second career. Inspired by two EMTs who saved his son’s life, he became a volunteer EMT in 1993. A consummate educator, he taught CPR, mentored young EMTs and gave catechism classes at his church, Lorenc said.
A spry 74, Careccia responded to 911 calls as chief of his rescue squad, a volunteer position. On a March 25 call, he evaluated a coronavirus patient, said Ed Barrett, squad president. Careccia died of COVID-19 several weeks later.
At his firehouse memorial service, Careccia was summoned over a loudspeaker for his “last call.”
“Having heard no response from Chief Careccia, we know that John has made the ultimate sacrifice,” said Steve Packer, a previous squad president. “His leadership, dedication, compassion and friendship will be greatly missed.”
— Melissa Bailey | Published May 12, 2020
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Police Officer Turned Nurse Practitioner Was Pursuing A Doctorate
(Courtesy of Dennis Graiani)
Kevin Graiani
Age: 56 Occupation: Family nurse practitioner Place of Work: Rockland Medical Group in Garnerville, New York Date of Death: March 30, 2020
Kevin Graiani always wanted to work in health care, according to Dennis Graiani, one of his three sons. But his mother told him he needed a pension, so he became a cop.
Kevin, who grew up in the Bronx, served five years on the New York City Housing Authority police force, then 15 on a suburban police force in Spring Valley, New York. He was a “brilliant officer,” said Lt. Jack Bosworth of Spring Valley.
Known for his dry sense of humor, Kevin often rattled off quotes from movies. He played bagpipes for the Rockland County Police Emerald Society, a law enforcement group. When he retired from police work, he began nursing school and became a nurse practitioner in 2018.
Kevin, who worked at a private practice, became sick on March 10 and was later diagnosed with COVID-19, Dennis said.
He loved learning and was set to finish classes this summer for his doctorate of nursing practice, said Lynne Weissman, his professor and program director at Dominican College.
He was an “extremely bright student” with a 3.7 GPA, Weissman said.
She has nominated him for a posthumous degree.
— Melissa Bailey | Published May 12, 2020
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School Nurse ‘Was A Mother To Many’
(Courtesy of the Howard family)
Marilyn Howard
Age: 53 Occupation: School nurse Place of Work: Spring Creek Community School in Brooklyn, New York Date of Death: April 4, 2020
Marilyn Howard was known for her generosity and never missing a party. Born in Guyana, she came to the U.S. as a teenager. She helped raise her five brothers, putting her ambitions on hold. “She was a mother to many,” her brother Haslyn said.
In her mid-30s, she turned to her own career goals. She steadily racked up four nursing degrees and recently had begun studying to become a nurse practitioner.
Howard, who lived in Queens, New York, was a school nurse in Brooklyn, where she regularly treated children with chronic illnesses associated with poverty. The week before the pandemic shuttered schools, a fellow nurse had a fever and cough.
Days later, Howard developed the same symptoms. After initially improving, she took a sudden turn for the worse April 4. As her brother drove her to the hospital, her heart stopped. She was declared dead at the hospital.
In tribute, hundreds turned out on Zoom to mark Nine-Night — a days-long wake tradition in the Caribbean — where loved ones shared photos, sang songs and recounted Howard’s effect on their lives.
The pandemic has since ripped through Howard’s extended family, infecting at least a dozen relatives. (One cousin was hospitalized but was released and is recovering.) The family has evolved into a sprawling triage team, monitoring one another’s temperatures, delivering food, charting emergency contacts and nearby hospitals.
Howard’s brothers hope to start a foundation in her name to help aspiring nurses in the U.S. and West Indies. “The best way to honor her spirit and her memory is to bring more nurses into this world,” said her brother Rawle. “We need more Marilyns around.”
— Noa Yachot, The Guardian | Published May 12, 2020
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Post-Retirement, She Tirelessly Rejoined Workforce
(Courtesy Bethany MacDonald)
Nancy MacDonald
Age: 74 Occupation: Receptionist Place of Work: Orchard View Manor, a nursing home and rehabilitation center in East Providence, Rhode Island Date of Death: April 25, 2020
Nancy MacDonald tried retiring, but couldn’t make it stick.
For 20 years, she was a middle school teaching assistant and cheerleading coach. At home, she loved painting rocks and watching “Blue Bloods” and “American Idol.” She was married with two adult children.
A lifelong Rhode Islander, Nancy was a people person, her daughter, Bethany MacDonald, said. “She always wanted to help others.”
So, in 2017, it was natural that she’d go back to work, this time at a nursing home.
As Orchard View’s COVID case count escalated, MacDonald worried. Still, she kept coming in — washing and reusing her N95 respirator and having her temperature taken daily.
Tim Brown, an Orchard View spokesperson, said the facility has “extensive infection control,” satisfying government guidelines. He would not say how often employees receive new N95s.
On April 13, MacDonald began coughing. By April 16, she was hospitalized. Her COVID test came back positive. She died 10 days later ― almost a week after her last conversation with her daughter.
“I said, ‘Mama, we love you,’” Bethany said. “The last words she said to me were, ‘I love you, too.’”
— Shefali Luthra, Kaiser Health News | Published May 12, 2020
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Despite Danger, Semi-Retired Nurse Kept Caring For ER Patients
(Courtesy of the Miles family)
Sheena Miles
Age: 60 Occupation: Registered nurse Place of Work: Scott Regional Hospital in Morton, Mississippi Date of Death: May 1, 2020
At age 60, Sheena Miles was semi-retired. She usually worked every other weekend, but as COVID-19 emerged in Mississippi, she worked four weekends in a row from mid-March to mid-April.
“I’ve got a duty,” she told her son, Tom Miles.
The economy where she lived is dominated by poultry plants, and the county has been a coronavirus hot spot. Sheena was diligent with protective gear, wearing her mask and doubling up on gloves, Tom said. She stayed home when she wasn’t working.
“Losing Sheena has been a tragic loss, as she had been a part of our hospital for 25 years,” said Heather Davis, a hospital administrator.
Sheena took ill on Easter Sunday. By Thursday, Tommy Miles, her husband of 43 years, drove her to the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson.
Two long weeks passed. The family was allowed to say goodbye in person, and on their way into her room, an ICU nurse told them that years ago Sheena had cared for his infant daughter. “‘Your mom saved her life,’” the nurse said.
“That was a little comfort in the storm,” Sheena’s son said.
— Michaela Gibson Morris | Published May 12, 2020
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A Nurse Who Was Living Her Dream Of Working In The U.S.
(Courtesy of Venus Donasco-Delfin)
Anjanette Miller
Age: 38 Occupation: Registered nurse Place of Work: Community First Medical Center and Kindred Chicago Lakeshore in Chicago, and Bridgeway Senior Living in Bensenville, Illinois Date of Death: April 14, 2020
As a child, Anjanette Miller dreamed of becoming a nurse in the U.S. She studied in her native Philippines and worked briefly in Saudi Arabia before fulfilling her wish in 2001.
Miller settled in Chicago and worked as a supervising nurse at three facilities. Her sister, Venus Donasco-Delfin, said Miller got along well with co-workers who shared her work ethic.
“At work, I think, she was strict, but beyond work, she’s a great friend,” Donasco-Delfin said. One of five siblings, she was the “pillar of the family” and supported relatives back home.
“I studied psychology for two years,” Donasco-Delfin said, “but she kept calling me [in the Philippines] and said, ‘No, Venus. … You have to pursue nursing. You will make a difference.’” Donasco-Delfin, now in Canada, became a nurse.
Miller started feeling sick in mid-March and was diagnosed with COVID-19 in early April. She self-isolated, chronicling her illness on YouTube and Facebook. She was hospitalized April 5 and died nine days later.
Miller had hoped to retire to the Philippines and pursue her other passion, filmmaking. Last year she traveled back home to shoot scenes for a project. “The movie she was making is about her life story,” Donasco-Delfin said. “But it’s not finished yet.”
— Danielle Renwick, The Guardian | Published May 12, 2020
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He Took The Time To Put Patients At Ease
(Courtesy of Holy Name Medical Center)
Jesus Villaluz
Age: 75 Occupation: Patient transport worker Place of Work: Holy Name Medical Center in Teaneck, New Jersey Date of Death: April 3, 2020
After Jesus Villaluz died from COVID-19 complications, colleagues lined the hallway at Holy Name Medical Center in Teaneck, New Jersey, to say goodbye. They’d never done that for anyone else.
“Jesus knew many and meant a lot to all of us, so this gesture felt like the right thing to do,” said hospital spokesperson Nicole Urena.
The hospital, and surrounding Bergen County, have been hit hard by the pandemic. By May 8, Holy Name had treated more than 6,000 COVID patients, 181 of whom died.
Villaluz worked at Holy Name for 27 years. In a Facebook post, the hospital memorialized Villaluz’s generosity: He once won a raffle and shared the winnings with colleagues, an anecdote New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy repeated at a news conference. Family members declined requests for an interview.
Co-worker Hossien Dahdouli said Villaluz’s compassion for patients was exemplary. He never rushed anyone, took the time to chat with patients and was always concerned for their privacy and safety, Dahdouli said.
Years ago, after Dahdouli had a sad day caring for deteriorating ICU patients, he asked Villaluz why he always appeared so happy.
“He said, ‘My worst day at work is better than someone’s best day as a patient.’”
— Anna Almendrala, Kaiser Health News | Published May 12, 2020
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Family Vacations And Reggae Gave Rhythm To His Life
(Courtesy of Nina Batayola)
Don Ryan Batayola
Age: 40 Occupation: Occupational therapist Place of Work: South Mountain Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center in Vauxhall, New Jersey Date of Death: April 4, 2020
April 4 was the day Don and Nina Batayola had planned to leave for London on a 10-day European vacation. Instead, that was the day Don died of COVID-19.
The Springfield, New Jersey, couple loved to travel ― on their own or with their children, Zoie, 10, and Zeth, 8. Disney World. Road trips to Canada. Every year for a week they would savor the beach on North Carolina’s Outer Banks.
Don’s love of reggae music prompted a trip to Jamaica to visit Bob Marley’s birthplace.
The Batayolas, both occupational therapists, moved to New Jersey from the Philippines 13 years ago to pursue their careers.
“He loved to help,” Nina said. “He had such the ability to make everybody smile or laugh.”
Don worked with at least one patient and a handful of colleagues who subsequently tested positive for COVID-19, and in late March, he developed symptoms. Nina came home from work for lunch on March 31 to find him struggling to breathe. She dialed 911.
He was hospitalized, then she also developed COVID symptoms. Self-isolating at home, Nina talked with Don once a day. She thought he seemed stronger but, on the fourth day, his heart suddenly stopped.
— Michelle Andrews | Published May 8, 2020
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Even On ‘The Saddest Day … She Could Make You Laugh’
(Courtesy of Kim Bruner)
Brittany Bruner-Ringo
Age: 32 Occupation: Nurse Place of Work: Silverado Beverly Place in Los Angeles Date of Death: April 20, 2020
When it was Brittany Bruner-Ringo’s turn to pick the family vacation, it was always New Orleans. A city so full of life.
And that is how family described the 32-year-old who left the Oklahoma plains for the excitement of Southern California.
“She always made the best of things,” her mother, Kim Bruner, said. “It could be the saddest day, and she could make you laugh.”
Bruner-Ringo worked at a dementia care center. On March 19, she admitted a patient flown in from New York. She suspected he might have COVID-19, and she was nervous. For fear of frightening the patients, she hadn’t been allowed to wear a mask or gloves, she told her mom by phone that night. (A spokesperson from her employer said, “We have no issues in our environment using appropriate masking and gloves and have followed CDC guidelines throughout this pandemic. We have always had adequate PPE to protect our residents and associates.”)
The following day, the patient grew worse. Bruner-Ringo checked into a hotel to isolate from her roommate. She later tested positive for COVID-19, but when she developed symptoms did not complain ― even to her mom: “She would say, ‘I’m fine. I’m going to beat this. Don’t worry about me.’”
Bruner, a veteran nurse herself, called the hotel front desk for help getting an ambulance to her daughter. She had just hung up with her daughter, who insisted she was fine, while struggling to breathe.
— Samantha Young, Kaiser Health News | Published May 8, 2020
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He And His Wife Shared A Lust For Travel ― And A COVID Diagnosis
(Courtesy of LaKita Bush)
Joshua Bush
Age: 30 Occupation: Nurse and nursing student Place of Work: Benton House of Aiken in Aiken, South Carolina Date of Death: April 17, 2020
Joshua Bush never let his wife, LaKita, forget that she was five hours late for their first date.
“He never held back telling the truth,” LaKita said, with a doleful laugh.
They met online in 2011, each attracted to the other’s lust for travel. For Joshua’s 30th birthday, they took a cruise to Bermuda. He yearned to go farther afield to Tokyo to revel over anime.
Joshua began his nursing career after high school, eventually ending up at Benton House of Aiken, an assisted living facility. Joshua and LaKita, who works in human resources for a hospital, thought it was allergy-related when they both fell ill in late March. Benton House had no confirmed COVID cases at the time, LaKita said. Even still, the staff was taking precautions.
A doctor prescribed Joshua flu medication, but his symptoms — fever and aches but no cough — worsened, and he was admitted to a hospital in Augusta, Georgia, on April 4.
“That was the last time I saw him alive,” LaKita said.
Over the next few days, both tested positive for the coronavirus. Joshua was sedated in the hospital for two weeks and died on April 17. LaKita recovered at home.
Joshua was earning a bachelor’s degree in nursing at the University of South Carolina-Aiken. May would have marked the couple’s fifth anniversary.
— Sarah Varney, Kaiser Health News | Published May 8, 2020
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Her Sudden Death Blindsided Husband And Autistic Son
(Courtesy of Vincent Carmello)
Karen Carmello
Age: 57 Occupation: Licensed practical nurse Place of Work: Maryhaven Center of Hope in Port Jefferson Station, New York Date of Death: April 16, 2020
Karen Carmello had an intimate understanding of working with intellectually disabled patients.
Her 26-year-old son, Steven, has autism. According to her husband, Vincent, the two spoke by phone every day. Steven would recall exactly what he did, and Karen listened intently.
“She could do no wrong in his eyes, ever,” Vincent said. “It’s a very special bond, but it’s one that she earned.”
Sharing the news of her death was shattering: “It was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do — letting him know.”
When Karen took ill, she discovered that a patient in her ward had tested positive for COVID-19. She was hospitalized March 23. Eight days later, she sent Vincent her last text, at 2:17 a.m., before going to the ICU.
On April 16, hospital staff called and asked whether Vincent would be comfortable signing a do-not-resuscitate order. He hadn’t been able to see his wife, so he didn’t completely grasp how grave her condition was.
“I thought, ‘OK, this must be a formality,'” he said. “I authorized it. And I got a call within two hours that she passed. I was stunned.”
— Shoshana Dubnow, Kaiser Health News | Published May 8, 2020
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His Facebook Posts Left Clues Of A Tragic Timeline
(Courtesy of Felicia Dodson-Hill)
Maurice Dotson
Age: 51 Occupation: Certified nursing assistant Place of Work: West Oaks Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Austin, Texas Date of Death: April 17, 2020
Maurice Dotson’s sister knew something was wrong when her older brother didn’t post his daily Facebook update.
“We knew he was good as long as he posted every morning,” Felicia Dodson-Hill, of Jacksonville, Arkansas, said.
Dotson, 51 ― a certified nursing assistant for 25 years at the West Oaks Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Austin — had begun caring for COVID-19 patients.
He sounded positive on Facebook, posting on March 30: “We are going through scary, difficult times, but better days are coming.”
Days later, family in Arkansas couldn’t reach him.
“We had been trying to get in contact with him since April 1st,” his sister said. “On April 3rd, he posted that he had to go to the hospital ― that he was not feeling good.”
Dodson-Hill said the hospital sent him home. Her mother finally reached him on April 6 or 7.
“He told my mom he didn’t have the energy to barely talk,” Dodson-Hill said.
Dawunna Wilson, a cousin from Hazen, Arkansas, said Maurice called an ambulance on April 8. Results from his coronavirus test done at the hospital came back positive the next day. “From there, it was pretty much downhill,” Wilson said.
— Sharon Jayson | Published May 5, 2020
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Community Salutes Nurse Who Loved Baseball
(Courtesy of Leigh Ann Lewis)
Barbara Finch
Age: 63 Occupation: Licensed practical nurse Place of Work: Southern Virginia Regional Medical Center in Emporia, Virginia Date of Death: March 29, 2020
When Barbara Finch got excited, she’d scrunch her hands into fists and wave them around like a kid at Christmas. She did it when the Atlanta Braves scored, or while watching her grandkids play baseball, her No. 1 passion outside work.
Finch spent her 37-year nursing career in the emergency department of the hospital in Emporia, Virginia (population of about 5,000), where one of her four children, Leigh Ann Lewis, worked as an EMT.
Lewis knew her mother was well liked: Patients she transported from the hospital would rave that Finch had been sweet and compassionate.
Finch fell ill on March 17 and died in an ICU 12 days later. As a hearse carried her casket to the graveyard, Lewis said, people lined the way at driveway mailboxes, churches and stores, holding signs that read, “We love you,” “Praying for you,” “Hugs.” At her hospital, employees released balloons to the sky.
“It seemed like, in our area, she knew everybody — either she worked with them, or they were a patient of hers at some point,” Lewis said. “It was a very, very large outpour of love and comfort and solidarity.”
— Melissa Bailey | Published May 8, 2020
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‘He Loved To Work,’ With No Plans To Retire
(Courtesy Giancarlo Pattugalan)
Tomas Pattugalan
Age: 70 Occupation: Internal medicine physician Place of Work: Private practice in Jamaica, Queens, New York Date of Death: March 29, 2020
Tomas Pattugalan’s kids had been encouraging him to retire. Even after 45 years of medicine, Pattugalan wasn’t ready to slow down.
“He loved his patients. He loved to work. He loved to help others,” said Giancarlo, his son. “He had an enormous capacity to give of himself.”
A father of three, Pattugalan grew up in the Philippines, immigrating to the U.S. in the 1970s. He was a devout Catholic — attending Mass weekly ― and “karaoke master,” Giancarlo said.
In early March, Pattugalan began testing patients for COVID-19. His medical history, including a family history of strokes and high blood pressure, heightened his own risk. So after tests of two patients returned positive, he got tested himself. On March 24, he learned he had the coronavirus.
“He made a joke and said Prince Charles had tested [positive] too, and he was sharing royalty,” Giancarlo said. “He was making light of it, not trying to get any of us worried.”
Pattugalan had a cough. Then came wheezing. His oxygen levels dropped. He tried hydroxychloroquine, an experimental treatment touted by President Donald Trump that has yielded mixed results. Nothing helped.
On March 29, Pattugalan agreed to seek hospital care. He died that day.
— Shefali Luthra, Kaiser Health News | Published May 8, 2020
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Says Widow Battling Cancer: ‘He Was My Backbone’
(Courtesy of Melissa Castro Santos)
Darrin Santos
Age: 50 Occupation: Transportation supervisor Place of Work: NewYork-Presbyterian Westchester Behavioral Health Center in White Plains, New York Date of Death: April 4, 2020
Melissa Castro Santos had just started a new treatment for multiple myeloma when her husband, Darrin, got sick.
For nearly two weeks, he isolated in their bedroom, but after he began gasping for air, he went to the hospital. He died of COVID-19 days later.
“It’s just unbelievable,” Castro Santos said.
As a transportation supervisor, Santos delivered health care workers and equipment between hospitals in the New York metropolitan area. He loved his job, Castro Santos said, and was known to drive doctors wherever and whenever they were needed, through heavy traffic and snowstorms.
Castro Santos, who has been battling cancer since 2012, said her husband doted on their three teenagers, all avid athletes. He arranged his work schedule to attend as many of their games as possible. When he couldn’t make it, she would call him on FaceTime so he could catch glimpses of the action.
Unable to hold a funeral, they arranged for burial five days after Santos died. Friends lined the streets in cars in a show of support as the family drove to and from the cemetery.
Now Castro Santos is confronting cancer without her husband. “He was my backbone. He was the one who took me to chemotherapy and appointments.”
— Anna Jean Kaiser, The Guardian | Published May 8, 2020
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An Animal Lover Who Loved Aerospace, She Died Alone At Home
(Courtesy of Aubree Farmer)
Lisa Ewald
Age: 53 Occupation: Registered nurse Place of Work: Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit Date of Death: April 1, 2020
Lisa Ewald was a nurse to many living things, human and otherwise.
When her neighbor Alexis Fernandez’s border collie had a stomach blockage, Ewald hooked the dog up to an IV four times a day. “She was this dedicated nurse who nursed my dog back to health,” Fernandez said.
Ewald also loved gardening, aerospace and comic book conventions.
