She’s still finding ways to spread joy to people around her

“I don’t think that most health care workers were ready to be on a Zoom call with someone saying goodbye to their loved one. That’s something I’ll never forget,” said Tara Donnelly, a nurse in the Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit at Aurora St. Luke’s Medical Center.

Donnelly has worked at Aurora St. Luke’s for seven years, but the pandemic has brought completely unfamiliar territory. Even though the changes have been challenging, she says team members have stepped up to continue caring for patients. For Donnelly, that meant volunteering to help on other units and even at other Aurora hospitals when they needed support for COVID patients. She has assisted the teams at Aurora West Allis Medical Center and Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, IL several times throughout the pandemic.

“The first time I went into West Allis I knew it would be something I’d never seen before, especially being outside my own unit and hospital,” said Donnelly. “There’s people that need us. I always try to put myself on the other end of it. If I were a patient or had a loved one who was a patient, I try to do what I would want.”

Being at multiple hospitals, she’s seen a lot of COVID patients. Some, like a young patient she took care of at Christ, have gotten better. For others, she’s had to help families say goodbye even when they can’t be in the room. Donnelly isn’t the only one, she says.

“I saw a lot of people step up and go to other hospitals or units to help. I’ve never seen anyone too afraid to go into a patient’s room to help,” she said. “This is a pandemic and it’s all hands on deck. We’re here to help people and we’ll do whatever we have to do to accomplish that.”

Caring for COVID patients has been hard. Things keep changing and she hasn’t seen much family for a long time. The colder weather has made even outside, socially-distanced gatherings unlikely.

While some days she feels isolated, Donnelly continues to find ways to spread joy to the people around her. Earlier in the year, she gathered donations from her unit and others to purchase goodies for some of the units at St. Luke’s that were hardest hit with COVID cases. She helped buy and deliver snacks and beverages to team members in the Emergency Department, COVID units, Environmental Services and more to show support.

“My family members, coworkers and friends are constantly showing me support and reaching out,” Donnelly said. When asked how other people can help frontline workers right now, she asked people to keep taking this seriously.

“Socially-distance, wear your mask, wash your hands and, if you’re feeling unwell, be honest to the people you’ve been around,” said Donnelly.