Seared in the nation’s memory of 2020 will be the image of nurses toiling at the bedsides of coronavirus patients, despite the threats to their own health and safety.
Caring for COVID-19 patients, nurses are working longer hours, handling more shifts, and dealing with higher stress levels.
All that is taking an emotional and physical toll, said Belinda Assin, a critical care nurse at Northside Hospital.
"We're having to put aside our personal concerns and fears about this virus and adjust to the ever-changing treatments," she said.
Then, there’s the tear-at-the-heart-strings reality of watching patients go through so much without their families.
"It eats away at you when you are losing patients every day and sometimes being the one to hold their hands as they pass away," Assin said.
Nurses are too often the “unsung heroes” of healthcare, said Christy Byrd, a nurse at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta Scottish Rite.
“We put in long, hard hours giving so much of ourselves in everything we do,” she said. “We sacrifice tirelessly daily even though we go unnoticed at times.”
Ashley Pryzbek Feddern, also a nurse at Children's, praised her colleagues for rising to the challenge during this extraordinary time.
"Nurses are some of the most flexible, strong, resilient, and resourceful people I know," she said.
And while dealing with the stress of providing such a high level of care is inherent with the job, the real challenges begin after nurses clock out and head home, says Jay Connelly, a nurse at Piedmont Henry Hospital.
Nurses must grapple with internal questions about virus exposure and whether they should visit older family members, hold a newborn, or even sleep in the same room with their spouses.
“These are just some of the questions we ask ourselves to protect our family every day after we get done saving the lives of your families,” Connelly said.
Despite these pressures, nurses are relentless when giving life-saving medical care to their patients, said Ryan Hepworth, a Northside Hospital nurse.
“Nurses will continue donning their masks and other PPE every shift while taking the fight to this pandemic – because they want to,” said the retired Army combat medic.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution saluted nurses as part of its 15th annual Celebrating Nurses Awards, a live-streamed virtual event on Thursday.
The awards ceremony honored these top 10 nurses, selected earlier this year by an independent panel from more than 850 nominations.
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Belinda Assin, Northside Hospital
As a critical care nurse at Northside, Assin believes that, for her, nursing is not just a job, but a calling. She especially loves the challenge and compassion it takes to care for critically ill patients.
"I believe that one person can't change the world. But, if I can help one person or one family through the toughest time of their lives, then I have done my part.," she said.
The 24-year nurse veteran helps other nurses learn the ropes, especially in the intensive care unit.
Nurse manager Sharon Freeman said Assin teaches and nurtures nurses "with a positive attitude and approach."
Each summer, Assin serves as head nurse at Camp Barney Mendez, a Jewish overnight summer camp for kids.
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Credit: Picasa
Christy Byrd, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta
Byrd knows what it's like for her young patients at Children's. She, too, spent time in a hospital as a kid, hospitalized often for the rare, genetic, connective tissue disease, Ehlers-Danlos.
Byrd has been working in the in-patient rehabilitation program at Scottish Rite for five years.
"We take kids who are critically hurt – normal, everyday kids for whom life has changed all of a sudden – and we try to give them the best quality of life we can," she said.
Nurse manager Destiny LaShoto said Byrd is a fantastic patient advocate and is always looking for ways to improve patient care.
Being a nurse is inspiring because of the “joy of knowing that I am impacting someone’s life in a significant way every day,” Byrd said.
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Kim Camp, Wellstar West Georgia Medical Center
Camp, a veteran nurse of 30 years, has found the career path that fits her perfectly.
After stints in several nursing specialties, including medical surgery and ICU, Camp is a patient education nurse at the LaGrange hospital. In this position, she works one-on-one with patients who have a new diagnosis, teaching them how to take care of themselves.
Co-worker Veronda Ross said Camp "goes above and beyond just educating our patients."
"She is a nurse, a teacher, a patient advocate, a cheerleader," Ross said. "She exemplifies what nurses should be all about."
Camp also organized a clothing closet at the hospital that's available to all patients. She stocked it with clean, organized clothes from her closet, as well as donated items.
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Jay Connelly, Piedmont Henry Hospital
Most of Connelly's 22-year nursing career has been as an emergency room director. But now he heads the hospital's stroke program.
Connelly leads a monthly support group for stroke victims and their families to share wisdom and strategies to help prevent, treat, and understand strokes. He looks for ways to help stroke patients overcome obstacles in their path toward healing.
"It is amazing to see a patient come in with disabling stroke-like symptoms, and, through the life-changing actions we take, as we move them through to clot removal, they are able later to walk out of the hospital," he said.