Ewald told Fernandez that a patient she had treated later tested positive for COVID-19, and that she was not wearing a mask at the time. Two days later, after seeing the patient, she got sick. After delays in accessing a test, she learned on March 30 that she was infected with the coronavirus.
A hospital spokesperson acknowledged that staff who treat coronavirus patients have a higher risk of exposure, but said there was “no way to confirm” how a staff member contracted the virus.
On March 31, Ewald didn’t answer when Fernandez texted her. The next day, Fernandez and a hospital nurse went to Ewald’s home to check on her and found her unresponsive on the couch.
“I said, ‘Aren’t you going to go take her pulse or anything?’” Fernandez said. “The nurse just said, ‘She’s gone.’”
— Melissa Bailey | Published May 5, 2020
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An Ardent EMT Who Seemed To Have Nine Lives
(Courtesy of Ben Geiger)
Scott Geiger
Age: 47 Occupation: Emergency medical technician Place of Work: Atlantic Health System in Mountainside and Warren, New Jersey Date of Death: April 13, 2020
Scott Geiger wasn’t always enthusiastic about school, but at age 16 he brought home a tome the size of two phone books. It was a manual for emergency medical technicians, and he devoured it, said his younger brother, Ben Geiger.
Scott was certified as an EMT at 17. He never married or had kids, but did not seem to miss those things.
“He was so focused on being an EMT and helping people in their most vulnerable and desperate moments,” Ben said. “That’s really what made him feel good.”
Scott loved playing pool each week with friends. He was a loyal New York Jets football fan, content to joke about their follies and watch them lose. He was quiet. And he seemed to have nine lives, his brother said, surviving hospitalizations for epilepsy as a kid and blood cancer around age 40.
When the coronavirus began to tear a path through northern New Jersey, he faced his EMT work with resolve. He downplayed his symptoms when he first fell ill in late March, but wound up spending 17 days on a ventilator before he died. The family has had to mourn separately, with the brothers’ father, who lived with Scott, in quarantine, and their mother confined to her room in a nursing home that has COVID-19 cases.
— Christina Jewett, Kaiser Health News | Published May 5, 2020
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Caring Nurse ‘Always Put Herself Last’
(Courtesy of Lisa Lococo)
Theresa Lococo
Age: 68 Occupation: Pediatric nurse Place of Work: Kings County Hospital in Brooklyn, New York Date of Death: March 27, 2020
Theresa Lococo spent most of her life at the hospital, working as a pediatric nurse for almost 48 years.
“There wasn’t a day that goes by she wouldn’t come home and tell me about her patients,” said her daughter, Lisa Lococo. “She had to be forced to take her vacation days.”
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio publicly saluted her lifelong service to New Yorkers, saying, “She gave her life helping others.”
Theresa had dogs — “sometimes too many,” Lisa said — and lived with her son, Anthony, in the home she owned for decades. She loved cooking and watching cooking shows, reading and following soap operas.
Theresa wasn’t tested for COVID-19. But Kings County Hospital, in Brooklyn, was hit hard by the coronavirus.
Days before dying, she described nausea. Friends recalled a cough. Her supervisor encouraged her to stay home, her daughter said.
Lisa called her mother on March 27, just as Anthony was dialing 911 for help.
“She always put others first,” Lisa said. “She always put herself last.”
— Shefali Luthra, Kaiser Health News | Published May 5, 2020
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He Was Full Of Life And Planning For The Future
(Courtesy of the Luna family)
Felicisimo “Tom” Luna
Age: 62 Occupation: Emergency room nurse Place of Work: Trinitas Regional Medical Center in Elizabeth, New Jersey Date of Death: April 9, 2020
Tom Luna was a joker, a lively and outgoing man who thrived on the fast-paced and varied action of the emergency room. He also adored his three daughters, something clear to all who knew him.
“Tom was a fantastic emergency nurse. He was well liked and loved by his peers,” Gerard Muench, administrative director of the Trinitas emergency department, said in a statement. “His greatest love was for his wife and daughters, who he was very proud of.”
His oldest daughter, Gabrielle, 25, followed his path to become an ER nurse. When Tom fell ill with the coronavirus, he was admitted to the hospital where she works. At the end of her 12-hour night shifts, she made sure he had breakfast and helped him change his clothes. She propped a family photo next to his bed.
Tom’s wife, Kit, also a nurse, said that when some of his symptoms appeared to let up, they talked about him recovering at home. He was a planner, she said, and was already talking about their next family vacation, maybe to Spain.
— Christina Jewett | Published May 5, 2020
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Air Force Veteran Went ‘Above And Beyond For Patients’
Michael Marceaux and his wife, Dunia, when he graduated from nursing school in 2018 (Courtesy of Drake Marceaux)
Michael Marceaux
Age: 49 Occupation: Registered nurse Place of Work: Christus Highland Medical Center and Brentwood Hospital in Shreveport, Louisiana Date of Death: April 16, 2020
After Michael Marceaux retired from the Air Force, he went back to school. In 2018 he launched a new career as an emergency room nurse.
“Everyone who worked with him said he was so happy,” said Drake Marceaux, one of his four sons. “He was willing to go above and beyond for patients.”
As the coronavirus spread throughout Louisiana, Michael developed a cough and fever. Soon afterward, he tested positive for COVID-19.
“He didn’t seem too worried,” Drake said. “He just wanted to make sure not to give it to other people.”
A spokesperson with Christus Health said Michael would be missed for “how he always had a positive attitude, even after a hard shift. His laughter brought joy to others.” The spokesperson declined to answer questions about workplace safety conditions.
Drake said he wanted his father to be remembered for how much he was loved.
His funeral was livestreamed on Facebook. “At one point, there were 2,000 viewers watching his service,” Drake said. “As much as he didn’t want attention, it gravitated toward him.”
— Victoria Knight, Kaiser Health News | Published May 5, 2020
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She Loved To Give Gifts And Never Forgot Her Hometown
(Courtesy of Courtesy of Donald Jay Marcos)
Celia Lardizabal Marcos
Age: 61 Occupation: Telemetry charge nurse Place of Work: CHA Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center in Los Angeles Date of Death: April 17, 2020
Whenever she traveled to her hometown of Tagudin in the Philippines, Celia Lardizabal Marcos showered family with gifts and delighted in planning weekend outings for everyone, said her eldest son, Donald.
And when she returned home to California, she brought presents for her sons. “She always thought of how her family could be happy,” he said.
Trained as a nurse in her home country, Marcos immigrated to the United States in 2001 and settled in Los Angeles. Three years later, she became a telemetry charge nurse, a specialist who tracks patients’ vital signs using high-tech equipment.
On April 3, she was one of three nurses who responded after a suspected COVID patient went into cardiac arrest. Wearing a surgical mask, she intubated the patient. Three days later, she had a headache, body aches and difficulty breathing.
Her symptoms worsened, and she was admitted April 15 to the hospital where she had worked for 16 years. That was the last time Donald spoke to his mother. Two days later, she went into cardiac arrest and died that night.
Her sons plan to honor her wishes to be cremated and buried in Tagudin, alongside her parents.
— Christina M. Oriel, Asian Journal | Published May 5, 2020
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‘Hero Among Heroes,’ Doctor Cared For Generations Of Patients
Francis Molinari (right) with his siblings (from left) Janice, Albert and Lisa (Courtesy of Lisa Molinari)
Francis Molinari
Age: 70 Occupation: Physician Place of Work: Private practice in Belleville, New Jersey; privileges at Clara Maass Medical Center Date of Death: April 9, 2020
In late March, Dr. Francis “Frankie” Molinari told his sister Lisa he was “down for the count,” with chills, fever and trouble breathing.
“Frankie, you know what you have,” she recalled telling him.
“Yes.”
Two days later, he collapsed at home and was rushed to Clara Maass Medical Center. Colleagues stayed by his side as he succumbed to COVID-19.
“We take solace in the fact that he was cared for by colleagues and friends who deeply loved and respected him,” his sister Janice wrote in a blog. “He died a hero among heroes.”
Molinari, a New Jersey native who was married with an adult daughter, was the oldest of four siblings. His sisters describe him as a positive guy who loved music, fishing and teasing people with tall tales: He went to medical school in Bologna, Italy, and he liked to say he had played pinochle with the pope.
Molinari practiced medicine for over four decades, caring for generations of patients in the same family. His family suspects he contracted the coronavirus at his private practice.
“A friend had once described us as four different legs of the same table,” Janice wrote. “Now I’m stuck on the fact that we are only a three-legged table. Less beautiful, less sturdy. Broken.”
— Laura Ungar, Kaiser Health News | Published May 5, 2020
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5-Foot-Tall ‘Fireball’ Was A Prankster To Her Sons
(Courtesy Josh Banago)
Celia Yap-Banago
Age: 69 Occupation: Registered nurse Place of Work: Research Medical Center in Kansas City, Missouri Date of Death: April 21, 2020
Celia Yap-Banago was a 5-foot-tall “fireball,” said one co-worker. She had moved to the U.S. from the Philippines in 1970 and worked for nearly 40 years for the HCA Midwest Health system. Her family said she was planning for retirement.
Her son Josh said she showed her love through practical jokes: “You knew she loved you if she was yelling at you or if she was pranking you.”
“She was very outspoken,” said Charlene Carter, a fellow nurse. “But I later learned that’s a really good quality to have, as a nurse, so you can advocate for your patients and advocate for yourself.”
In March, Yap-Banago treated a patient who later tested positive for COVID-19. Carter said Yap-Banago was not given personal protective equipment because she was not working in an area designed for COVID patients. She spent her final days in isolation to protect others.
A spokesperson for HCA Midwest Health said that medical staff received adequate personal protective equipment in line with CDC guidelines.
Josh said she spoke with reverence of her patients and their families. “She was always focused on the family as a whole, and that the family was taken care of, not just the patient in the bed,” he said.
— Alex Smith, KCUR | Published May 5, 2020
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In Ministry And Rescue Missions, ‘He Put His All Into It’
(Courtesy of the Birmingham Family)
Billy Birmingham Sr.
Age: 69 Occupation: Emergency medical technician Place of Work: Kansas City Missouri Fire Department Date of Death: April 13, 2020
Bill Birmingham Jr. fondly remembers the year his father took on a new career. The whole family studied, even acting out scenes to ensure Billy Birmingham Sr., a minister, was ready for his emergency medical technician exam.
“He put his all into it,” the son recalled.
Billy Birmingham passed the test. And from the late 1990s on, he served as an EMT and a minister.
His family rallied again for his doctorate in pastoral theology. During nearly four decades as a minister, he founded two churches.
“He had a heart for other people,” his son said. “Whatever he could do for other people, he would do it.”
As an EMT with the Kansas City Fire Missouri Department, he was exposed to the novel coronavirus. The cough came in March.
“‘I’m just tired.’ That’s what he kept saying,” his son said. His dad went to the hospital twice. The first time he told the staff about his symptoms and underlying health conditions, then they sent him home.
The second time he arrived in an ambulance. Just over two weeks later, his final hours arrived.
Hospital staff set up a video chat so his family could see him one last time.
— Cara Anthony, Kaiser Health News | Published May 1, 2020
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Jovial Man Trained Scores Of Doctors In Obstetrics, Gynecology And Kindness
(Courtesy of Ashley Ulker)
Luis Caldera-Nieves
Age: 63 Occupation: OB-GYN doctor Place of Work: University of Miami and Jackson health systems in Miami Date of Death: April 8, 2020
“Somos felices.” That was Dr. Luis Caldera-Nieves’ signature signoff after a cesarean section or patient visit or at the end of a difficult shift. “We’re happy,” he meant, and often, when he was around, it was true.
Caldera-Nieves, a popular OB-GYN, trained scores of doctors and helped bring thousands of babies into the world in his 25 years at the University of Miami and Jackson health systems.
Born in Bayamón, Puerto Rico, he worked as an Air Force doctor before joining UM, said longtime co-worker Dr. Jaime Santiago. Caldera-Nieves was so devoted to his patients that he often gave them his private phone number — and his wife’s, Santiago said.
Because he was so jovial, he earned the nickname “the Puerto Rican Santa Claus,” Santiago said.
“He was truly loved and admired by everyone who worked with him, and will be remembered for his humor and never-ending positive energy,” said Dr. Jean-Marie Stephan, who trained under Caldera-Nieves.
In a statement, UM and Jackson confirmed Caldera-Nieves died from complications of COVID-19 and said they “grieve the loss of our esteemed and beloved colleague.” He is survived by his wife and six adult children.
— Melissa Bailey | Published May 1, 2020
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A Cluster Of Illness Robs Community Of Another Fearless EMT
(Courtesy of Vito Cicchetti)
Kevin Leiva
Age: 24 Occupation: Emergency medical technician Place of Work: Saint Clare’s Health in Passaic, New Jersey Date of Death: April 7, 2020
When Kevin Leiva died of COVID-19 in early April, it was a second crushing loss to his close-knit team of EMT workers. Their colleague, Israel Tolentino Jr., had died one week before.
“People were scared that everyone was going to die from it,” said Vito Cicchetti, a director at Saint Clare’s Health, where the men worked. “After Izzy died, we all started getting scared for Kevin.”
Leiva, according to an obituary, “was always worried about his crew.” He was “very proud” of his work and was recalled to have said “becoming an EMT was an act of God.”
He met his wife, Marina, online while they were in high school. She moved a thousand miles to build a life with him. He loved spending time at their home, playing guitar and tending to his tegu lizards, AJ and Blue.
As COVID-19 ramped up, the station’s three ambulances each handled up to 15 dispatches a shift, roughly double the usual number. In a busy 12-hour shift, EMTs often responded to calls continuously, stopping only to decontaminate themselves and the truck.
Leiva “always had a joke” that helped to defuse stressful situations and bring his co-workers together, Cicchetti said.
— Michelle Andrews | Published May 1, 2020
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Firefighting And ‘Helping People’ Were In His Blood
(Courtesy of the Terre Haute Fire Department)
John Schoffstall
Age: 41 Occupation: Paramedic and firefighter Place of Work: Terre Haute Fire Department in Terre Haute, Indiana Date of Death: April 12, 2020
John Schoffstall grew up around firehouses, and it was at his own firehouse in Terre Haute, Indiana, that he was exposed to the coronavirus.
A paramedic and firefighter with the Terre Haute Fire Department for almost 12 years, Schoffstall died April 12 at age 41. Deputy Chief Glen Hall said investigations by the county health department and his own department “determined John contracted the virus from another firefighter in the firehouse.” Four other firefighters “had symptoms but none progressed.”
“We respond every day to potential COVID patients,” Hall said.
Jennifer Schoffstall, his wife of 18 years, said her husband went to the hospital March 28.
“His breathing was so bad in the ER, they just decided to keep him,” she said. “He regressed from there.”
Hall said Schoffstall’s “biggest hobby was his family,” with a son, 17, and a daughter, 13.
Schoffstall’s father had been a volunteer firefighter, Jennifer said, and her husband signed up for the New Goshen Volunteer Fire Department when he turned 18.
“He loved the fire service and everything about it,” she said. “He loved helping people.”
— Sharon Jayson | Published May 1, 2020
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Boston Nurse, A Former Bus Driver, Was A Champion For Education
(Courtesy of Teadris Pope)
Rose Taldon
Age: 63 Occupation: Nurse Place of Work: New England Baptist Hospital in Boston Date of Death: April 12, 2020
Rose Taldon was just 5 feet tall. But when she bellowed out the window, her kids ran right home.
“She didn’t take any crap,” said her daughter, Teadris Pope.
Taldon raised three children with her husband on the street where she grew up in Dorchester, Boston. She was respected as a strong black woman, earning a nursing degree while working in public transit for 23 years. Described as stern, she still was quick to tickle her eight grandkids.
Taldon was generous: Even as she lay in a hospital in April, exhausted from the coronavirus, she arranged to pay bills for an out-of-work friend, her daughter said.
It’s unclear whether Taldon caught the virus at her hospital, designated for non-COVID patients. Hospital officials said three patients and 22 staff have tested positive.
Once her mother was hospitalized, Pope couldn’t visit. On Easter morning, a doctor called at 2 a.m., offering to put Taldon on a video call.
“I just talked until I had no words,” Pope said. “I was just telling her, ‘We’re so proud of you. You worked so hard raising us. … You’ve gone through a hell of a fight.'”
An hour later, her mother was gone.
— Melissa Bailey | Published May 1, 2020
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Unflappable First Responder With An Ever-Ready Smile
(Courtesy of Vito Cicchetti)
Israel Tolentino Jr.
Age: 33 Occupation: Emergency medical technician and firefighter Place of Work: Saint Clare’s Health and the Passaic Fire Department, both in Passaic, New Jersey Date of Death: March 31, 2020
When Israel Tolentino Jr. arrived for his EMT shift one morning in March, he seemed fine. Then he got a headache. Then a fever came on, and he was sent home, said Vito Cicchetti, a director at Saint Clare’s Health.
Izzy, as he was called, was an EMT who fulfilled his dream to become a firefighter. In 2018, the former Marine took a job with the Passaic Fire Department but kept up shifts at Saint Clare’s.
He was husband to Maria Vazquez, whom he’d met at church, according to nj.com. They had two young children.
The work pace could be brutal during the pandemic. In a 12-hour shift, Tolentino and his partner were dispatched to one emergency after another, each typically lasting under an hour but requiring nearly that long to decontaminate their gear and truck.
Izzy died in hospital care. The coronavirus tore through his EMT team. Most eventually recovered. But his friend and co-worker Kevin Leiva also died.
Izzy’s unflappable, cheerful presence is missed, Cicchetti said: “No matter how mad you were, he’d come up with a smile and you’d be chuckling to yourself.”
Cicchetti hasn’t replaced either man: “I don’t know if I’m ready for that yet.”
— Michelle Andrews | Published May 1, 2020
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Their Decade-Long Dream Marriage Ends In Nightmare
(Courtesy of the Detroit Fire Department)
Capt. Franklin Williams
Age: 57 Occupation: Firefighter and medical first responder Place of Work: Detroit Fire Department in Detroit Date of Death: April 8, 2020
Capt. Franklin Williams stood at the altar on his wedding day and pretended to hunt for the ring. He patted his chest, then his pants legs and looked up at his soon-to-be wife with a million-dollar smile.
He was always clowning and “so silly,” said Shanita Williams, his wife, recalling how he wanted to make her laugh. Williams, 57, died from complications of the novel coronavirus on April 8 — one month before the couple’s 10-year wedding anniversary.
Williams had been on an emergency call with a verified COVID patient before falling ill, according to Detroit Fire Department Chief Robert Distelrath. He died in the line of duty.
Crews are equipped with personal protective equipment including a gown, N95 mask and gloves. But it’s easy for a mask to slip ― “when you’re giving [chest] compressions, your mask isn’t staying in place all the time,” said Thomas Gehart, president of the Detroit Fire Fighters Association.
When Williams fell sick on March 24, he moved to the guest bedroom and never returned to work.
“I’m thankful and thank God for having him in my life,” Shanita said, adding that she keeps hoping this is a nightmare and she’ll soon wake up.
— Sarah Jane Tribble, Kaiser Health News | Published May 1, 2020
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A 9/11 First Responder, He Answered The Call During The Pandemic
(Courtesy of the Valley Stream Fire Department)
Mike Field
Age: 59 Occupation: Volunteer emergency medical technician Place of Work: Village of Valley Stream on New York’s Long Island Date of Death: April 8, 2020
Mike Field had a strong sense of civic duty. An emergency medical technician, he was a first responder with the New York Fire Department (FDNY) on 9/11. He was also a member of his community’s all-volunteer fire department since 1987.
After he retired from FDNY in 2002, he took a job making and posting street signs with his local public works department. He continued to volunteer with Valley Stream’s fire department and mentoring the junior fire department. When he wasn’t responding to emergencies or training future emergency technicians, he led a Boy Scout troop and volunteered for animal causes.
“Here’s somebody who cares about the community and cares about its people,” said Valley Stream’s mayor, Ed Fare, who had known Mike since the seventh grade.
Stacey Field, Mike’s wife, said he found his calling early, after his own father experienced a heart attack. “When the fire department EMTs came and helped his dad, he decided that’s what he wanted to do,” she said.
Their three sons ― Steven, 26; Richie, 22; and Jason, 19 — have followed in their father’s footsteps. Steven and Richie are EMTs in New York; Jason plans on training to become one as well. All three volunteer at the same fire station their father did.
In late March, Mike and fellow volunteer responders were called to an emergency involving a patient showing symptoms of COVID-19. Field died on April 8.
— Sharon Jayson | Published April 29, 2020
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Nurse Fought For His Life In Same ICU Where He Cared For Patients
(Courtesy of Romielyn Guillermo)
Ali Dennis Guillermo
Age: 44 Occupation: Nurse Place of Work: Long Island Community Hospital in East Patchogue, New York Date of Death: April 7, 2020
In 2004, Ali Dennis Guillermo, his wife, Romielyn, and their daughter came to New York from the Philippines to find a better life.
Everything fell into place. The former nursing instructor landed a job at Long Island Community Hospital, often working in intensive care or the emergency room. He enjoyed the intensity of ER work, his wife said. As years passed, the couple had two sons and settled into a close-knit Filipino community.
As COVID-19 emerged, Guillermo was posted to the step-down floor, working with patients transitioning out of intensive care.
A lot of the nurses on his floor had gotten sick with the virus, his wife said, and “everybody was scared.”
And then, Guillermo felt achy, with a fever that soared to 102. He went to the hospital and X-rays were taken, but he was sent home. Within days, his blood oxygen level plummeted.
“My nails are turning blue,” he told his wife. “You should take me to the ER.”
He was admitted that night in late March, and they never spoke again.
In the ICU unit where he’d often worked, Guillermo was intubated and treated. Nearly two weeks later, he died.
— Michelle Andrews | Published April 29, 2020
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An Eager Student, He Aimed To Become A Physician Assistant
(Courtesy of Catrisha House-Phelps)
James House
Age: 40 Occupation: Registered nurse Place of Work: Omni Continuing Care nursing home in Detroit Date of Death: March 31, 2020
James House had a voracious appetite for learning about and a fascination with the human body.
His sister, Catrisha House-Phelps, traces it back to childhood visits to a dialysis center where their father received treatments. “That was what tugged at his heart,” she said. “He just always wanted to know ‘why.’”
House-Phelps said her brother adored his five children, treasured his anatomy and physiology books and got a kick out of the residents he cared for at Omni Continuing Care. “He thought they were family; he just said they were funny people,” she said. He had hoped to go back to school to become a physician assistant.
House came down with what he thought was the flu in mid-March. His sister said he tried to get tested for COVID-19 but was turned away because he was not showing textbook symptoms and had no underlying health issues. On March 31, after resting at home for over a week, House returned to work. Hours later, he collapsed and was rushed to the hospital.
He texted his sister with updates on his condition. “I’m about to be intubated now,” he wrote. It was the last message he sent her.
— Danielle Renwick, The Guardian | Published April 29, 2020
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She Loved A Parade And Catering To Patients
Pamela Hughes and her daughter, Brie (Courtesy of Angie McAllister)
Pamela Hughes
Age: 50 Occupation: Nursing home medication aide Place of Work: Signature HealthCARE at Summit Manor in Columbia, Kentucky Date of Death: April 13, 2020
Pamela Hughes lived her entire life in rural Columbia, Kentucky, but longed for wide, sandy beaches. For vacation, Hughes and her daughter, Brie, 26, eagerly drove 14 hours to Daytona Beach, Florida, or Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
After high school, Hughes worked at Summit Manor, a nursing home in Columbia, for 32 years. She knew which residents preferred chocolate milk or applesauce with their medication; she remembered their favorite outfits and colors. Hughes’ shy demeanor vanished each December when she and co-worker Angie McAllister built a float for the town’s Christmas parade competition.
“We built 10 floats over 10 years,” McAllister said. “We got second place every year.”
Even after several residents tested positive for the coronavirus, Hughes dismissed her worsening cough as allergies or bronchitis. The nursing home was short on help and she wanted to serve her patients, Brie said.
Days later, the public health department suggested her mother get tested. She tested positive, and her health worsened — food tasted bitter, her fever soared, her hearing dulled. On April 10, Hughes was taken by ambulance to a hospital, then by helicopter to Jewish Hospital in Louisville. Barred from visiting, Brie said goodbye over FaceTime.
— Sarah Varney, Kaiser Health News | Published April 29, 2020
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The Family Matriarch And ‘We’re Failing Miserably Without Her’
(Courtesy of Ginu John)
Aleyamma John
Age: 65 Occupation: Registered nurse Place of Work: Queens Hospital Center in New York City Date of Death: April 5, 2020
Aleyamma John’s family wanted her to retire. Her husband, Johnny, an MTA transit worker, had stopped working a few years earlier. He and their son Ginu urged her to follow suit. “We told her, ‘I’m sure Dad wants to see the world with you — you need to give him that opportunity,’” Ginu said.
She demurred. “I think she found fulfillment in being able to serve,” Ginu said. “She was able to hold people’s hands, you know, even when they were deteriorating and be there for them.” She began her career as a nurse in India 45 years ago; she and her husband immigrated to the United Arab Emirates, where their two sons were born, and moved to New York in 2002.
Ginu said his mother, a devout Christian, found joy in tending to her vegetable garden and doting on her two grandchildren. She cooked dishes from her native India and filled the Long Island home she shared with Johnny, Ginu and Ginu’s family with flowers.
In March, as Queens Hospital Center began to swell with COVID-19 patients, John sent her family a photo of herself and colleagues wearing surgical hats and masks but not enough personal protective equipment. Days later, she developed a fever and tested positive for the virus. Johnny, Ginu and Ginu’s wife, Elsa, a nurse practitioner, also became ill.
When John’s breathing became labored, her family made the difficult decision to call 911. It would be the last time they saw her. “We’re 17 days in, and I feel like we’re failing miserably without her,” Ginu said.
— Danielle Renwick, The Guardian | Published April 29, 2020
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‘A Kind Man’ Looking Forward To Retirement
(Courtesy of Jesse Soto)
Thomas Soto
Age: 59 Occupation: Radiology clerk Place of Work: Woodhull Medical Center, a public hospital in Brooklyn, New York Date of Death: April 7, 2020
After more than 30 years at one of New York City’s busy public hospitals, Thomas Soto loved his job but was looking forward to retiring, said his son, Jesse Soto, who lived with him.
At Soto’s busy station near the emergency room, he greeted patients and took down their information.
“Everybody saw him before their X-rays,” Soto, 29, said. “He smiled all day, made jokes. He was a kind man.”
As COVID patients began to overwhelm Woodhull and other emergency rooms across the city, Soto said that at first his father didn’t have any protective gear.
He eventually got a mask. But he still grew very sick, developing a high fever, body aches and a wracking cough. After a week, Soto said, “he couldn’t take it anymore.”
He went to Woodhull, where he was admitted. When they tried to put him on a ventilator two days later, he died. The hospital did not respond to requests for comment.
— Michelle Andrews | Published April 29, 2020
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‘Blooming’ In Her First Job On Path To Becoming A Nurse
(Courtesy of the Viveros family via GoFundMe)
Valeria Viveros
Age: 20 Occupation: Nursing assistant Place of Work: Extended Care Hospital of Riverside, California Date of Death: April 5, 2020
At 20 years old, Valeria Viveros was “barely blooming,” developing the skills and ambition to pursue a nursing career, said Gustavo Urrea, her uncle. Working at Extended Care Hospital of Riverside was her first job.
Viveros, born in California to Mexican immigrants, grew attached to her patients at the nursing home, bringing them homemade ceviche, Urrea said. About a month ago, as he watched her cook, play and joke with her grandmother, he noticed how much her social skills had grown.
When she would say “Hi, Tío,” in her playful, sweet, high-pitched voice, “it was like the best therapy you could have,” Urrea recalled. Viveros, who lived with her parents and two siblings, was enrolled in classes at a community college.
Viveros felt sick on March 30, went to a nearby hospital and was sent home with Tylenol, Urrea said. By April 4, she couldn’t get out of bed on her own. She left in an ambulance and never came back.
“We’re all destroyed,” he said. “I can’t even believe it.”
On April 5, county health officials reported a coronavirus outbreak had sickened 30 patients and some staff at her nursing home. Trent Evans, general counsel for Extended Care, said staffers are heartbroken by her death.
Viveros was “head over heels in love with the residents that she served,” he said. “She was always there for them.”
— Melissa Bailey | Published April 29, 2020
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Surgical Technician Made Friends Everywhere She Went
(Courtesy of Jorge Casarez)
Monica Echeverri Casarez
Age: 49 Occupation: Surgical technician Place of Work: Detroit Medical Center Harper University Hospital in Detroit Date of Death: April 11, 2020
Monica Echeverri Casarez was in constant motion, said her husband, Jorge Casarez. The daughter of Colombian immigrants, she worked as a Spanish-English interpreter in clinical settings. She was the kind of person whose arrival at a mom and pop restaurant would elicit hugs from the owners. She also co-founded Southwest Detroit Restaurant Week, a nonprofit that supports local businesses.
Twice a month, she scrubbed in as a surgical technician at Harper University Hospital. “She liked discovering the beauty of how the body works and how science is clear and orderly,” Casarez said. She was organized and intuitive, qualities that are assets in the operating room. On March 21, she posted a photo of herself in protective gear with the caption: “I’d be lying if I said I wan’t at least a bit nervous to be there now.” Since many elective surgeries had been canceled, Echeverri Casarez was tasked with taking the temperatures of people who walked into the hospital and making sure their hands were sterilized.
Soon after, Echeverri Casarez and Casarez began feeling ill. Quarantined together, Echeverri Casarez tried to make the best of the situation. She baked her husband a cake — chocolate with white frosting. She died a few days later.
— Danielle Renwick, The Guardian | Published April 24, 2020
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A Whip-Smart Neurologist Endlessly Fascinated With The Brain
(Courtesy of Jennifer Sclar)
Gary Sclar
Age: 66 Occupation: Neurologist Place of Work: Mount Sinai Queens in New York City Date of Death: April 12, 2020
Gary Sclar was a whip-smart neurologist who loved comic books, “Game of Thrones” and “Star Wars,” said his daughter, Jennifer Sclar. He was deeply compassionate with a blunt bedside manner.
“My dad was fascinated with the brain and with science,” Jennifer Sclar said. “His work was his passion, and it’s what made him the happiest, besides my brother and me.” Set to retire in June, he was looking forward to writing about politics and neurology.
Gary Sclar saw patients who were showing COVID-19 symptoms and knew his age and underlying health conditions ― he had diabetes — put him at risk for developing complications from the illness. His daughter pleaded with him to stop going to the hospital.
In early April, he mentioned having lost his sense of smell, and on April 8 he collapsed in his home. He was hospitalized a few days later and agreed to be intubated. “I don’t think he realized, like, that this was the end,” Jennifer Sclar said. “He brought his keys. He brought his wallet.”
— Danielle Renwick, The Guardian | Published April 24, 2020
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An Exacting But Loving Aunt, She Was A Mentor Until The End
(Courtesy of Jhoanna Mariel Buendia)
Araceli Buendia Ilagan
Age: 63 Occupation: Intensive care unit nurse Place of Work: Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami Date of Death: March 27, 2020
For Jhoanna Mariel Buendia, her aunt was a constant ― if distant — presence. Araceli Buendia Ilagan emigrated from their hometown Baguio, in the Philippines, to the U.S. before Buendia was born, but she remained close to her family and communicated with them nearly every day.
“She was one of the smartest people I ever knew,” Buendia, 27, said. Buendia Ilagan, who at one point looked into adopting her niece so she could join her and her husband the United States, encouraged Buendia to become a nurse, and talked her through grueling coursework in anatomy and physiology. Buendia is now a nurse in London.
Buendia Ilagan was also demanding. “Whenever she visited the Philippines, she wanted everything to be organized and squeaky-clean,” Buendia said.
The last time the two spoke, in late March, Buendia Ilagan didn’t mention anything about feeling ill. Instead, the two commiserated over their experiences of treating patients with COVID-19; as always, her aunt offered her advice on staying safe while giving the best possible care. She died four days later.
— Danielle Renwick, The Guardian | Published April 22, 2020
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A Beloved Geriatric Psychiatrist And Church Musician Remembered For His Cooking Skills
(Courtesy of Nida Gonzales)
Leo Dela Cruz
Age: 57 Occupation: Geriatric psychiatrist Place of Work: Christ Hospital and CarePoint Health in Jersey City, New Jersey Date of Death: April 8, 2020
Dr. Leo Dela Cruz was nervous about going to work in the weeks before he died, his friends said. Like many in the region, Christ Hospital had an influx of COVID-19 patients and faced a shortage of ventilators and masks.
Dela Cruz was a geriatric psychiatrist and didn’t work in coronavirus wards. But he continued to see patients in person. In early April, Dela Cruz, who lived alone, complained only of migraines, his friends said. Within a week, his condition worsened, and he was put on a ventilator at a nearby hospital. He died soon after.
Friends said he may have been exposed at the hospital. (In a statement, hospital representatives said he didn’t treat COVID-19 patients.)
Dela Cruz, the oldest of 10 siblings, came from a family of health care professionals. His friends and family — from Cebu, Philippines, to Teaneck, New Jersey — remembered his jovial personality on Facebook. He won “best doctor of the year” awards, played tennis and cooked traditional Cebu dishes.
Nida Gonzales, a colleague, said he always supported people, whether funding a student’s education or running a church mental health program. “I feel like I lost a brother,” she said.
— Ankita Rao, The Guardian | Published April 22, 2020
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Alabama Nurse Remembered As Selfless But Sassy
(Courtesy of Amanda Williams)
Rose Harrison
Age: 60 Occupation: Nurse Place of Work: Marion Regional Nursing Home in Hamilton, Alabama Date of Death: April 6, 2020
Rose Harrison, 60, lived to serve others ― her husband, three daughters, grandchildren and the residents of the nursing home where she worked. Though the Alabama nurse was selfless, she also had a sassy edge to her personality and a penchant for road rage, her daughter, Amanda Williams said.
“Her personality was so funny, you automatically loved her,” Williams said. “She was so outspoken. If she didn’t agree with you, she’d tell you in a respectful way.”
Harrison was not wearing a mask when she cared for a patient who later tested positive for COVID-19 at Marion Regional Nursing Home in Hamilton, Alabama, her daughter said. She later developed a cough, fatigue and a low-grade fever, but kept reporting to duty all week. Officials from the nursing home did not return calls for comment.
On April 3, Williams drove her mother to a hospital. The following evening, Harrison discussed the option of going on a ventilator with loved ones on a video call, agreeing it was the best course. Williams believed that her mother fully expected to recover. She died April 6.
— Christina Jewett, Kaiser Health News | Published April 22, 2020
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Connecticut Social Worker Had Angelic Singing Voice And A Zest For Life
(Courtesy of the Hunt family)
Curtis Hunt
Age: 57 Occupation: Social worker Places of Work: Cornell Scott-Hill Health Center and New Reach, both in New Haven, Connecticut Date of Death: March 23, 2020
At a shelter for adults recovering from addiction, residents looked forward to the days when Marion “Curtis” Hunt would take the stage, emceeing talent shows and belting out Broadway and gospel tunes.
It wasn’t part of his job description as a social worker. It was just one of the ways he went “above and beyond,” said his supervisor at Cornell Scott-Hill Health Center, Daena Murphy. “He had a beautiful voice,” she said. “He was just a wonderful person — funny, engaging, always a huge smile on his face.”
Hunt, the youngest of four brothers, earned his master’s in social work from Fordham University at 52, and was baptized at his brother’s Pentecostal church at 54. He was a devoted uncle who doted on his dog and cat, Mya and Milo.
It’s unclear how Hunt got infected, but one patient he worked with had tested positive for COVID-19, as did two co-workers, according to Dr. Ece Tek, another supervisor at Cornell Scott-Hill Health Center. Hunt died on March 23, one week after developing flu-like symptoms, said his brother John Mann Jr.
— Melissa Bailey | Published April 22, 2020
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To The End, King-Smith Was Driven By A Desire To Help Others
(Courtesy of Hassana Salaam-Rivers)
Kim King-Smith
Age: 53 Occupation: Electrocardiogram technician Place of Work: University Hospital in Newark, New Jersey Date of Death: March 31, 2020
Kim King-Smith was a natural caregiver. An only child, she grew up close to her extended family, including her cousins Hassana Salaam-Rivers and Sharonda Salaam. After Salaam developed multiple sclerosis, King-Smith visited her every day.
“She’d bring her sweets that she wasn’t supposed to have and share them with her,” Salaam-Rivers said. King-Smith’s desire to care for others was the reason she became an electrocardiogram technician, her cousin added. “If a friend of a friend or family member went to the hospital, she would always go and visit them as soon as her shift was over,” she said.
In March, King-Smith cared for a patient she said had symptoms of COVID-19; she soon fell ill herself and tested positive for the virus. It seemed like a mild case at first, and she stayed in touch with family via FaceTime while trying to isolate from her husband, Lenny.
On March 29, Salaam-Rivers checked in on her cousin and noticed she was struggling to breathe. She urged her to call an ambulance. After King-Smith was hospitalized, she exchanged text messages with her mother and cousin. As the day progressed, her messages carried increasingly grave news, Salaam-Rivers said. Then she stopped responding.
— Danielle Renwick, The Guardian | Published April 22, 2020
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On The Eve Of Retirement, VA Nurse Succumbs To COVID-19
(Courtesy of Mark Accad)
Debbie Accad
Age: 72 Occupation: Clinical nursing coordinator Place of Work: Detroit VA Medical Center in Detroit, Michigan Date of Death: March 30, 2020
Nurse Divina “Debbie” Accad had cared for veterans for over 25 years and was set to retire in April. But after contracting the novel coronavirus, she spent her final 11 days on a ventilator — and didn’t survive past March.
She joined a growing list of health care professionals working on the front lines of the pandemic who have died from COVID-19.
Accad, 72, a clinical nursing coordinator at the Detroit VA Medical Center, dedicated her life to nursing, according to her son Mark Accad.
“She died doing what she loved most,” he said. “That was caring for people.”
Read more here.
— Melissa Bailey | Published April 15, 2020
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California Nurse Thrived In ER and ICU, But Couldn’t Survive COVID-19
Jeff Baumbach and his wife, Karen (Courtesy of the Baumbach family)
Jeff Baumbach
Age: 57 Occupation: Nurse Place of Work: St. Joseph’s Medical Center in Stockton, California Date of Death: March 31, 2020
Jeff Baumbach, 57, was a seasoned nurse of 28 years when the novel coronavirus began to circulate in California. He’d worked in the ER, the ICU and on a cardiac floor. Hepatitis and tuberculosis had been around over the years but never posed a major concern. He’d cared for patients who had tuberculosis.
Jeff and his wife, Karen Baumbach, also a nurse, initially didn’t consider it significantly riskier than challenges they’d faced for years.
“He’d worked in the ICU. He was exposed to so many things, and we never got anything,” she said. “This was just ramping up.”
One day during work, Jeff sent a sarcastic text to his wife: “I love wearing a mask every day.”
Within weeks, he would wage a difficult and steady fight against the virus that ended with a sudden collapse.
Read more here.
— Christina Jewett, Kaiser Health News | Published April 15, 2020
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Nurse’s Faith Led Her To Care For Prisoners At A New Jersey Jail
(Courtesy of Denise Rendor)
Daisy Doronila
Age: 60 Occupation: Nurse Place of Work: Hudson County Correctional Facility in Kearny, New Jersey Date of Death: April 5, 2020
Daisy Doronila had a different perspective than most who worked at the Hudson County Correctional Facility, a New Jersey lockup 11 miles from Manhattan. It was a place where the veteran nurse could put her Catholic faith into action, showing kindness to marginalized people.
“There would be people there for the most heinous crimes,” said her daughter, Denise Rendor, 28, “but they would just melt towards my mother because she really was there to give them care with no judgment.”
Doronila, 60, died April 5, two weeks after testing positive for the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. The jail has been hit hard by the virus, with 27 inmates and 68 staff members having tested positive. Among those, another nurse, a correctional officer and a clerk also died, according to Ron Edwards, Hudson County’s director of corrections.
Doronila fell ill before the scope of the jail infections were known. She was picking up extra shifts in the weeks before, her daughter said, and planning on a trip to Israel soon with friends from church.
That plan began to fall apart March 14, when someone at the jail noticed her coughing and asked her to go home and visit a doctor.
Read more here.
— Christina Jewett, Kaiser Health News | Published April 15, 2020
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An Army Veteran, Hospital Custodian ‘Loved Helping People’
(Courtesy of Michelle Wilcox)
Alvin Simmons
Age: 54 Occupation: Environmental service assistant Place of Work: Rochester General Hospital in Rochester, New York Death: March 17, 2020
Alvin Simmons started working as a custodian at Rochester General Hospital, in New York state, weeks before he fell ill. “He loved helping people and he figured the best place to do that would be in a hospital,” his sister, Michelle Wilcox said.
An Army veteran who had served in the first Gulf War, Simmons loved karaoke and doted on his three grandchildren, Wilcox said. “He was a dedicated, hardworking individual who had just changed his life around” since a prison stint, she said.