With nursing, Connelly said, he can take care of people and make a positive difference.
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Credit: brandon lohaus 3217942530
Carlos Estrada, Northside Hospital
Estrada, a cancer survivor, cares for his oncology patients at Northside Hospital Atlanta with energy and compassion.
"He always goes above and beyond for his patients, and they often describe him as 'caring' and 'goes the extra mile,'" said friend and fellow Northside nurse Meghan Stephenson.
Estrada, an Army veteran, served as a combat medic in Afghanistan. While in the military, he beat nasopharyngeal cancer after a year-long battle that included tough rounds of radiation.
Estrada realized his past cancer diagnosis positioned him well to help others going through a similar journey.
"I definitely try to approach each patient in a way that cares for their needs and with the understanding that every single journey is completely different," he said.
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Tera Freeman, Wellstar Cobb Hospital
Freeman is passionate about educating her patients on the importance of heart health.
She became interested in cardiovascular care after a wellness fair she organized in the community to help African American women recognize heart disease symptoms, heart attack, and stroke, Freeman said.
She takes that same caring attitude to her job as a bedside nurse at Wellstar Cobb in Austell.
Patients frequently mention in letters and surveys that Freeman has been their most caring nurse. Families make special trips back to the hospital to express their gratitude for the care she provides, said nurse manager Rebecca Henry.
Said Freeman: "I enjoy caring for people, and, in working as a nurse, I get to see the progress in my patients."
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Credit: brandon lohaus 3217942530
Ryan Hepworth, Northside Hospital
During the week, Hepworth helps facilitate and monitor patient care as the ambulatory clinical informatics coordinator for Northside Hospital.
But on weekends, the former the Army combat nurse medic can be found on the streets of Atlanta, seeking out homeless vets and offering help.
Hepworth founded Shadow Warrior Foundation, a nonprofit to assist veterans with shelter, benefits, and employment. A critical care nurse, Hepworth served in a battlefront trauma unit in Afghanistan.
Co-worker Jacklyn Hull said: "Ryan's heart is and always will be a veteran."
“This is why Ryan and his brothers go out on weekends into the places most avoid,” Hull said. “Not the pretty, warm, homey places most of us wake up in, but the humble places our heroes huddle in all sorts of weather.”
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Ashley Pryzbek Feddern, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta
Pryzbek Feddern's passion for nursing extends beyond the hospital walls.
She is a bedside and charge nurse at Scottish Rite, but also a volunteer at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta's Camp Trach Me Away, at The Atlanta Mission's My Sister's House, and the Friends of Refugees in Clarkston.
"What inspires me most about pediatric nursing is that I get to help children get better so that they get to see another birthday," Pryzbek Feddern said. "There is nothing more rewarding than watching a child come in sick and being there the day they discharge to go home; the continuity of care is so rewarding."
She is the nurse that families come back in to thank personally or stop on the street to tell her how important she's been to them, said her husband, Kyle.
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Lauren Skinner, Grady Memorial Hospital
Skinner, certified in neuroscience nursing, critical care nursing, and trauma nursing, said her passion is in critical care, and, specifically, trauma.
"It's fast. It's complicated, and early intervention saves lives," Skinner said. "And if you want to work critical care, trauma, you come to Grady."
Neil Skinner said wife Lauren is an "outstanding example of the profession."
She's there for the patients – once helping buy an electric wheelchair for a person with paraplegia who could not afford one – and for families – spending many hours over several weeks with the grieving loved ones of a critically injured woman, he said.
Skinner also has traveled twice to Africa with a nonprofit that provides medical care to underserved communities and sees up to 500 patients a day.
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Credit: brandon lohaus 3217942530
Lisa Vogel, Wellstar Kennestone Hospital
Vogel, a nurse for 34 years, continues to work at Wellstar Kennestone, even though her family moved more than three years ago from Marietta to Lake Hartwell in Townville, S.C. She also works part-time at Shriners Children's Hospital in Greenville, S.C.
"Pediatrics has always been where my passion lies," Vogel said.
Vogel helps with Bert's Big Adventure, a nonprofit that gives once-in-a-lifetime, all-expenses-paid trips to Disney World to chronically ill and terminally ill patients. She made her first Disney trip in 2017 as a volunteer nurse.
A co-worker and longtime friend, Mary Lutzenkirchen, said Vogel is an "amazing nurse, woman, and friend.
“She is especially passionate about the pediatric community and has dedicated her life to carrying for little ones and their families.”
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