According to Wilcox, Simmons began developing symptoms shortly after cleaning the room of a woman he believed was infected with the novel coronavirus. “Other hospital employees did not want to clean the room because they said they weren’t properly trained” to clean the room of someone potentially infected, she said. “They got my brother from a different floor, because he had just started there,” she said. (In an email, a hospital spokesperson said they had “no evidence to suggest that Mr. Simmons was at a heightened risk of exposure to COVID-19 by virtue of his training or employment duties at RGH.”)
On March 11, he visited the emergency room at Rochester General, where he was tested for COVID-19, Wilcox said. Over the next few days, as he rested at his girlfriend’s home, his breathing became more labored and he began to cough up blood. He was rushed to the hospital on March 13, where he was later declared brain-dead. Subsequently, he received a COVID-19 diagnosis. Simmons died on March 17.
— Danielle Renwick, The Guardian | Published April 15, 2020
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Nurse At Nevada VA Dies After Caring For Infected Colleague
(Courtesy of Bob Thompson)
Vianna Thompson
Age: 52 Occupation: Nurse Places of Work: VA Sierra Nevada Health Care System and Northern Nevada Medical Center in Reno, Nevada Date of Death: April 7, 2020
Nurse Vianna Thompson, 52, spent two night shifts caring for a fellow Veterans Affairs health care worker who was dying from COVID-19.
Two weeks later, she too was lying in a hospital intensive care unit, with a co-worker holding her hand as she died.
Thompson and the man she treated were among three VA health care workers in Reno, Nevada, to die in two weeks from complications of the novel coronavirus.
“It’s pretty devastating. It’s surreal. Reno’s not that big of a city,” said Robyn Underhill, a night nurse who worked with Thompson in the ER at Reno’s VA hospital the past two years.
Thompson, who dreamed of teaching nursing one day, died April 7, joining a growing list of health care professionals killed in the pandemic.
Read more here.
— Melissa Bailey | Published April 15, 2020
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Dr. J. Ronald Verrier Was Busy Saving Lives Before The Pandemic
(Courtesy of Christina Pardo)
J. Ronald Verrier
Age: 59 Occupation: Surgeon Place of Work: St. Barnabas Hospital in the Bronx, New York Date of Death: April 8, 2020
Dr. J. Ronald Verrier, a surgeon at St. Barnabas Hospital in the Bronx, spent the final weeks of his audacious, unfinished life tending to a torrent of patients inflicted with COVID-19. He died April 8 at Mount Sinai South Nassau Hospital in Oceanside, New York, at age 59, after falling ill from the novel coronavirus.
Verrier led the charge even as the financially strapped St. Barnabas Hospital struggled to find masks and gowns to protect its workers — many nurses continue to make cloth masks — and makeshift morgues in the parking lot held patients who had died.
“He did a good work,” said Jeannine Sherwood, a nurse manager at St. Barnabas Hospital who worked closely with Verrier.
“He can rest.”
Read more here.
— Sarah Varney, Kaiser Health News | Published April 15, 2020
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America’s First ER Doctor To Die In The Heat Of COVID-19 Battle
(Courtesy of Debra Vasalech Lyons)
Frank Gabrin
Age: 60 Occupation: Doctor Places of Work: St. John’s Episcopal in Queens, New York, and East Orange General in New Jersey Date of Death: March 26, 2020
At about 5 a.m. on March 19, a New York City ER physician named Frank Gabrin texted a friend about his concerns over the lack of medical supplies at hospitals.
“It’s busy ― everyone wants a COVID test that I do not have to give them,” he wrote in the message to Eddy Soffer. “So they are angry and disappointed.”
Worse, though, was the limited availability of personal protective equipment (PPE) — the masks and gloves that help keep health care workers from getting sick and spreading the virus to others. Gabrin said he had no choice but to don the same mask for several shifts, against Food and Drug Administration guidelines.
“Don’t have any PPE that has not been used,” he wrote. “No N95 masks ― my own goggles — my own face shield,” he added, referring to the N95 respirators considered among the best lines of defense.
Less than two weeks later, Gabrin became the first ER doctor in the U.S. known to have died as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the American College of Emergency Physicians.
Read more here.
— Alastair Gee, The Guardian | Published April 10, 2020
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This story is part of “Lost on the Frontline,” an ongoing project from The Guardian and Kaiser Health News that aims to document the lives of health care workers in the U.S. who die from COVID-19, and to investigate why so many are victims of the disease. If you have a colleague or loved one we should include, please share their story.
from Updates By Dina https://khn.org/news/lost-on-the-frontline-health-care-worker-death-toll-covid19-coronavirus/
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Lost On The Frontline
America’s health care workers are dying. In some states, medical staff account for as many as 20% of known coronavirus cases. They tend to patients in hospitals, treating them, serving them food and cleaning their rooms. Others at risk work in nursing homes or are employed as home health aides.
Some of them do not survive the encounter. Many hospitals are overwhelmed and some workers lack protective equipment or suffer from underlying health conditions that make them vulnerable to the highly infectious virus.
Many cases are shrouded in secrecy. “Lost on the Frontline” is a collaboration between The Guardian and Kaiser Health News that aims to document the lives of health care workers in the U.S. who die of COVID-19, and to understand why so many are falling victim to the pandemic.
These are some of the first tragic cases.
Lost On The Frontline
This project aims to document the life of every health care worker in America who dies from COVID-19. If you have a colleague or loved one we should include, please share their story.
Memory Care Nurse Set Fear Aside
(Courtesy of Jessica Forbes)
Nina Forbes
Age: 56 Occupation: Licensed practical nurse Place of Work: Silverado memory care facility in Alexandria, Virginia Date of Death: April 25, 2020
Nina Forbes refused to let fear stop her from living.
She was terrified of flying. But a few years ago, Forbes got on a plane for the first time to watch her younger daughter Jennifer play volleyball.
Read More
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Widely Used Surgical Masks Are Putting Health Care Workers At Serious Risk Apr 28
OSHA Probing Health Worker Deaths But Urges Inspectors To Spare The Penalties Apr 22
True Toll Of COVID-19 On U.S. Health Care Workers Unknown Apr 15
COVID-19 also scared Forbes, and as a nurse at an assisted living facility, she knew the virus posed a serious risk. Still, she continued showing up to work.
Forbes tested COVID-positive just after Easter. Chills, body aches and a fever kept her from attending family dinner that Sunday. By the following weekend, she struggled to breathe and couldn’t walk on her own. An ambulance took her to the hospital.
Her older daughter, Jessica, said her mother didn’t have the necessary protection at work. Forbes sometimes wore trash bags to protect herself, she said.
In a statement, a representative for the facility said it met the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines for personal protective equipment. Employees sometimes used trash bags as an added layer of protection, worn over a disposable gown, according to the representative.
Forbes appeared to do what she wanted even in her final moments. Jennifer was able to visit her mother in the hospital, and Forbes died shortly after she left, Jessica said. “It was like she waited for her to leave.”
— Carmen Heredia Rodriguez, Kaiser Health News | Published May 19, 2020
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A Family Man Who Loved Disney, Took Risks To Help Others
(Courtesy of AMR Southwest Mississippi)
David Martin
Age: 52 Occupation: Paramedic Place of Work: AMR Southwest Mississippi, covering Amite and Wilkinson counties Date of Death: April 22, 2020
On March 22, David Martin changed his Facebook profile picture. Around his smiling face, the frame read, “I can’t stay home … I’m a healthcare worker.”
Outside of work, he was a dedicated family man with two children, known for his love of Disney.
Martin, who covered 1,420 square miles across two rural counties, had cared for people with suspected COVID-19 in the weeks leading up to his death, said Tim Houghton, chief of operations for AMR Southwest Mississippi.
“We do what we do knowing the risks,” Houghton said. But Martin’s death was “a hard hit.”
On March 23, at the end of a shift, Martin told a supervisor he had mild flu symptoms. A month later, he died at a hospital in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
AMR paramedics had N95 masks and protective gear and followed Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines, Houghton said. “We have not yet had a shortage.”
In Facebook posts honoring Martin, colleagues described his excitement before trips to Disney World. In his memory, his fiancee, Jeanne Boudreaux, shared a photo of a hot air balloon ride at Disney Springs.
— Michaela Gibson Morris | Published May 19, 2020
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For a 9/11 First Responder, ‘Sitting on the Sidelines Was Never in His DNA’
(Courtesy of Erin Esposito)
Matthew ‘Matty’ Moore
Age: 52 Occupation: Radiologic technologist Place of Work: Northwell Health’s GoHealth Urgent Care in Eltingville, Staten Island, New York City Date of Death: April 17, 2020
Matthew Moore “would give the shirt off his back to help others,” said his sister, Erin Esposito.
A former firefighter and Staten Island native, “Matty” Moore volunteered as a first responder for weeks after 9/11, “even when everyone else stopped going,” Esposito said.
Moore was known as “a gentle giant” in Prince’s Bay, his brother-in-law Adam Esposito said. He was a devoted churchgoer and a beloved member of “The Beach Boys Firehouse” (as Engine 161/81 was nicknamed).
He even came through as Santa Claus, delivering gifts on Christmas morning to the children of two firefighters who died on 9/11.
Moore became an X-ray technologist, cherishing the ability to help those seeking urgent care. When COVID-19 emerged, he continued showing up to work. “Sitting on the sidelines was never in his DNA,” Erin Esposito said.
At the time, the family was reassured that he was receiving the personal protective equipment he needed. Despite his precautions, when Matty contracted COVID-19, it tore through his lungs, which had been damaged at ground zero.
As Matty lay dying, Esposito sought to reassure her brother. “You’ve done enough for us,” she told him, over the phone. Moments later, Matty’s heart stopped beating.
— Eli Cahan | Published May 19, 2020
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‘Gentle Soul’ Had A Brilliant Mind And A Big Heart
Neftali “Neff” Rios
Age: 37 Occupation: Registered nurse Place of Work: St. Francis Hospital’s intensive care unit in Memphis, Tennessee Date of Death: April 26, 2020
Hospital colleagues just loved working with Neftali “Neff” Rios. He was humble, kind and capable, a “gentle soul” who always strived to learn something new. Not just smart — “I’m talking extremely intelligent,” his brother Josue Rios said. And he simply loved people. Nursing was a perfect fit.
Neff worked at a small hospital in Clarksdale, Mississippi, then earned his master’s in business administration with an emphasis on health care, and moved to St. Francis, hoping to enter management.
In mid-April, he came down with fever, body aches, a terrible cough and tested positive for the virus. Several family members got sick, too. His parents were hospitalized.
Neff collapsed at home, unable to catch his breath. His wife, Kristina, called 911, started CPR and waited for the EMTs. When they arrived, Neff was gone.
The family believes he was exposed at work. A spokesperson for the hospital declined to comment, citing family privacy.
“Neff was never scared” of catching the virus at work, Rios said. “You take an oath to take care of people, no matter what.”
— Maureen O’Hagan | Published May 19, 2020
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His Warmth And Generosity Brought Diverse Clients To His Pharmacy
(Courtesy of the Titi family)
Saif Titi
Age: 72 Occupation: Pharmacist Place of Work: Noble Pharmacy in Jersey City, New Jersey Date of Death: April 7, 2020
When the pandemic hit, Saif Titi was working six days a week at his Jersey City pharmacy and had no interest in slowing down. As was his way, he wanted to be helpful.
“He didn’t really run it as a business,” said Titi’s son, Justin. “He wasn’t trying to make profit. He was really just trying to help people.”
Titi was born in Jaffa in the last days of British rule in Palestine and grew up a refugee in the Gaza Strip. After studying in Egypt, Austria and Spain, he immigrated to New Jersey in 1972 and bought Noble Pharmacy a decade later.
The pharmacy became a fixture in the community, known as a place immigrants could go for help and advice, often in their native language. If they couldn’t afford medication, Titi would give it to them for free. “All different types of people from different cultures would come and they would instantly fall in love with him,” Justin said.
Active in the local Arab American community, Titi gave to charity and sent money home regularly. A Facebook tribute included dozens of stories of his generosity and mentorship. “We all lost the sweetest and the most noble man on earth,” wrote one relative.
Titi, a father of three adult children, developed symptoms of COVID-19 in late March. He died in the hospital on April 7. His wife, Rachelle, also became infected and has taken some six weeks to recover. In quarantine, the family has been unable to grieve together.
— Noa Yachot, The Guardian | Published May 19, 2020
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Social Worker Was A ‘Big Voice’ In His Community
(Courtesy of Donna Welch)
Gerald Welch
Age: 56 Occupation: Social worker and behavioral specialist Place of Work: Opportunity Behavioral Health in Reading, Pennsylvania Date of Death: April 15, 2020
Donna Welch had sworn she would “never, ever, ever get married again.” Then Gerald appeared.
They met on MySpace, and she quickly realized that “our spirits connected.” On their first date, at Donna’s house in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Gerald proposed — and Donna said yes. “It was like he came down on a bolt of lightning from heaven,” she said.
Gerald’s fiery passion and courage to speak out served him as a boardroom advocate for underperforming students in the school district, and at the St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church, where he resurrected a scholarship now named in his honor.
“He had a big voice,” Donna said, “and he was not afraid to use it.” His “Families, Organizations and Communities United in Service” podcast combined Gerald’s lived experience overcoming drugs and his spirituality to support others struggling with addiction.
So even as the state’s COVID cases mounted, Gerald was a dutiful companion for his clients with severe autism — he took them to the supermarket in Lancaster and the laundromat in Lebanon. “Wherever they needed to go, he went,” Donna said. “He cared so much for them, and they loved him dearly.”
“We all did,” she added.
— Eli Cahan | Published May 19, 2020
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Hardworking Immigrant Realized His Dream To Practice Medicine In US
Jesus Manuel Zambrano and his son, Jesus Manuel Jr. (Courtesy of the Zambrano family)
Jesus Manuel Zambrano
Age: 54 Occupation: Pediatrician Place of Work: Private practice in Freeport, New York; attending physician at Mount Sinai South Nassau hospital Date of Death: March 30, 2020
Jesus Manuel Zambrano studied medicine in the Dominican Republic and immigrated to New York in the 1990s.
He hustled, working in fast food and as a school bus driver between studies, his wife, Sandra, said. He completed his residency in 2010.
In the meantime, they had two children: Jesus Manuel Jr., 22, and Angelyne Ofelia, 18. Jesus Manuel Jr., who uses a wheelchair, never veered far from his father during family outings to restaurants and parks, and Holy Week vacations.
Zambrano’s bond with his son informed his care for his patients. “There was not a single day we met and talked when we didn’t talk about his son,” said Dr. Magda Mendez, a former colleague.
Zambrano spent days in private practice, Sandra said, and in the evenings treated others at the hospital, which saw COVID cases.
In early March, he felt ill. He took the next day off — a rare occurrence, Sandra said. He was taken to the hospital where he worked, where he died after a week and a half of care.
In becoming a physician in the United States, Zambrano had realized his lifelong dream. He wished the same for his family.
“He had a lot of plans for his children, a lot of dreams,” Sandra said. “He took them with him.”
— Carmen Heredia Rodriguez, Kaiser Health News | Published May 15, 2020
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Quick-Witted And Quick To Serve, Firefighter ‘Always Had Your Back’
(Courtesy of the Zerman family)
Robert Zerman
Age: 49 Occupation: Volunteer firefighter Place of Work: Pioneer Hose Company No. 1 in Robesonia, Pennsylvania Date of Death: April 16, 2020
Anyone who met Robert Zerman would see two things: He was devoted to firefighting and emergency medical services, and he had a quick sense of humor.
“He probably went on tens of thousands of calls,” said Anthony Tucci, CEO of the Western Berks Ambulance Association. Tucci, who knew Zerman for over three decades, added, “he always had your back, always knew his stuff.”
Most recently, Zerman was a volunteer assistant fire chief. He responded to an emergency in March in which the patient had COVID-19 symptoms.
“That was before there was really any guidance to wear PPE,” Tucci said.
Soon Zerman got sick, leading the family to suspect that he’d contracted the coronavirus on that call, Tucci said. Zerman tested positive and was hospitalized. He seemed to be improving before taking a bad turn.
Berks County, in eastern Pennsylvania, is among the state’s hardest hit, recording around 3,500 total cases and nearly 200 deaths by mid-May.
Representatives from two dozen first responder agencies lined the streets for Zerman’s funeral procession.
— Maureen O’Hagan | Published May 19, 2020
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Lighthearted Nurse ‘Lit Up the Room’
(Courtesy of Alisa Bowens)
Linda Bonaventura
Age: 45 Occupation: Licensed practical nurse Place of Work: Wildwood Healthcare Center in Indianapolis Date of Death: April 13, 2020
Even on bad days, Linda Bonaventura’s lighthearted sense of humor made people feel better, her sister Alisa Bowens said.
Bonaventura dedicated her career to children with special needs and seniors. She did her best to keep her spirits up while working 16-hour days.
“We like to say she was laughter,” Bowens said. “She lit up the room.”
In a statement, Ethan Peak, executive director of Wildwood, called Bonaventura a dedicated nurse who “would do anything for her residents and co-workers.”
As the list of patients and employees with COVID-19 grew longer at Wildwood, Bonaventura refused to live in fear, Bowens said.
Bowens recalled the day her sister confessed she was spraying herself with Lysol to kill the germs on her clothes. She did the same for a co-worker. A Wildwood spokesperson said the nursing home had sufficient personal protective equipment for employees.
The sisters, in one of their last conversations, told each other they would be at peace if death came during the pandemic. A short time later, Bonaventura tested positive for COVID-19. Just a week after coming down with a sore throat and fever, she died.
“She believed in fate,” Bowens said. “We shared that belief. But it was still a shock.”
— Cara Anthony | Published May 15, 2020
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Nurse’s Death Ripples Through The Heart Of An Extended Community
(Courtesy of Courtney Christian)
Sheila Faye Christian
Age: 66 Occupation: Registered nurse Place of Work: Care Pavilion Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Philadelphia Date of Death: April 19, 2020
So many people are mourning the death of Sheila Christian, her daughter set up a website to comfort them all.
Christian was a longtime friend of Tina Knowles-Lawson ― the mother of Beyoncé — who posted about the loss on Instagram.
But Christian was also a superstar at the center where she worked for 26 years and among those who knew her. She was the kind of person who brought lunch to a new co-worker and hosted a baby shower for someone without close family, according to her daughter and a memorial board.
At the outset of the COVID crisis, Christian was not given personal protective equipment, her daughter, Courtney Christian, 30. She said her mother received a mask only in late March. A lawyer for the center acknowledged Christian’s death and said federal guidelines were followed but didn’t respond to specific questions about protective gear.
Christian was diagnosed April 2. She endured more than a week of fever, chills and coughing, but seemed to be on the mend. She had been cleared to return to work when she collapsed at home. An outpouring of grief followed, her daughter said.
“She just helped and cared for so many people,” she said. “People I had never met.”
— JoNel Aleccia, Kaiser Health News | Published May 15, 2020
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At Work, Church And Home, Army Veteran Gave It His All
(Courtesy of Shlonda Clark)
Roy Chester Coleman
Age: 64 Occupation: Emergency medical technician Place of Work: Overton Brooks VA Medical Center in Shreveport, Louisiana Date of Death: April 6, 2020
Shlonda Clark calls her father her “favorite superhero.”
It was one of Roy Coleman’s many roles. For the past 11 years, the Army veteran and EMT worked as a housekeeper at the VA hospital in his hometown. He was a church deacon, Sunday school teacher and usher. He also volunteered with special-needs adults.
Roy had a big family, with three children, eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
“He was funny, he was kind, he was giving,” said Mabel Coleman, his wife of 40 years.
“If he didn’t like you, something was wrong with you,” added Clark.
Coleman fell ill March 23. After three trips to the emergency room, he was admitted March 27, with a fever and labored breathing.
“It was the last time I saw him,” Mabel said.
He tested positive for COVID-19 and died at the hospital where he had worked.
His family said he was concerned about the lack of personal protective equipment. The VA medical center said by email it “has and continues to use PPE in accordance with CDC guidelines.”
— Katja Ridderbusch | Published May 15, 2020
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Beloved Doctor Made House Calls, Treated Patients Like Family
(Courtesy of the Giuliano family)
Michael Giuliano
Age: 64 Occupation: Family practice physician Place of Work: Mountainside Medical Group in Nutley, New Jersey Date of Death: April 18, 2020
For 39 years, Michael Giuliano practiced old-fashioned family medicine.
He made house calls. He visited his patients in the hospital rather than asking another physician to check in on them. He saw generations of the same family.
“Some patients would show up here at the house,’” said Giuliano’s wife, Marylu, a nurse and the office manager of his solo practice. “Patients would call and he’d say, ‘Come on over, I’ll check you out.’ He always went above and beyond.”
A father of five and a grandfather of four, Giuliano was jovial, with a quirky sense of humor and love of Peanuts characters, especially Charlie Brown. He liked to tell patients, “I’ll fix you up.”
“He treated all of his patients like family,” said Nutley Mayor Joseph Scarpelli.
When COVID-19 hit the U.S., Giuliano ordered N95 masks, his family said, but suppliers were out and sent surgical masks instead. Giuliano wore two at a time.
The week of March 16, Giuliano saw four patients with respiratory symptoms who later tested positive for COVID-19. About two weeks later, he tested positive.
Giuliano continued to see patients from home using telemedicine until he was hospitalized. He died 11 days later.
— Michelle Crouch | Published May 15, 2020
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He Tried To Reassure His Family Until The End
(Courtesy of Sheryl Pabatao)
Alfredo Pabatao
Age: 68 Occupation: Orderly Place of Work: Hackensack Meridian Health Palisades Medical Center in North Bergen, New Jersey Date of Death: March 26, 2020
After 44 years of marriage, Alfredo Pabatao still bought his wife, Susana, flowers.
“They were that type of couple that you rarely see nowadays,” their youngest daughter, Sheryl Pabatao, 30, said. “They set such a high standard for us, their kids — that may be the reason why I’m still single.” She said her father was a patient man who could fix just about anything.
The Pabataos came from Quezon City, just outside Manila, in the Philippines. Alfredo worked at a car dealership, and Sheryl said she and her siblings grew up comfortably.
But the couple wanted more for their five children, and immigrated to the United States in October 2011. “The first year that we were here, was really, really tough,” Sheryl remembered. Her oldest two siblings, already adults by the time the Pabataos’ immigration application cleared, had to stay behind.
Alfredo found a job as an orderly at a hospital in New Jersey, where he worked for nearly two decades. In mid-March, he told his family he had transported a patient with signs of COVID-19; he fell ill days later. In a statement, his employer wrote: “We have policies and procedures in place to protect our team members and patients that are all in accordance with CDC guidelines.”
Sheryl said the family’s last conversation with her father was via FaceTime, with him on his hospital bed. Connected to oxygen, he insisted he wasn’t gravely ill. He made jokes and even demonstrated yoga poses to reassure his wife and children. He died soon after.
— Danielle Renwick, The Guardian | Published May 15, 2020
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A ‘Selfless’ Mother Who ‘Always Had The Right Words’
(Courtesy of Sheryl Pabatao)
Susana Pabatao
Age: 64 Occupation: Assistant nurse Place of Work: Bergen New Bridge Medical Center in Paramus, New Jersey Date of Death: April 30, 2020
Susana Pabatao became a nurse in her late 40s, after her family immigrated to the United States.
It eased some of her longing for her own mother, whom she had left behind in the Philippines, her daughter, Sheryl Pabatao said. “It helped her to know that she was helping other people — something that she couldn’t do for my grandmother,” Sheryl said. Susana treated her older patients as if they were her own parents, she added.
Susana was warm, selfless and a constant source of comfort. Sheryl said, “My mom always had the right words.”
Susana’s husband, Alfredo Pabatao, began showing symptoms of COVID-19 in mid-March, and Susana became ill soon after. Sheryl, who described the two as “inseparable,” said: “When my dad got sick, it’s like part of her was not there anymore.”
Alfredo was hospitalized, and Susana spent her last days at home resting and speaking with him on FaceTime. Sheryl, who lived with her parents, said she overheard the two console each other one morning. “My mom was telling my dad, ‘We’ve gone through so many things, we’re going to get through this.”
Alfredo died on March 26. Susana died four days later.
— Danielle Renwick, The Guardian | Published May 15, 2020
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Air Force Doctor Had Served In The White House
(Courtesy of the Medical Center of Annandale)
Steven Perez
Age: 68 Occupation: Internal medicine physician Place of Work: Medical Center of Annandale in Annandale, Virginia Date of Death: May 7, 2020
When George H.W. Bush announced his 1988 run for the presidency, Steven Perez was one of the doctors who gave him a clean bill of health.
An “Air Force brat” who was born in the United Kingdom, Perez served as a flight surgeon and medical director in the Air Force Medical Service Corps before practicing as a physician in the White House from 1986 to 1990, according to a statement from his family.
“It was the honor of his life,” his son, Benjamin Perez, said.
Perez went into private practice in San Antonio in the early ’90s before opening his own clinic in Northern Virginia. He also taught at the University of Virginia.
According to his family, he made a promise to God and “never refused medical aid to the poor who came to his office, even accepting yams as payment on occasion.”
Perez’s family describes him as a proud grandfather to his three grandchildren (with two more on the way); he loved the University of Southern California Trojan football, the Dallas Cowboys and the Nationals.
“He could make anyone laugh, knew just what to say, and showed profound love for his friends and family,” his family wrote in an obituary. “Every person he met felt like they were the reason he was there.”
— Danielle Renwick, The Guardian | Published May 15, 2020
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She Jumped At Chance To Lend Her Nursing Skills To Her Beloved New York
(Courtesy of the Sell family)
Rosemary Sell
Age: 80 Occupation: Pediatric nurse practitioner Place of Work: New York City public schools Date of Death: April 17, 2020
Rosemary Sell was a New Yorker through and through. Born in Washington Heights in northern Manhattan, she went to nursing school in Greenwich Village and raised her five boys on the Lower East Side.
In the 1960s, she traveled to Berlin, where she worked as a nurse for the British army and met her future husband, Peter. A lifelong love of travel was born. Gregarious and high-energy by nature, she loved meeting new people. “Wherever she’d go, she’d make a new friend,” said her son, also named Peter.
In later years, Sell spent much of her time in Florida. But she jumped at opportunities to lend her nursing skills to her home city and see her grandchildren and friends.
In February, she was contacted by a firm that places nurses on temporary assignments. Her children were concerned about the encroaching pandemic, especially given her age. “But they need a nurse,” she responded. She traveled to New York to fill in as a nurse at several schools citywide just as the pandemic took hold. The firm, Comprehensive Resources, did not respond to questions on protections for its contractors.
Sell began developing symptoms in mid-March, just before the citywide school closure went into effect. She returned home to Florida, where she died from pneumonia caused by COVID-19.
Before Rosemary died, she had been hatching her next adventure with a friend: to travel to India. She wanted to see the Taj Mahal.
— Noa Yachot, The Guardian | Published May 15, 2020
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A Hands-On Pharmacist Who Made The Big City Feel Smaller
(Courtesy of Zair Yasin)
Ali Yasin
Age: 67 Occupation: Pharmacist Place of Work: New York City Pharmacy in East Village, Manhattan Date of Death: May 4, 2020
Ali Yasin was a small-town druggist in a big city filled with impersonal, chain-store pharmacies. He found a way to operate a robust business and still be on a first-name basis with his customers. Over the years, he became their medical consultant, insurance whisperer and friend.
Jen Masser said she stumbled into Yasin’s pharmacy the first time, covered from hands to elbows in hives. “Something is happening, see someone right away,” Yasin advised. “This could be a serious disease.” He turned out to be right, encouraging her to keep seeing doctors until she finally got the proper autoimmune diagnosis.
Born in Pakistan, Yasin moved to the United States in 1979 and worked in various pharmacies before opening his own in 2001. He ran it with the help of his four sons.
In March, after serving customers in hard-hit Manhattan in his typical hands-on manner, Yasin contracted a cough and tested positive for COVID-19. By month’s end, he was in the hospital on a ventilator. He died May 4.
The storefront window of the Yasin family pharmacy is pasted with condolence cards. Son Zair Yasin said the outpouring has been immense: “I didn’t realize until he was gone how many people he touched.”
— Kathleen Horan | Published May 15, 2020
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Nurse Wouldn’t Abandon Her Patients Or Let Family Worry
(Courtesy of the Isaacs family)
Marsha Bantle
Age: 65 Occupation: Registered nurse Place of Work: Signature Healthcare in Newburgh, Indiana Date of Death: May 1, 2020
Marsha Bantle’s family begged her to quit after a resident in the nursing home where she worked was diagnosed with COVID-19.
But Bantle wouldn’t leave. “My patients can’t leave their rooms, they can’t see their families. They really need me right now,’” she told her cousin Carol Isaacs.
Bantle tried to reassure relatives she would limit her exposure, but, on April 17, her temperature spiked. Bantle, who lived alone, holed up at home. She finally called her family when it was clear she needed to be hospitalized.
“That’s Marsha for you,” her cousin John Isaacs said. “She didn’t want us to worry.”
Even while hospitalized, Bantle was selfless, said Shay Gould, the ICU nurse who cared for her. She offered to turn off her medication pump to save the nurse a trip. She asked for other patients’ names to pray for them.
After about a week, Bantle had a stroke, likely brought on by the COVID-19 infection. Within days, she died.
Since April, the nursing home has had 52 positive cases and 13 COVID-19 deaths, including Bantle’s. In a statement, Signature Healthcare said: “The loss of any of our residents or staff, for any reason, is devastating.”
— Michelle Crouch | Published May 12, 2020
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Pharmacist, Feeling Sick, Didn’t Want To Let Patients Down
(Courtesy of the Boynes family)
Sean Boynes
Age: 46 Occupation: Pharmacist Place of Work: AbsoluteCare Medical Center & Pharmacy in Greenbelt, Maryland Date of Death: April 2, 2020
When the coronavirus began circulating in the Washington metropolitan region, Sean Boynes went to work.
“Patients need their medicine,” he told his wife, Nicole.
The medical center where he worked bills itself as “a medical home for the sickest of the sick”; many of its patients struggle with chronic illness and poverty. Boynes was the Greenbelt branch’s first pharmacist.
He was an “incredible, loving guy,” said Dr. Gregory Foti, chief of innovative operations at AbsoluteCare.
Boynes was a proud Howard University alumnus and had three degrees — a bachelor’s of science in biology, a master’s in exercise physiology and a doctorate in pharmacy — from the institution.
In early March, Boynes and his wife began feeling sick. Boynes didn’t want to stop working but thought “taking a sick day might be OK,” Nicole said. He also took a break from being a jungle gym to his eight- and 11-year-old girls. Nicole called him “Super Dad.”
Nicole got better, but Sean, who had asthma, saw his breathing deteriorate.
On March 25, Nicole dropped him at the hospital doors. The medical staff confirmed COVID-19. The family never saw him again.
Foti said AbsoluteCare follows CDC recommendations, such as providing staff with face masks, and declined to comment on where Boynes became infected. He said “it was literally impossible to tell” where Boynes had contracted the virus.
To honor him, AbsoluteCare is naming the Greenbelt pharmacy after Boynes.
— Sarah Jane Tribble, Kaiser Health News | Published May 12, 2020
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A Spry EMT, He Made ‘The Ultimate Sacrifice’
(Courtesy of Toni Lorenc)
John Careccia
Age: 74 Occupation: Emergency medical technician and rescue squad chief Place of Work: Woodbridge Township Ambulance and Rescue Squad in Iselin, New Jersey Date of Death: April 17, 2020
“That’s not the way you throw a curveball!” John Careccia famously declared to his grandson at a family picnic, according to his daughter, Toni Lorenc. Careccia then threw the ball so wide that it broke a window in her shed.
“That’s how you throw the batter off,” he said, brushing off the mishap.
“Typical Pop-Pop,” Lorenc said. “He had so much confidence in himself.”
Careccia, who worked for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey for 30 years, harnessed his self-confidence into a second career. Inspired by two EMTs who saved his son’s life, he became a volunteer EMT in 1993. A consummate educator, he taught CPR, mentored young EMTs and gave catechism classes at his church, Lorenc said.
A spry 74, Careccia responded to 911 calls as chief of his rescue squad, a volunteer position. On a March 25 call, he evaluated a coronavirus patient, said Ed Barrett, squad president. Careccia died of COVID-19 several weeks later.
At his firehouse memorial service, Careccia was summoned over a loudspeaker for his “last call.”
“Having heard no response from Chief Careccia, we know that John has made the ultimate sacrifice,” said Steve Packer, a previous squad president. “His leadership, dedication, compassion and friendship will be greatly missed.”
— Melissa Bailey | Published May 12, 2020
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Police Officer Turned Nurse Practitioner Was Pursuing A Doctorate
(Courtesy of Dennis Graiani)
Kevin Graiani
Age: 56 Occupation: Family nurse practitioner Place of Work: Rockland Medical Group in Garnerville, New York Date of Death: March 30, 2020
Kevin Graiani always wanted to work in health care, according to Dennis Graiani, one of his three sons. But his mother told him he needed a pension, so he became a cop.
Kevin, who grew up in the Bronx, served five years on the New York City Housing Authority police force, then 15 on a suburban police force in Spring Valley, New York. He was a “brilliant officer,” said Lt. Jack Bosworth of Spring Valley.
Known for his dry sense of humor, Kevin often rattled off quotes from movies. He played bagpipes for the Rockland County Police Emerald Society, a law enforcement group. When he retired from police work, he began nursing school and became a nurse practitioner in 2018.
Kevin, who worked at a private practice, became sick on March 10 and was later diagnosed with COVID-19, Dennis said.
He loved learning and was set to finish classes this summer for his doctorate of nursing practice, said Lynne Weissman, his professor and program director at Dominican College.
He was an “extremely bright student” with a 3.7 GPA, Weissman said.
She has nominated him for a posthumous degree.
— Melissa Bailey | Published May 12, 2020
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School Nurse ‘Was A Mother To Many’
(Courtesy of the Howard family)
Marilyn Howard
Age: 53 Occupation: School nurse Place of Work: Spring Creek Community School in Brooklyn, New York Date of Death: April 4, 2020
Marilyn Howard was known for her generosity and never missing a party. Born in Guyana, she came to the U.S. as a teenager. She helped raise her five brothers, putting her ambitions on hold. “She was a mother to many,” her brother Haslyn said.
In her mid-30s, she turned to her own career goals. She steadily racked up four nursing degrees and recently had begun studying to become a nurse practitioner.
Howard, who lived in Queens, New York, was a school nurse in Brooklyn, where she regularly treated children with chronic illnesses associated with poverty. The week before the pandemic shuttered schools, a fellow nurse had a fever and cough.
Days later, Howard developed the same symptoms. After initially improving, she took a sudden turn for the worse April 4. As her brother drove her to the hospital, her heart stopped. She was declared dead at the hospital.
In tribute, hundreds turned out on Zoom to mark Nine-Night — a days-long wake tradition in the Caribbean — where loved ones shared photos, sang songs and recounted Howard’s effect on their lives.
The pandemic has since ripped through Howard’s extended family, infecting at least a dozen relatives. (One cousin was hospitalized but was released and is recovering.) The family has evolved into a sprawling triage team, monitoring one another’s temperatures, delivering food, charting emergency contacts and nearby hospitals.
Howard’s brothers hope to start a foundation in her name to help aspiring nurses in the U.S. and West Indies. “The best way to honor her spirit and her memory is to bring more nurses into this world,” said her brother Rawle. “We need more Marilyns around.”
— Noa Yachot, The Guardian | Published May 12, 2020
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Post-Retirement, She Tirelessly Rejoined Workforce
(Courtesy Bethany MacDonald)
Nancy MacDonald
Age: 74 Occupation: Receptionist Place of Work: Orchard View Manor, a nursing home and rehabilitation center in East Providence, Rhode Island Date of Death: April 25, 2020
Nancy MacDonald tried retiring, but couldn’t make it stick.
For 20 years, she was a middle school teaching assistant and cheerleading coach. At home, she loved painting rocks and watching “Blue Bloods” and “American Idol.” She was married with two adult children.
A lifelong Rhode Islander, Nancy was a people person, her daughter, Bethany MacDonald, said. “She always wanted to help others.”
So, in 2017, it was natural that she’d go back to work, this time at a nursing home.
As Orchard View’s COVID case count escalated, MacDonald worried. Still, she kept coming in — washing and reusing her N95 respirator and having her temperature taken daily.
Tim Brown, an Orchard View spokesperson, said the facility has “extensive infection control,” satisfying government guidelines. He would not say how often employees receive new N95s.
On April 13, MacDonald began coughing. By April 16, she was hospitalized. Her COVID test came back positive. She died 10 days later ― almost a week after her last conversation with her daughter.
“I said, ‘Mama, we love you,’” Bethany said. “The last words she said to me were, ‘I love you, too.’”
— Shefali Luthra, Kaiser Health News | Published May 12, 2020
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Despite Danger, Semi-Retired Nurse Kept Caring For ER Patients
(Courtesy of the Miles family)
Sheena Miles
Age: 60 Occupation: Registered nurse Place of Work: Scott Regional Hospital in Morton, Mississippi Date of Death: May 1, 2020
At age 60, Sheena Miles was semi-retired. She usually worked every other weekend, but as COVID-19 emerged in Mississippi, she worked four weekends in a row from mid-March to mid-April.
“I’ve got a duty,” she told her son, Tom Miles.
The economy where she lived is dominated by poultry plants, and the county has been a coronavirus hot spot. Sheena was diligent with protective gear, wearing her mask and doubling up on gloves, Tom said. She stayed home when she wasn’t working.
“Losing Sheena has been a tragic loss, as she had been a part of our hospital for 25 years,” said Heather Davis, a hospital administrator.
Sheena took ill on Easter Sunday. By Thursday, Tommy Miles, her husband of 43 years, drove her to the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson.
Two long weeks passed. The family was allowed to say goodbye in person, and on their way into her room, an ICU nurse told them that years ago Sheena had cared for his infant daughter. “‘Your mom saved her life,’” the nurse said.
“That was a little comfort in the storm,” Sheena’s son said.
— Michaela Gibson Morris | Published May 12, 2020
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A Nurse Who Was Living Her Dream Of Working In The U.S.
(Courtesy of Venus Donasco-Delfin)
Anjanette Miller
Age: 38 Occupation: Registered nurse Place of Work: Community First Medical Center and Kindred Chicago Lakeshore in Chicago, and Bridgeway Senior Living in Bensenville, Illinois Date of Death: April 14, 2020
As a child, Anjanette Miller dreamed of becoming a nurse in the U.S. She studied in her native Philippines and worked briefly in Saudi Arabia before fulfilling her wish in 2001.
Miller settled in Chicago and worked as a supervising nurse at three facilities. Her sister, Venus Donasco-Delfin, said Miller got along well with co-workers who shared her work ethic.
“At work, I think, she was strict, but beyond work, she’s a great friend,” Donasco-Delfin said. One of five siblings, she was the “pillar of the family” and supported relatives back home.
“I studied psychology for two years,” Donasco-Delfin said, “but she kept calling me [in the Philippines] and said, ‘No, Venus. … You have to pursue nursing. You will make a difference.’” Donasco-Delfin, now in Canada, became a nurse.
Miller started feeling sick in mid-March and was diagnosed with COVID-19 in early April. She self-isolated, chronicling her illness on YouTube and Facebook. She was hospitalized April 5 and died nine days later.
Miller had hoped to retire to the Philippines and pursue her other passion, filmmaking. Last year she traveled back home to shoot scenes for a project. “The movie she was making is about her life story,” Donasco-Delfin said. “But it’s not finished yet.”
— Danielle Renwick, The Guardian | Published May 12, 2020
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He Took The Time To Put Patients At Ease
(Courtesy of Holy Name Medical Center)
Jesus Villaluz
Age: 75 Occupation: Patient transport worker Place of Work: Holy Name Medical Center in Teaneck, New Jersey Date of Death: April 3, 2020
After Jesus Villaluz died from COVID-19 complications, colleagues lined the hallway at Holy Name Medical Center in Teaneck, New Jersey, to say goodbye. They’d never done that for anyone else.
“Jesus knew many and meant a lot to all of us, so this gesture felt like the right thing to do,” said hospital spokesperson Nicole Urena.
The hospital, and surrounding Bergen County, have been hit hard by the pandemic. By May 8, Holy Name had treated more than 6,000 COVID patients, 181 of whom died.
Villaluz worked at Holy Name for 27 years. In a Facebook post, the hospital memorialized Villaluz’s generosity: He once won a raffle and shared the winnings with colleagues, an anecdote New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy repeated at a news conference. Family members declined requests for an interview.
Co-worker Hossien Dahdouli said Villaluz’s compassion for patients was exemplary. He never rushed anyone, took the time to chat with patients and was always concerned for their privacy and safety, Dahdouli said.
Years ago, after Dahdouli had a sad day caring for deteriorating ICU patients, he asked Villaluz why he always appeared so happy.
“He said, ‘My worst day at work is better than someone’s best day as a patient.’”
— Anna Almendrala, Kaiser Health News | Published May 12, 2020
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Family Vacations And Reggae Gave Rhythm To His Life
(Courtesy of Nina Batayola)
Don Ryan Batayola
Age: 40 Occupation: Occupational therapist Place of Work: South Mountain Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center in Vauxhall, New Jersey Date of Death: April 4, 2020
April 4 was the day Don and Nina Batayola had planned to leave for London on a 10-day European vacation. Instead, that was the day Don died of COVID-19.
The Springfield, New Jersey, couple loved to travel ― on their own or with their children, Zoie, 10, and Zeth, 8. Disney World. Road trips to Canada. Every year for a week they would savor the beach on North Carolina’s Outer Banks.
Don’s love of reggae music prompted a trip to Jamaica to visit Bob Marley’s birthplace.
The Batayolas, both occupational therapists, moved to New Jersey from the Philippines 13 years ago to pursue their careers.
“He loved to help,” Nina said. “He had such the ability to make everybody smile or laugh.”
Don worked with at least one patient and a handful of colleagues who subsequently tested positive for COVID-19, and in late March, he developed symptoms. Nina came home from work for lunch on March 31 to find him struggling to breathe. She dialed 911.
He was hospitalized, then she also developed COVID symptoms. Self-isolating at home, Nina talked with Don once a day. She thought he seemed stronger but, on the fourth day, his heart suddenly stopped.
— Michelle Andrews | Published May 8, 2020
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Even On ‘The Saddest Day … She Could Make You Laugh’
(Courtesy of Kim Bruner)
Brittany Bruner-Ringo
Age: 32 Occupation: Nurse Place of Work: Silverado Beverly Place in Los Angeles Date of Death: April 20, 2020
When it was Brittany Bruner-Ringo’s turn to pick the family vacation, it was always New Orleans. A city so full of life.
And that is how family described the 32-year-old who left the Oklahoma plains for the excitement of Southern California.
“She always made the best of things,” her mother, Kim Bruner, said. “It could be the saddest day, and she could make you laugh.”
Bruner-Ringo worked at a dementia care center. On March 19, she admitted a patient flown in from New York. She suspected he might have COVID-19, and she was nervous. For fear of frightening the patients, she hadn’t been allowed to wear a mask or gloves, she told her mom by phone that night. (A spokesperson from her employer said, “We have no issues in our environment using appropriate masking and gloves and have followed CDC guidelines throughout this pandemic. We have always had adequate PPE to protect our residents and associates.”)
The following day, the patient grew worse. Bruner-Ringo checked into a hotel to isolate from her roommate. She later tested positive for COVID-19, but when she developed symptoms did not complain ― even to her mom: “She would say, ‘I’m fine. I’m going to beat this. Don’t worry about me.’”
Bruner, a veteran nurse herself, called the hotel front desk for help getting an ambulance to her daughter. She had just hung up with her daughter, who insisted she was fine, while struggling to breathe.
— Samantha Young, Kaiser Health News | Published May 8, 2020
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He And His Wife Shared A Lust For Travel ― And A COVID Diagnosis
(Courtesy of LaKita Bush)
Joshua Bush
Age: 30 Occupation: Nurse and nursing student Place of Work: Benton House of Aiken in Aiken, South Carolina Date of Death: April 17, 2020
Joshua Bush never let his wife, LaKita, forget that she was five hours late for their first date.
“He never held back telling the truth,” LaKita said, with a doleful laugh.
They met online in 2011, each attracted to the other’s lust for travel. For Joshua’s 30th birthday, they took a cruise to Bermuda. He yearned to go farther afield to Tokyo to revel over anime.
Joshua began his nursing career after high school, eventually ending up at Benton House of Aiken, an assisted living facility. Joshua and LaKita, who works in human resources for a hospital, thought it was allergy-related when they both fell ill in late March. Benton House had no confirmed COVID cases at the time, LaKita said. Even still, the staff was taking precautions.
A doctor prescribed Joshua flu medication, but his symptoms — fever and aches but no cough — worsened, and he was admitted to a hospital in Augusta, Georgia, on April 4.
“That was the last time I saw him alive,” LaKita said.
Over the next few days, both tested positive for the coronavirus. Joshua was sedated in the hospital for two weeks and died on April 17. LaKita recovered at home.
Joshua was earning a bachelor’s degree in nursing at the University of South Carolina-Aiken. May would have marked the couple’s fifth anniversary.
— Sarah Varney, Kaiser Health News | Published May 8, 2020
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Her Sudden Death Blindsided Husband And Autistic Son
(Courtesy of Vincent Carmello)
Karen Carmello
Age: 57 Occupation: Licensed practical nurse Place of Work: Maryhaven Center of Hope in Port Jefferson Station, New York Date of Death: April 16, 2020
Karen Carmello had an intimate understanding of working with intellectually disabled patients.
Her 26-year-old son, Steven, has autism. According to her husband, Vincent, the two spoke by phone every day. Steven would recall exactly what he did, and Karen listened intently.
“She could do no wrong in his eyes, ever,” Vincent said. “It’s a very special bond, but it’s one that she earned.”
Sharing the news of her death was shattering: “It was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do — letting him know.”
When Karen took ill, she discovered that a patient in her ward had tested positive for COVID-19. She was hospitalized March 23. Eight days later, she sent Vincent her last text, at 2:17 a.m., before going to the ICU.
On April 16, hospital staff called and asked whether Vincent would be comfortable signing a do-not-resuscitate order. He hadn’t been able to see his wife, so he didn’t completely grasp how grave her condition was.
“I thought, ‘OK, this must be a formality,'” he said. “I authorized it. And I got a call within two hours that she passed. I was stunned.”
— Shoshana Dubnow, Kaiser Health News | Published May 8, 2020
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His Facebook Posts Left Clues Of A Tragic Timeline
(Courtesy of Felicia Dodson-Hill)
Maurice Dotson
Age: 51 Occupation: Certified nursing assistant Place of Work: West Oaks Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Austin, Texas Date of Death: April 17, 2020
Maurice Dotson’s sister knew something was wrong when her older brother didn’t post his daily Facebook update.
“We knew he was good as long as he posted every morning,” Felicia Dodson-Hill, of Jacksonville, Arkansas, said.
Dotson, 51 ― a certified nursing assistant for 25 years at the West Oaks Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Austin — had begun caring for COVID-19 patients.
He sounded positive on Facebook, posting on March 30: “We are going through scary, difficult times, but better days are coming.”
Days later, family in Arkansas couldn’t reach him.
“We had been trying to get in contact with him since April 1st,” his sister said. “On April 3rd, he posted that he had to go to the hospital ― that he was not feeling good.”
Dodson-Hill said the hospital sent him home. Her mother finally reached him on April 6 or 7.
“He told my mom he didn’t have the energy to barely talk,” Dodson-Hill said.
Dawunna Wilson, a cousin from Hazen, Arkansas, said Maurice called an ambulance on April 8. Results from his coronavirus test done at the hospital came back positive the next day. “From there, it was pretty much downhill,” Wilson said.
— Sharon Jayson | Published May 5, 2020
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Community Salutes Nurse Who Loved Baseball
(Courtesy of Leigh Ann Lewis)
Barbara Finch
Age: 63 Occupation: Licensed practical nurse Place of Work: Southern Virginia Regional Medical Center in Emporia, Virginia Date of Death: March 29, 2020
When Barbara Finch got excited, she’d scrunch her hands into fists and wave them around like a kid at Christmas. She did it when the Atlanta Braves scored, or while watching her grandkids play baseball, her No. 1 passion outside work.
Finch spent her 37-year nursing career in the emergency department of the hospital in Emporia, Virginia (population of about 5,000), where one of her four children, Leigh Ann Lewis, worked as an EMT.
Lewis knew her mother was well liked: Patients she transported from the hospital would rave that Finch had been sweet and compassionate.
Finch fell ill on March 17 and died in an ICU 12 days later. As a hearse carried her casket to the graveyard, Lewis said, people lined the way at driveway mailboxes, churches and stores, holding signs that read, “We love you,” “Praying for you,” “Hugs.” At her hospital, employees released balloons to the sky.
“It seemed like, in our area, she knew everybody — either she worked with them, or they were a patient of hers at some point,” Lewis said. “It was a very, very large outpour of love and comfort and solidarity.”
— Melissa Bailey | Published May 8, 2020
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‘He Loved To Work,’ With No Plans To Retire
(Courtesy Giancarlo Pattugalan)
Tomas Pattugalan
Age: 70 Occupation: Internal medicine physician Place of Work: Private practice in Jamaica, Queens, New York Date of Death: March 29, 2020
Tomas Pattugalan’s kids had been encouraging him to retire. Even after 45 years of medicine, Pattugalan wasn’t ready to slow down.
“He loved his patients. He loved to work. He loved to help others,” said Giancarlo, his son. “He had an enormous capacity to give of himself.”
A father of three, Pattugalan grew up in the Philippines, immigrating to the U.S. in the 1970s. He was a devout Catholic — attending Mass weekly ― and “karaoke master,” Giancarlo said.
In early March, Pattugalan began testing patients for COVID-19. His medical history, including a family history of strokes and high blood pressure, heightened his own risk. So after tests of two patients returned positive, he got tested himself. On March 24, he learned he had the coronavirus.
“He made a joke and said Prince Charles had tested [positive] too, and he was sharing royalty,” Giancarlo said. “He was making light of it, not trying to get any of us worried.”
Pattugalan had a cough. Then came wheezing. His oxygen levels dropped. He tried hydroxychloroquine, an experimental treatment touted by President Donald Trump that has yielded mixed results. Nothing helped.
On March 29, Pattugalan agreed to seek hospital care. He died that day.
— Shefali Luthra, Kaiser Health News | Published May 8, 2020
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Says Widow Battling Cancer: ‘He Was My Backbone’
(Courtesy of Melissa Castro Santos)
Darrin Santos
Age: 50 Occupation: Transportation supervisor Place of Work: NewYork-Presbyterian Westchester Behavioral Health Center in White Plains, New York Date of Death: April 4, 2020
Melissa Castro Santos had just started a new treatment for multiple myeloma when her husband, Darrin, got sick.
For nearly two weeks, he isolated in their bedroom, but after he began gasping for air, he went to the hospital. He died of COVID-19 days later.
“It’s just unbelievable,” Castro Santos said.
As a transportation supervisor, Santos delivered health care workers and equipment between hospitals in the New York metropolitan area. He loved his job, Castro Santos said, and was known to drive doctors wherever and whenever they were needed, through heavy traffic and snowstorms.
Castro Santos, who has been battling cancer since 2012, said her husband doted on their three teenagers, all avid athletes. He arranged his work schedule to attend as many of their games as possible. When he couldn’t make it, she would call him on FaceTime so he could catch glimpses of the action.
Unable to hold a funeral, they arranged for burial five days after Santos died. Friends lined the streets in cars in a show of support as the family drove to and from the cemetery.
Now Castro Santos is confronting cancer without her husband. “He was my backbone. He was the one who took me to chemotherapy and appointments.”
— Anna Jean Kaiser, The Guardian | Published May 8, 2020
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An Animal Lover Who Loved Aerospace, She Died Alone At Home
(Courtesy of Aubree Farmer)
Lisa Ewald
Age: 53 Occupation: Registered nurse Place of Work: Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit Date of Death: April 1, 2020
Lisa Ewald was a nurse to many living things, human and otherwise.
When her neighbor Alexis Fernandez’s border collie had a stomach blockage, Ewald hooked the dog up to an IV four times a day. “She was this dedicated nurse who nursed my dog back to health,” Fernandez said.
Ewald also loved gardening, aerospace and comic book conventions.
Ewald told Fernandez that a patient she had treated later tested positive for COVID-19, and that she was not wearing a mask at the time. Two days later, after seeing the patient, she got sick. After delays in accessing a test, she learned on March 30 that she was infected with the coronavirus.
A hospital spokesperson acknowledged that staff who treat coronavirus patients have a higher risk of exposure, but said there was “no way to confirm” how a staff member contracted the virus.
On March 31, Ewald didn’t answer when Fernandez texted her. The next day, Fernandez and a hospital nurse went to Ewald’s home to check on her and found her unresponsive on the couch.
“I said, ‘Aren’t you going to go take her pulse or anything?’” Fernandez said. “The nurse just said, ‘She’s gone.’”
— Melissa Bailey | Published May 5, 2020
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An Ardent EMT Who Seemed To Have Nine Lives
(Courtesy of Ben Geiger)
Scott Geiger
Age: 47 Occupation: Emergency medical technician Place of Work: Atlantic Health System in Mountainside and Warren, New Jersey Date of Death: April 13, 2020
Scott Geiger wasn’t always enthusiastic about school, but at age 16 he brought home a tome the size of two phone books. It was a manual for emergency medical technicians, and he devoured it, said his younger brother, Ben Geiger.
Scott was certified as an EMT at 17. He never married or had kids, but did not seem to miss those things.
“He was so focused on being an EMT and helping people in their most vulnerable and desperate moments,” Ben said. “That’s really what made him feel good.”
Scott loved playing pool each week with friends. He was a loyal New York Jets football fan, content to joke about their follies and watch them lose. He was quiet. And he seemed to have nine lives, his brother said, surviving hospitalizations for epilepsy as a kid and blood cancer around age 40.
When the coronavirus began to tear a path through northern New Jersey, he faced his EMT work with resolve. He downplayed his symptoms when he first fell ill in late March, but wound up spending 17 days on a ventilator before he died. The family has had to mourn separately, with the brothers’ father, who lived with Scott, in quarantine, and their mother confined to her room in a nursing home that has COVID-19 cases.
— Christina Jewett, Kaiser Health News | Published May 5, 2020
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Caring Nurse ‘Always Put Herself Last’
(Courtesy of Lisa Lococo)
Theresa Lococo
Age: 68 Occupation: Pediatric nurse Place of Work: Kings County Hospital in Brooklyn, New York Date of Death: March 27, 2020
Theresa Lococo spent most of her life at the hospital, working as a pediatric nurse for almost 48 years.
“There wasn’t a day that goes by she wouldn’t come home and tell me about her patients,” said her daughter, Lisa Lococo. “She had to be forced to take her vacation days.”
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio publicly saluted her lifelong service to New Yorkers, saying, “She gave her life helping others.”
Theresa had dogs — “sometimes too many,” Lisa said — and lived with her son, Anthony, in the home she owned for decades. She loved cooking and watching cooking shows, reading and following soap operas.
Theresa wasn’t tested for COVID-19. But Kings County Hospital, in Brooklyn, was hit hard by the coronavirus.
Days before dying, she described nausea. Friends recalled a cough. Her supervisor encouraged her to stay home, her daughter said.
Lisa called her mother on March 27, just as Anthony was dialing 911 for help.
“She always put others first,” Lisa said. “She always put herself last.”
— Shefali Luthra, Kaiser Health News | Published May 5, 2020
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He Was Full Of Life And Planning For The Future
(Courtesy of the Luna family)
Felicisimo “Tom” Luna
Age: 62 Occupation: Emergency room nurse Place of Work: Trinitas Regional Medical Center in Elizabeth, New Jersey Date of Death: April 9, 2020
Tom Luna was a joker, a lively and outgoing man who thrived on the fast-paced and varied action of the emergency room. He also adored his three daughters, something clear to all who knew him.
“Tom was a fantastic emergency nurse. He was well liked and loved by his peers,” Gerard Muench, administrative director of the Trinitas emergency department, said in a statement. “His greatest love was for his wife and daughters, who he was very proud of.”
His oldest daughter, Gabrielle, 25, followed his path to become an ER nurse. When Tom fell ill with the coronavirus, he was admitted to the hospital where she works. At the end of her 12-hour night shifts, she made sure he had breakfast and helped him change his clothes. She propped a family photo next to his bed.
Tom’s wife, Kit, also a nurse, said that when some of his symptoms appeared to let up, they talked about him recovering at home. He was a planner, she said, and was already talking about their next family vacation, maybe to Spain.
— Christina Jewett | Published May 5, 2020
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Air Force Veteran Went ‘Above And Beyond For Patients’
Michael Marceaux and his wife, Dunia, when he graduated from nursing school in 2018 (Courtesy of Drake Marceaux)
Michael Marceaux
Age: 49 Occupation: Registered nurse Place of Work: Christus Highland Medical Center and Brentwood Hospital in Shreveport, Louisiana Date of Death: April 16, 2020
After Michael Marceaux retired from the Air Force, he went back to school. In 2018 he launched a new career as an emergency room nurse.
“Everyone who worked with him said he was so happy,” said Drake Marceaux, one of his four sons. “He was willing to go above and beyond for patients.”
As the coronavirus spread throughout Louisiana, Michael developed a cough and fever. Soon afterward, he tested positive for COVID-19.
“He didn’t seem too worried,” Drake said. “He just wanted to make sure not to give it to other people.”
A spokesperson with Christus Health said Michael would be missed for “how he always had a positive attitude, even after a hard shift. His laughter brought joy to others.” The spokesperson declined to answer questions about workplace safety conditions.
Drake said he wanted his father to be remembered for how much he was loved.
His funeral was livestreamed on Facebook. “At one point, there were 2,000 viewers watching his service,” Drake said. “As much as he didn’t want attention, it gravitated toward him.”
— Victoria Knight, Kaiser Health News | Published May 5, 2020
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She Loved To Give Gifts And Never Forgot Her Hometown
(Courtesy of Courtesy of Donald Jay Marcos)
Celia Lardizabal Marcos
Age: 61 Occupation: Telemetry charge nurse Place of Work: CHA Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center in Los Angeles Date of Death: April 17, 2020
Whenever she traveled to her hometown of Tagudin in the Philippines, Celia Lardizabal Marcos showered family with gifts and delighted in planning weekend outings for everyone, said her eldest son, Donald.
And when she returned home to California, she brought presents for her sons. “She always thought of how her family could be happy,” he said.
Trained as a nurse in her home country, Marcos immigrated to the United States in 2001 and settled in Los Angeles. Three years later, she became a telemetry charge nurse, a specialist who tracks patients’ vital signs using high-tech equipment.
On April 3, she was one of three nurses who responded after a suspected COVID patient went into cardiac arrest. Wearing a surgical mask, she intubated the patient. Three days later, she had a headache, body aches and difficulty breathing.
Her symptoms worsened, and she was admitted April 15 to the hospital where she had worked for 16 years. That was the last time Donald spoke to his mother. Two days later, she went into cardiac arrest and died that night.
Her sons plan to honor her wishes to be cremated and buried in Tagudin, alongside her parents.
— Christina M. Oriel, Asian Journal | Published May 5, 2020
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‘Hero Among Heroes,’ Doctor Cared For Generations Of Patients
Francis Molinari (right) with his siblings (from left) Janice, Albert and Lisa (Courtesy of Lisa Molinari)
Francis Molinari
Age: 70 Occupation: Physician Place of Work: Private practice in Belleville, New Jersey; privileges at Clara Maass Medical Center Date of Death: April 9, 2020
In late March, Dr. Francis “Frankie” Molinari told his sister Lisa he was “down for the count,” with chills, fever and trouble breathing.
“Frankie, you know what you have,” she recalled telling him.
“Yes.”
Two days later, he collapsed at home and was rushed to Clara Maass Medical Center. Colleagues stayed by his side as he succumbed to COVID-19.
“We take solace in the fact that he was cared for by colleagues and friends who deeply loved and respected him,” his sister Janice wrote in a blog. “He died a hero among heroes.”
Molinari, a New Jersey native who was married with an adult daughter, was the oldest of four siblings. His sisters describe him as a positive guy who loved music, fishing and teasing people with tall tales: He went to medical school in Bologna, Italy, and he liked to say he had played pinochle with the pope.
Molinari practiced medicine for over four decades, caring for generations of patients in the same family. His family suspects he contracted the coronavirus at his private practice.
“A friend had once described us as four different legs of the same table,” Janice wrote. “Now I’m stuck on the fact that we are only a three-legged table. Less beautiful, less sturdy. Broken.”
— Laura Ungar, Kaiser Health News | Published May 5, 2020
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5-Foot-Tall ‘Fireball’ Was A Prankster To Her Sons
(Courtesy Josh Banago)
Celia Yap-Banago
Age: 69 Occupation: Registered nurse Place of Work: Research Medical Center in Kansas City, Missouri Date of Death: April 21, 2020
Celia Yap-Banago was a 5-foot-tall “fireball,” said one co-worker. She had moved to the U.S. from the Philippines in 1970 and worked for nearly 40 years for the HCA Midwest Health system. Her family said she was planning for retirement.
Her son Josh said she showed her love through practical jokes: “You knew she loved you if she was yelling at you or if she was pranking you.”
“She was very outspoken,” said Charlene Carter, a fellow nurse. “But I later learned that’s a really good quality to have, as a nurse, so you can advocate for your patients and advocate for yourself.”
In March, Yap-Banago treated a patient who later tested positive for COVID-19. Carter said Yap-Banago was not given personal protective equipment because she was not working in an area designed for COVID patients. She spent her final days in isolation to protect others.
A spokesperson for HCA Midwest Health said that medical staff received adequate personal protective equipment in line with CDC guidelines.
Josh said she spoke with reverence of her patients and their families. “She was always focused on the family as a whole, and that the family was taken care of, not just the patient in the bed,” he said.
— Alex Smith, KCUR | Published May 5, 2020
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In Ministry And Rescue Missions, ‘He Put His All Into It’
(Courtesy of the Birmingham Family)
Billy Birmingham Sr.
Age: 69 Occupation: Emergency medical technician Place of Work: Kansas City Missouri Fire Department Date of Death: April 13, 2020
Bill Birmingham Jr. fondly remembers the year his father took on a new career. The whole family studied, even acting out scenes to ensure Billy Birmingham Sr., a minister, was ready for his emergency medical technician exam.
“He put his all into it,” the son recalled.
Billy Birmingham passed the test. And from the late 1990s on, he served as an EMT and a minister.
His family rallied again for his doctorate in pastoral theology. During nearly four decades as a minister, he founded two churches.
“He had a heart for other people,” his son said. “Whatever he could do for other people, he would do it.”
As an EMT with the Kansas City Fire Missouri Department, he was exposed to the novel coronavirus. The cough came in March.
“‘I’m just tired.’ That’s what he kept saying,” his son said. His dad went to the hospital twice. The first time he told the staff about his symptoms and underlying health conditions, then they sent him home.
The second time he arrived in an ambulance. Just over two weeks later, his final hours arrived.
Hospital staff set up a video chat so his family could see him one last time.
— Cara Anthony, Kaiser Health News | Published May 1, 2020
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Jovial Man Trained Scores Of Doctors In Obstetrics, Gynecology And Kindness
(Courtesy of Ashley Ulker)
Luis Caldera-Nieves
Age: 63 Occupation: OB-GYN doctor Place of Work: University of Miami and Jackson health systems in Miami Date of Death: April 8, 2020
“Somos felices.” That was Dr. Luis Caldera-Nieves’ signature signoff after a cesarean section or patient visit or at the end of a difficult shift. “We’re happy,” he meant, and often, when he was around, it was true.
Caldera-Nieves, a popular OB-GYN, trained scores of doctors and helped bring thousands of babies into the world in his 25 years at the University of Miami and Jackson health systems.
Born in Bayamón, Puerto Rico, he worked as an Air Force doctor before joining UM, said longtime co-worker Dr. Jaime Santiago. Caldera-Nieves was so devoted to his patients that he often gave them his private phone number — and his wife’s, Santiago said.
Because he was so jovial, he earned the nickname “the Puerto Rican Santa Claus,” Santiago said.
“He was truly loved and admired by everyone who worked with him, and will be remembered for his humor and never-ending positive energy,” said Dr. Jean-Marie Stephan, who trained under Caldera-Nieves.
In a statement, UM and Jackson confirmed Caldera-Nieves died from complications of COVID-19 and said they “grieve the loss of our esteemed and beloved colleague.” He is survived by his wife and six adult children.
— Melissa Bailey | Published May 1, 2020
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A Cluster Of Illness Robs Community Of Another Fearless EMT
(Courtesy of Vito Cicchetti)
Kevin Leiva
Age: 24 Occupation: Emergency medical technician Place of Work: Saint Clare’s Health in Passaic, New Jersey Date of Death: April 7, 2020
When Kevin Leiva died of COVID-19 in early April, it was a second crushing loss to his close-knit team of EMT workers. Their colleague, Israel Tolentino Jr., had died one week before.
“People were scared that everyone was going to die from it,” said Vito Cicchetti, a director at Saint Clare’s Health, where the men worked. “After Izzy died, we all started getting scared for Kevin.”
Leiva, according to an obituary, “was always worried about his crew.” He was “very proud” of his work and was recalled to have said “becoming an EMT was an act of God.”
He met his wife, Marina, online while they were in high school. She moved a thousand miles to build a life with him. He loved spending time at their home, playing guitar and tending to his tegu lizards, AJ and Blue.
As COVID-19 ramped up, the station’s three ambulances each handled up to 15 dispatches a shift, roughly double the usual number. In a busy 12-hour shift, EMTs often responded to calls continuously, stopping only to decontaminate themselves and the truck.
Leiva “always had a joke” that helped to defuse stressful situations and bring his co-workers together, Cicchetti said.
— Michelle Andrews | Published May 1, 2020
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Firefighting And ‘Helping People’ Were In His Blood
(Courtesy of the Terre Haute Fire Department)
John Schoffstall
Age: 41 Occupation: Paramedic and firefighter Place of Work: Terre Haute Fire Department in Terre Haute, Indiana Date of Death: April 12, 2020
John Schoffstall grew up around firehouses, and it was at his own firehouse in Terre Haute, Indiana, that he was exposed to the coronavirus.
A paramedic and firefighter with the Terre Haute Fire Department for almost 12 years, Schoffstall died April 12 at age 41. Deputy Chief Glen Hall said investigations by the county health department and his own department “determined John contracted the virus from another firefighter in the firehouse.” Four other firefighters “had symptoms but none progressed.”
“We respond every day to potential COVID patients,” Hall said.
Jennifer Schoffstall, his wife of 18 years, said her husband went to the hospital March 28.
“His breathing was so bad in the ER, they just decided to keep him,” she said. “He regressed from there.”
Hall said Schoffstall’s “biggest hobby was his family,” with a son, 17, and a daughter, 13.
Schoffstall’s father had been a volunteer firefighter, Jennifer said, and her husband signed up for the New Goshen Volunteer Fire Department when he turned 18.
“He loved the fire service and everything about it,” she said. “He loved helping people.”
— Sharon Jayson | Published May 1, 2020
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Boston Nurse, A Former Bus Driver, Was A Champion For Education
(Courtesy of Teadris Pope)
Rose Taldon
Age: 63 Occupation: Nurse Place of Work: New England Baptist Hospital in Boston Date of Death: April 12, 2020
Rose Taldon was just 5 feet tall. But when she bellowed out the window, her kids ran right home.
“She didn’t take any crap,” said her daughter, Teadris Pope.
Taldon raised three children with her husband on the street where she grew up in Dorchester, Boston. She was respected as a strong black woman, earning a nursing degree while working in public transit for 23 years. Described as stern, she still was quick to tickle her eight grandkids.
Taldon was generous: Even as she lay in a hospital in April, exhausted from the coronavirus, she arranged to pay bills for an out-of-work friend, her daughter said.
It’s unclear whether Taldon caught the virus at her hospital, designated for non-COVID patients. Hospital officials said three patients and 22 staff have tested positive.
Once her mother was hospitalized, Pope couldn’t visit. On Easter morning, a doctor called at 2 a.m., offering to put Taldon on a video call.
“I just talked until I had no words,” Pope said. “I was just telling her, ‘We’re so proud of you. You worked so hard raising us. … You’ve gone through a hell of a fight.'”
An hour later, her mother was gone.
— Melissa Bailey | Published May 1, 2020
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Unflappable First Responder With An Ever-Ready Smile
(Courtesy of Vito Cicchetti)
Israel Tolentino Jr.
Age: 33 Occupation: Emergency medical technician and firefighter Place of Work: Saint Clare’s Health and the Passaic Fire Department, both in Passaic, New Jersey Date of Death: March 31, 2020
When Israel Tolentino Jr. arrived for his EMT shift one morning in March, he seemed fine. Then he got a headache. Then a fever came on, and he was sent home, said Vito Cicchetti, a director at Saint Clare’s Health.
Izzy, as he was called, was an EMT who fulfilled his dream to become a firefighter. In 2018, the former Marine took a job with the Passaic Fire Department but kept up shifts at Saint Clare’s.
He was husband to Maria Vazquez, whom he’d met at church, according to nj.com. They had two young children.
The work pace could be brutal during the pandemic. In a 12-hour shift, Tolentino and his partner were dispatched to one emergency after another, each typically lasting under an hour but requiring nearly that long to decontaminate their gear and truck.
Izzy died in hospital care. The coronavirus tore through his EMT team. Most eventually recovered. But his friend and co-worker Kevin Leiva also died.
Izzy’s unflappable, cheerful presence is missed, Cicchetti said: “No matter how mad you were, he’d come up with a smile and you’d be chuckling to yourself.”
Cicchetti hasn’t replaced either man: “I don’t know if I’m ready for that yet.”
— Michelle Andrews | Published May 1, 2020
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Their Decade-Long Dream Marriage Ends In Nightmare
(Courtesy of the Detroit Fire Department)
Capt. Franklin Williams
Age: 57 Occupation: Firefighter and medical first responder Place of Work: Detroit Fire Department in Detroit Date of Death: April 8, 2020
Capt. Franklin Williams stood at the altar on his wedding day and pretended to hunt for the ring. He patted his chest, then his pants legs and looked up at his soon-to-be wife with a million-dollar smile.
He was always clowning and “so silly,” said Shanita Williams, his wife, recalling how he wanted to make her laugh. Williams, 57, died from complications of the novel coronavirus on April 8 — one month before the couple’s 10-year wedding anniversary.
Williams had been on an emergency call with a verified COVID patient before falling ill, according to Detroit Fire Department Chief Robert Distelrath. He died in the line of duty.
Crews are equipped with personal protective equipment including a gown, N95 mask and gloves. But it’s easy for a mask to slip ― “when you’re giving [chest] compressions, your mask isn’t staying in place all the time,” said Thomas Gehart, president of the Detroit Fire Fighters Association.
When Williams fell sick on March 24, he moved to the guest bedroom and never returned to work.
“I’m thankful and thank God for having him in my life,” Shanita said, adding that she keeps hoping this is a nightmare and she’ll soon wake up.
— Sarah Jane Tribble, Kaiser Health News | Published May 1, 2020
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A 9/11 First Responder, He Answered The Call During The Pandemic
(Courtesy of the Valley Stream Fire Department)
Mike Field
Age: 59 Occupation: Volunteer emergency medical technician Place of Work: Village of Valley Stream on New York’s Long Island Date of Death: April 8, 2020
Mike Field had a strong sense of civic duty. An emergency medical technician, he was a first responder with the New York Fire Department (FDNY) on 9/11. He was also a member of his community’s all-volunteer fire department since 1987.
After he retired from FDNY in 2002, he took a job making and posting street signs with his local public works department. He continued to volunteer with Valley Stream’s fire department and mentoring the junior fire department. When he wasn’t responding to emergencies or training future emergency technicians, he led a Boy Scout troop and volunteered for animal causes.
“Here’s somebody who cares about the community and cares about its people,” said Valley Stream’s mayor, Ed Fare, who had known Mike since the seventh grade.
Stacey Field, Mike’s wife, said he found his calling early, after his own father experienced a heart attack. “When the fire department EMTs came and helped his dad, he decided that’s what he wanted to do,” she said.
Their three sons ― Steven, 26; Richie, 22; and Jason, 19 — have followed in their father’s footsteps. Steven and Richie are EMTs in New York; Jason plans on training to become one as well. All three volunteer at the same fire station their father did.
In late March, Mike and fellow volunteer responders were called to an emergency involving a patient showing symptoms of COVID-19. Field died on April 8.
— Sharon Jayson | Published April 29, 2020
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Nurse Fought For His Life In Same ICU Where He Cared For Patients
(Courtesy of Romielyn Guillermo)
Ali Dennis Guillermo
Age: 44 Occupation: Nurse Place of Work: Long Island Community Hospital in East Patchogue, New York Date of Death: April 7, 2020
In 2004, Ali Dennis Guillermo, his wife, Romielyn, and their daughter came to New York from the Philippines to find a better life.
Everything fell into place. The former nursing instructor landed a job at Long Island Community Hospital, often working in intensive care or the emergency room. He enjoyed the intensity of ER work, his wife said. As years passed, the couple had two sons and settled into a close-knit Filipino community.
As COVID-19 emerged, Guillermo was posted to the step-down floor, working with patients transitioning out of intensive care.
A lot of the nurses on his floor had gotten sick with the virus, his wife said, and “everybody was scared.”
And then, Guillermo felt achy, with a fever that soared to 102. He went to the hospital and X-rays were taken, but he was sent home. Within days, his blood oxygen level plummeted.
“My nails are turning blue,” he told his wife. “You should take me to the ER.”
He was admitted that night in late March, and they never spoke again.
In the ICU unit where he’d often worked, Guillermo was intubated and treated. Nearly two weeks later, he died.
— Michelle Andrews | Published April 29, 2020
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An Eager Student, He Aimed To Become A Physician Assistant
(Courtesy of Catrisha House-Phelps)
James House
Age: 40 Occupation: Registered nurse Place of Work: Omni Continuing Care nursing home in Detroit Date of Death: March 31, 2020
James House had a voracious appetite for learning about and a fascination with the human body.
His sister, Catrisha House-Phelps, traces it back to childhood visits to a dialysis center where their father received treatments. “That was what tugged at his heart,” she said. “He just always wanted to know ‘why.’”
House-Phelps said her brother adored his five children, treasured his anatomy and physiology books and got a kick out of the residents he cared for at Omni Continuing Care. “He thought they were family; he just said they were funny people,” she said. He had hoped to go back to school to become a physician assistant.
House came down with what he thought was the flu in mid-March. His sister said he tried to get tested for COVID-19 but was turned away because he was not showing textbook symptoms and had no underlying health issues. On March 31, after resting at home for over a week, House returned to work. Hours later, he collapsed and was rushed to the hospital.
He texted his sister with updates on his condition. “I’m about to be intubated now,” he wrote. It was the last message he sent her.
— Danielle Renwick, The Guardian | Published April 29, 2020
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She Loved A Parade And Catering To Patients
Pamela Hughes and her daughter, Brie (Courtesy of Angie McAllister)
Pamela Hughes
Age: 50 Occupation: Nursing home medication aide Place of Work: Signature HealthCARE at Summit Manor in Columbia, Kentucky Date of Death: April 13, 2020
Pamela Hughes lived her entire life in rural Columbia, Kentucky, but longed for wide, sandy beaches. For vacation, Hughes and her daughter, Brie, 26, eagerly drove 14 hours to Daytona Beach, Florida, or Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
After high school, Hughes worked at Summit Manor, a nursing home in Columbia, for 32 years. She knew which residents preferred chocolate milk or applesauce with their medication; she remembered their favorite outfits and colors. Hughes’ shy demeanor vanished each December when she and co-worker Angie McAllister built a float for the town’s Christmas parade competition.
“We built 10 floats over 10 years,” McAllister said. “We got second place every year.”
Even after several residents tested positive for the coronavirus, Hughes dismissed her worsening cough as allergies or bronchitis. The nursing home was short on help and she wanted to serve her patients, Brie said.
Days later, the public health department suggested her mother get tested. She tested positive, and her health worsened — food tasted bitter, her fever soared, her hearing dulled. On April 10, Hughes was taken by ambulance to a hospital, then by helicopter to Jewish Hospital in Louisville. Barred from visiting, Brie said goodbye over FaceTime.
— Sarah Varney, Kaiser Health News | Published April 29, 2020
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The Family Matriarch And ‘We’re Failing Miserably Without Her’
(Courtesy of Ginu John)
Aleyamma John
Age: 65 Occupation: Registered nurse Place of Work: Queens Hospital Center in New York City Date of Death: April 5, 2020
Aleyamma John’s family wanted her to retire. Her husband, Johnny, an MTA transit worker, had stopped working a few years earlier. He and their son Ginu urged her to follow suit. “We told her, ‘I’m sure Dad wants to see the world with you — you need to give him that opportunity,’” Ginu said.
She demurred. “I think she found fulfillment in being able to serve,” Ginu said. “She was able to hold people’s hands, you know, even when they were deteriorating and be there for them.” She began her career as a nurse in India 45 years ago; she and her husband immigrated to the United Arab Emirates, where their two sons were born, and moved to New York in 2002.
Ginu said his mother, a devout Christian, found joy in tending to her vegetable garden and doting on her two grandchildren. She cooked dishes from her native India and filled the Long Island home she shared with Johnny, Ginu and Ginu’s family with flowers.
In March, as Queens Hospital Center began to swell with COVID-19 patients, John sent her family a photo of herself and colleagues wearing surgical hats and masks but not enough personal protective equipment. Days later, she developed a fever and tested positive for the virus. Johnny, Ginu and Ginu’s wife, Elsa, a nurse practitioner, also became ill.
When John’s breathing became labored, her family made the difficult decision to call 911. It would be the last time they saw her. “We’re 17 days in, and I feel like we’re failing miserably without her,” Ginu said.
— Danielle Renwick, The Guardian | Published April 29, 2020
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‘A Kind Man’ Looking Forward To Retirement
(Courtesy of Jesse Soto)
Thomas Soto
Age: 59 Occupation: Radiology clerk Place of Work: Woodhull Medical Center, a public hospital in Brooklyn, New York Date of Death: April 7, 2020
After more than 30 years at one of New York City’s busy public hospitals, Thomas Soto loved his job but was looking forward to retiring, said his son, Jesse Soto, who lived with him.
At Soto’s busy station near the emergency room, he greeted patients and took down their information.
“Everybody saw him before their X-rays,” Soto, 29, said. “He smiled all day, made jokes. He was a kind man.”
As COVID patients began to overwhelm Woodhull and other emergency rooms across the city, Soto said that at first his father didn’t have any protective gear.
He eventually got a mask. But he still grew very sick, developing a high fever, body aches and a wracking cough. After a week, Soto said, “he couldn’t take it anymore.”
He went to Woodhull, where he was admitted. When they tried to put him on a ventilator two days later, he died. The hospital did not respond to requests for comment.
— Michelle Andrews | Published April 29, 2020
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‘Blooming’ In Her First Job On Path To Becoming A Nurse
(Courtesy of the Viveros family via GoFundMe)
Valeria Viveros
Age: 20 Occupation: Nursing assistant Place of Work: Extended Care Hospital of Riverside, California Date of Death: April 5, 2020
At 20 years old, Valeria Viveros was “barely blooming,” developing the skills and ambition to pursue a nursing career, said Gustavo Urrea, her uncle. Working at Extended Care Hospital of Riverside was her first job.
Viveros, born in California to Mexican immigrants, grew attached to her patients at the nursing home, bringing them homemade ceviche, Urrea said. About a month ago, as he watched her cook, play and joke with her grandmother, he noticed how much her social skills had grown.
When she would say “Hi, Tío,” in her playful, sweet, high-pitched voice, “it was like the best therapy you could have,” Urrea recalled. Viveros, who lived with her parents and two siblings, was enrolled in classes at a community college.
Viveros felt sick on March 30, went to a nearby hospital and was sent home with Tylenol, Urrea said. By April 4, she couldn’t get out of bed on her own. She left in an ambulance and never came back.
“We’re all destroyed,” he said. “I can’t even believe it.”
On April 5, county health officials reported a coronavirus outbreak had sickened 30 patients and some staff at her nursing home. Trent Evans, general counsel for Extended Care, said staffers are heartbroken by her death.
Viveros was “head over heels in love with the residents that she served,” he said. “She was always there for them.”
— Melissa Bailey | Published April 29, 2020
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Surgical Technician Made Friends Everywhere She Went
(Courtesy of Jorge Casarez)
Monica Echeverri Casarez
Age: 49 Occupation: Surgical technician Place of Work: Detroit Medical Center Harper University Hospital in Detroit Date of Death: April 11, 2020
Monica Echeverri Casarez was in constant motion, said her husband, Jorge Casarez. The daughter of Colombian immigrants, she worked as a Spanish-English interpreter in clinical settings. She was the kind of person whose arrival at a mom and pop restaurant would elicit hugs from the owners. She also co-founded Southwest Detroit Restaurant Week, a nonprofit that supports local businesses.
Twice a month, she scrubbed in as a surgical technician at Harper University Hospital. “She liked discovering the beauty of how the body works and how science is clear and orderly,” Casarez said. She was organized and intuitive, qualities that are assets in the operating room. On March 21, she posted a photo of herself in protective gear with the caption: “I’d be lying if I said I wan’t at least a bit nervous to be there now.” Since many elective surgeries had been canceled, Echeverri Casarez was tasked with taking the temperatures of people who walked into the hospital and making sure their hands were sterilized.
Soon after, Echeverri Casarez and Casarez began feeling ill. Quarantined together, Echeverri Casarez tried to make the best of the situation. She baked her husband a cake — chocolate with white frosting. She died a few days later.
— Danielle Renwick, The Guardian | Published April 24, 2020
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A Whip-Smart Neurologist Endlessly Fascinated With The Brain
(Courtesy of Jennifer Sclar)
Gary Sclar
Age: 66 Occupation: Neurologist Place of Work: Mount Sinai Queens in New York City Date of Death: April 12, 2020
Gary Sclar was a whip-smart neurologist who loved comic books, “Game of Thrones” and “Star Wars,” said his daughter, Jennifer Sclar. He was deeply compassionate with a blunt bedside manner.
“My dad was fascinated with the brain and with science,” Jennifer Sclar said. “His work was his passion, and it’s what made him the happiest, besides my brother and me.” Set to retire in June, he was looking forward to writing about politics and neurology.
Gary Sclar saw patients who were showing COVID-19 symptoms and knew his age and underlying health conditions ― he had diabetes — put him at risk for developing complications from the illness. His daughter pleaded with him to stop going to the hospital.
In early April, he mentioned having lost his sense of smell, and on April 8 he collapsed in his home. He was hospitalized a few days later and agreed to be intubated. “I don’t think he realized, like, that this was the end,” Jennifer Sclar said. “He brought his keys. He brought his wallet.”
— Danielle Renwick, The Guardian | Published April 24, 2020
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An Exacting But Loving Aunt, She Was A Mentor Until The End
(Courtesy of Jhoanna Mariel Buendia)
Araceli Buendia Ilagan
Age: 63 Occupation: Intensive care unit nurse Place of Work: Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami Date of Death: March 27, 2020
For Jhoanna Mariel Buendia, her aunt was a constant ― if distant — presence. Araceli Buendia Ilagan emigrated from their hometown Baguio, in the Philippines, to the U.S. before Buendia was born, but she remained close to her family and communicated with them nearly every day.
“She was one of the smartest people I ever knew,” Buendia, 27, said. Buendia Ilagan, who at one point looked into adopting her niece so she could join her and her husband the United States, encouraged Buendia to become a nurse, and talked her through grueling coursework in anatomy and physiology. Buendia is now a nurse in London.
Buendia Ilagan was also demanding. “Whenever she visited the Philippines, she wanted everything to be organized and squeaky-clean,” Buendia said.
The last time the two spoke, in late March, Buendia Ilagan didn’t mention anything about feeling ill. Instead, the two commiserated over their experiences of treating patients with COVID-19; as always, her aunt offered her advice on staying safe while giving the best possible care. She died four days later.
— Danielle Renwick, The Guardian | Published April 22, 2020
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A Beloved Geriatric Psychiatrist And Church Musician Remembered For His Cooking Skills
(Courtesy of Nida Gonzales)
Leo Dela Cruz
Age: 57 Occupation: Geriatric psychiatrist Place of Work: Christ Hospital and CarePoint Health in Jersey City, New Jersey Date of Death: April 8, 2020
Dr. Leo Dela Cruz was nervous about going to work in the weeks before he died, his friends said. Like many in the region, Christ Hospital had an influx of COVID-19 patients and faced a shortage of ventilators and masks.
Dela Cruz was a geriatric psychiatrist and didn’t work in coronavirus wards. But he continued to see patients in person. In early April, Dela Cruz, who lived alone, complained only of migraines, his friends said. Within a week, his condition worsened, and he was put on a ventilator at a nearby hospital. He died soon after.
Friends said he may have been exposed at the hospital. (In a statement, hospital representatives said he didn’t treat COVID-19 patients.)
Dela Cruz, the oldest of 10 siblings, came from a family of health care professionals. His friends and family — from Cebu, Philippines, to Teaneck, New Jersey — remembered his jovial personality on Facebook. He won “best doctor of the year” awards, played tennis and cooked traditional Cebu dishes.
Nida Gonzales, a colleague, said he always supported people, whether funding a student’s education or running a church mental health program. “I feel like I lost a brother,” she said.
— Ankita Rao, The Guardian | Published April 22, 2020
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Alabama Nurse Remembered As Selfless But Sassy
(Courtesy of Amanda Williams)
Rose Harrison
Age: 60 Occupation: Nurse Place of Work: Marion Regional Nursing Home in Hamilton, Alabama Date of Death: April 6, 2020
Rose Harrison, 60, lived to serve others ― her husband, three daughters, grandchildren and the residents of the nursing home where she worked. Though the Alabama nurse was selfless, she also had a sassy edge to her personality and a penchant for road rage, her daughter, Amanda Williams said.
“Her personality was so funny, you automatically loved her,” Williams said. “She was so outspoken. If she didn’t agree with you, she’d tell you in a respectful way.”
Harrison was not wearing a mask when she cared for a patient who later tested positive for COVID-19 at Marion Regional Nursing Home in Hamilton, Alabama, her daughter said. She later developed a cough, fatigue and a low-grade fever, but kept reporting to duty all week. Officials from the nursing home did not return calls for comment.
On April 3, Williams drove her mother to a hospital. The following evening, Harrison discussed the option of going on a ventilator with loved ones on a video call, agreeing it was the best course. Williams believed that her mother fully expected to recover. She died April 6.
— Christina Jewett, Kaiser Health News | Published April 22, 2020
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Connecticut Social Worker Had Angelic Singing Voice And A Zest For Life
(Courtesy of the Hunt family)
Curtis Hunt
Age: 57 Occupation: Social worker Places of Work: Cornell Scott-Hill Health Center and New Reach, both in New Haven, Connecticut Date of Death: March 23, 2020
At a shelter for adults recovering from addiction, residents looked forward to the days when Marion “Curtis” Hunt would take the stage, emceeing talent shows and belting out Broadway and gospel tunes.
It wasn’t part of his job description as a social worker. It was just one of the ways he went “above and beyond,” said his supervisor at Cornell Scott-Hill Health Center, Daena Murphy. “He had a beautiful voice,” she said. “He was just a wonderful person — funny, engaging, always a huge smile on his face.”
Hunt, the youngest of four brothers, earned his master’s in social work from Fordham University at 52, and was baptized at his brother’s Pentecostal church at 54. He was a devoted uncle who doted on his dog and cat, Mya and Milo.
It’s unclear how Hunt got infected, but one patient he worked with had tested positive for COVID-19, as did two co-workers, according to Dr. Ece Tek, another supervisor at Cornell Scott-Hill Health Center. Hunt died on March 23, one week after developing flu-like symptoms, said his brother John Mann Jr.
— Melissa Bailey | Published April 22, 2020
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To The End, King-Smith Was Driven By A Desire To Help Others
(Courtesy of Hassana Salaam-Rivers)
Kim King-Smith
Age: 53 Occupation: Electrocardiogram technician Place of Work: University Hospital in Newark, New Jersey Date of Death: March 31, 2020
Kim King-Smith was a natural caregiver. An only child, she grew up close to her extended family, including her cousins Hassana Salaam-Rivers and Sharonda Salaam. After Salaam developed multiple sclerosis, King-Smith visited her every day.
“She’d bring her sweets that she wasn’t supposed to have and share them with her,” Salaam-Rivers said. King-Smith’s desire to care for others was the reason she became an electrocardiogram technician, her cousin added. “If a friend of a friend or family member went to the hospital, she would always go and visit them as soon as her shift was over,” she said.
In March, King-Smith cared for a patient she said had symptoms of COVID-19; she soon fell ill herself and tested positive for the virus. It seemed like a mild case at first, and she stayed in touch with family via FaceTime while trying to isolate from her husband, Lenny.
On March 29, Salaam-Rivers checked in on her cousin and noticed she was struggling to breathe. She urged her to call an ambulance. After King-Smith was hospitalized, she exchanged text messages with her mother and cousin. As the day progressed, her messages carried increasingly grave news, Salaam-Rivers said. Then she stopped responding.
— Danielle Renwick, The Guardian | Published April 22, 2020
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On The Eve Of Retirement, VA Nurse Succumbs To COVID-19
(Courtesy of Mark Accad)
Debbie Accad
Age: 72 Occupation: Clinical nursing coordinator Place of Work: Detroit VA Medical Center in Detroit, Michigan Date of Death: March 30, 2020
Nurse Divina “Debbie” Accad had cared for veterans for over 25 years and was set to retire in April. But after contracting the novel coronavirus, she spent her final 11 days on a ventilator — and didn’t survive past March.
She joined a growing list of health care professionals working on the front lines of the pandemic who have died from COVID-19.
Accad, 72, a clinical nursing coordinator at the Detroit VA Medical Center, dedicated her life to nursing, according to her son Mark Accad.
“She died doing what she loved most,” he said. “That was caring for people.”
Read more here.
— Melissa Bailey | Published April 15, 2020
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California Nurse Thrived In ER and ICU, But Couldn’t Survive COVID-19
Jeff Baumbach and his wife, Karen (Courtesy of the Baumbach family)
Jeff Baumbach
Age: 57 Occupation: Nurse Place of Work: St. Joseph’s Medical Center in Stockton, California Date of Death: March 31, 2020
Jeff Baumbach, 57, was a seasoned nurse of 28 years when the novel coronavirus began to circulate in California. He’d worked in the ER, the ICU and on a cardiac floor. Hepatitis and tuberculosis had been around over the years but never posed a major concern. He’d cared for patients who had tuberculosis.
Jeff and his wife, Karen Baumbach, also a nurse, initially didn’t consider it significantly riskier than challenges they’d faced for years.
“He’d worked in the ICU. He was exposed to so many things, and we never got anything,” she said. “This was just ramping up.”
One day during work, Jeff sent a sarcastic text to his wife: “I love wearing a mask every day.”
Within weeks, he would wage a difficult and steady fight against the virus that ended with a sudden collapse.
Read more here.
— Christina Jewett, Kaiser Health News | Published April 15, 2020
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Nurse’s Faith Led Her To Care For Prisoners At A New Jersey Jail
(Courtesy of Denise Rendor)
Daisy Doronila
Age: 60 Occupation: Nurse Place of Work: Hudson County Correctional Facility in Kearny, New Jersey Date of Death: April 5, 2020
Daisy Doronila had a different perspective than most who worked at the Hudson County Correctional Facility, a New Jersey lockup 11 miles from Manhattan. It was a place where the veteran nurse could put her Catholic faith into action, showing kindness to marginalized people.
“There would be people there for the most heinous crimes,” said her daughter, Denise Rendor, 28, “but they would just melt towards my mother because she really was there to give them care with no judgment.”
Doronila, 60, died April 5, two weeks after testing positive for the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. The jail has been hit hard by the virus, with 27 inmates and 68 staff members having tested positive. Among those, another nurse, a correctional officer and a clerk also died, according to Ron Edwards, Hudson County’s director of corrections.
Doronila fell ill before the scope of the jail infections were known. She was picking up extra shifts in the weeks before, her daughter said, and planning on a trip to Israel soon with friends from church.
That plan began to fall apart March 14, when someone at the jail noticed her coughing and asked her to go home and visit a doctor.
Read more here.
— Christina Jewett, Kaiser Health News | Published April 15, 2020
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An Army Veteran, Hospital Custodian ‘Loved Helping People’
(Courtesy of Michelle Wilcox)
Alvin Simmons
Age: 54 Occupation: Environmental service assistant Place of Work: Rochester General Hospital in Rochester, New York Death: March 17, 2020
Alvin Simmons started working as a custodian at Rochester General Hospital, in New York state, weeks before he fell ill. “He loved helping people and he figured the best place to do that would be in a hospital,” his sister, Michelle Wilcox said.
An Army veteran who had served in the first Gulf War, Simmons loved karaoke and doted on his three grandchildren, Wilcox said. “He was a dedicated, hardworking individual who had just changed his life around” since a prison stint, she said.
According to Wilcox, Simmons began developing symptoms shortly after cleaning the room of a woman he believed was infected with the novel coronavirus. “Other hospital employees did not want to clean the room because they said they weren’t properly trained” to clean the room of someone potentially infected, she said. “They got my brother from a different floor, because he had just started there,” she said. (In an email, a hospital spokesperson said they had “no evidence to suggest that Mr. Simmons was at a heightened risk of exposure to COVID-19 by virtue of his training or employment duties at RGH.”)
On March 11, he visited the emergency room at Rochester General, where he was tested for COVID-19, Wilcox said. Over the next few days, as he rested at his girlfriend’s home, his breathing became more labored and he began to cough up blood. He was rushed to the hospital on March 13, where he was later declared brain-dead. Subsequently, he received a COVID-19 diagnosis. Simmons died on March 17.
— Danielle Renwick, The Guardian | Published April 15, 2020
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Nurse At Nevada VA Dies After Caring For Infected Colleague
(Courtesy of Bob Thompson)
Vianna Thompson
Age: 52 Occupation: Nurse Places of Work: VA Sierra Nevada Health Care System and Northern Nevada Medical Center in Reno, Nevada Date of Death: April 7, 2020
Nurse Vianna Thompson, 52, spent two night shifts caring for a fellow Veterans Affairs health care worker who was dying from COVID-19.
Two weeks later, she too was lying in a hospital intensive care unit, with a co-worker holding her hand as she died.
Thompson and the man she treated were among three VA health care workers in Reno, Nevada, to die in two weeks from complications of the novel coronavirus.
“It’s pretty devastating. It’s surreal. Reno’s not that big of a city,” said Robyn Underhill, a night nurse who worked with Thompson in the ER at Reno’s VA hospital the past two years.
Thompson, who dreamed of teaching nursing one day, died April 7, joining a growing list of health care professionals killed in the pandemic.
Read more here.
— Melissa Bailey | Published April 15, 2020
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Dr. J. Ronald Verrier Was Busy Saving Lives Before The Pandemic
(Courtesy of Christina Pardo)
J. Ronald Verrier
Age: 59 Occupation: Surgeon Place of Work: St. Barnabas Hospital in the Bronx, New York Date of Death: April 8, 2020
Dr. J. Ronald Verrier, a surgeon at St. Barnabas Hospital in the Bronx, spent the final weeks of his audacious, unfinished life tending to a torrent of patients inflicted with COVID-19. He died April 8 at Mount Sinai South Nassau Hospital in Oceanside, New York, at age 59, after falling ill from the novel coronavirus.
Verrier led the charge even as the financially strapped St. Barnabas Hospital struggled to find masks and gowns to protect its workers — many nurses continue to make cloth masks — and makeshift morgues in the parking lot held patients who had died.
“He did a good work,” said Jeannine Sherwood, a nurse manager at St. Barnabas Hospital who worked closely with Verrier.
“He can rest.”
Read more here.
— Sarah Varney, Kaiser Health News | Published April 15, 2020
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America’s First ER Doctor To Die In The Heat Of COVID-19 Battle
(Courtesy of Debra Vasalech Lyons)
Frank Gabrin
Age: 60 Occupation: Doctor Places of Work: St. John’s Episcopal in Queens, New York, and East Orange General in New Jersey Date of Death: March 26, 2020
At about 5 a.m. on March 19, a New York City ER physician named Frank Gabrin texted a friend about his concerns over the lack of medical supplies at hospitals.
“It’s busy ― everyone wants a COVID test that I do not have to give them,” he wrote in the message to Eddy Soffer. “So they are angry and disappointed.”
Worse, though, was the limited availability of personal protective equipment (PPE) — the masks and gloves that help keep health care workers from getting sick and spreading the virus to others. Gabrin said he had no choice but to don the same mask for several shifts, against Food and Drug Administration guidelines.
“Don’t have any PPE that has not been used,” he wrote. “No N95 masks ― my own goggles — my own face shield,” he added, referring to the N95 respirators considered among the best lines of defense.
Less than two weeks later, Gabrin became the first ER doctor in the U.S. known to have died as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the American College of Emergency Physicians.
Read more here.
— Alastair Gee, The Guardian | Published April 10, 2020
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This story is part of “Lost on the Frontline,” an ongoing project from The Guardian and Kaiser Health News that aims to document the lives of health care workers in the U.S. who die from COVID-19, and to investigate why so many are victims of the disease. If you have a colleague or loved one we should include, please share their story.
Lost On The Frontline published first on https://nootropicspowdersupplier.tumblr.com/
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DRAMATIC VIDEO: Paris Muslim who killed policeman, shot two others just days before French election was released EARLY from 20-year sentence for trying to kill cops
Islamic State claims responsibility for Paris jihad terror attack
More PARIS TERROR: Gunshots reported at Paris shopping centre after police officers shot dead
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Terrorists Open Fire on Police on Paris’s Champs Elysees, One Officer DEAD
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Muslim Migrants Storm Town Hall to Protest France’s Immigration Laws, 14 people injured
Chelsea Clinton Says Americans Were TOO SEXIST to Elect Her Mom
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FBI says top bureau official whose wife received donations from Clinton ally NEED NOT recuse himself from Trump-Russia investigation
Michael Moore Jabs Donald Trump for ‘Using Very Desperate Working Class’
Westminster jihad terrorist promised to see family ‘in paradise’ before attack
Boy, 6, Helps in ISIS Beheading of Captives for New Propaganda Video
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DRAMATIC VIDEO: Paris Muslim who killed policeman, shot two others just days before French election was released EARLY from 20-year sentence for trying to kill cops
Less Muslim immigration, less Muslim terror.
Islamic State claims responsibility for Paris jihad terror attack
Islamic attack. Shocka. Not. And please spare us the teddy bears, slogans and Paris Strong bracelets. There is nothing strong about the West’s capitulation and appeasement of Islamic savages and their ideology.
More PARIS TERROR: Gunshots reported at Paris shopping centre after police officers shot dead
POLICE are hunting a second gunman following this evening’s deadly shooting in Paris – with officers believing he arrived in the city from Belgium by train.
Muslims receiving cancer treatment in Israel arrested smuggling explosives from Gaza
Perfect and illustrative of the Muslim and the Jewish mind. Actually, it’s a metaphor for the whole of the conflict.
Terrorists Open Fire on Police on Paris’s Champs Elysees, One Officer DEAD
Paris under state of emergency
State Department and USAID SUED for Funding Political Activities of George Soros’ Open Society Foundation
A lawsuit lawsuit was filed today against the Department of State and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) for records and communications relating to the funding and political activities of the Open Society Foundation
Australia: New “values test” for citizenship
It’s a good idea, no doubt. And every freedom loving country ought to vet immigrants for shared values and a respect for Western law above all law (ie sharia) etc. The problem, of course, is taqiya or lying. In Islam, you are required to lie to advance in Islam and the hijrah (immigration) is an Islamic imperative. So if one must lie to get into a country, they will lie.
University of Alaska: We Won’t Take Down Painting of Beheaded Donald Trump
The poisonous fruit of the left’s long march into academia. They have destroyed our universities and colleges with public school education not far behind. Inculcation, indoctrination and brainwashing.Why do our taxpayer dollars still go to these treasonous machines? WE are funding this public exhibit. We are funding the new Nazi-esque youth movement. We are funding the war on freedom, truth and individual rights.
Muslim Migrants Storm Town Hall to Protest France’s Immigration Laws, 14 people injured
The illegal migrants stormed the town hall terrorizing members of the public in the building as well as staff who had to retreat to their offices.
Chelsea Clinton Says Americans Were TOO SEXIST to Elect Her Mom
The former First Daughter says she was “not surprised” at the blatant sexism she encountered on the campaign trail with her mom, Hillary Clinton, and warned the magazine that the country is “going backwards” on civil liberties (though, it seems, Donald Trump has yet to provide Chelsea with any specific examples).
Arizona Dem Took Contributions From Owner of Site Linked to UNDERAGE PROSTITUTION
David Garcia, a Democratic candidate for governor in Arizona, accepted campaign contributions from the owner of a website that is tied to underage trafficking and prostitution.
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A top FBI official whose wife received political donations from an ally of Hillary Clinton’s last year does not need to recuse himself from the ongoing Trump-Russia investigation, the bureau said Wednesday.
Michael Moore Jabs Donald Trump for ‘Using Very Desperate Working Class’
Michael Moore, Hollywood propaganda artist, has taken his deceptions to a new level and accused President Donald Trump of using the working class of America to further his own political visions.
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Khalid Masood reportedly said “You will soon hear of my death, but don’t worry… I will be in paradise” during a phone call seven days before he committed the atrocities.
Boy, 6, Helps in ISIS Beheading of Captives for New Propaganda Video
A little 6-year-old boy was called upon to help ISIS in a beheading — disgusting.
Australia: Islamic sheikh tells teenage girls they will go to hell for having non-Muslim friends and will be punished if they pluck their eyebrows
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Ohio Terror-Plotter Gets Court OK to Swear by God Who Fueled Crime — Allah
An Ohio man who pleaded guilty to terrorism charges was allowed to swear by Allah in court.
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Last year, for instance, it censored an anti-terror handbook to appease offended Muslims, even though it has accurately predicted radicalization patterns in recent “homegrown” terror cases.
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ISIS taunts Yazidi whose wife and sister are slaves
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