Even before being elected to Huntington’s Town Board in November, Sal Ferro (R) strived to make his community and the surrounding areas a better place to live.
Ferro, president and CEO of Alure Home Improvements in Commack, also heads up the Ferro Foundation. The nonprofit organization is committed to helping those in need, especially students, seniors and veterans. The foundation offers an annual scholarship fund for Long Island students and assists local seniors and veterans with minor home improvements.
Seth Selesnow, director of marketing at Alure and a Ferro Foundation board member, said Ferro and the board members had been discussing starting a foundation for a while.
“Sal has always been incredibly philanthropic in the community, with his employees and family, and he always talked about starting his own charity one day,” Selesnow said. “We support a lot of endeavors, and year after year he would always say, ‘Eventually we have to start our own charity and do some of this stuff.’”
Selesnow said the scholarship program awards one four-year scholarship a year where a student receives $2,500 a year. One of the recipients, Cheyenna Bardsley of Freeport, graduated from high school in 2020. She is currently in her second year at Farmingdale State College SUNY studying law enforcement management and criminal justice.
Ferro on a work site for Alure Home Improvements. Photo from the Ferro Foundation
She said she first heard about the scholarship through a family friend and said to be eligible she had to write two essays. Bardsley said when she heard there would only be one winner, she didn’t think she would have much of a chance and was surprised when she was notified that she was the winner. The college student said she was grateful for the scholarship that supplemented other financial aid she received.
“I don’t have to worry about where the money is coming from,” she said. “I’m not in any student debt or anything. So, it’s a real advantage.”
As for the home care arm of the foundation, Selesnow said it has helped seniors and veterans with minor home repairs such as wheelchair ramps, grab bars or roof repairs. The foundation also supports other charities and endeavors such as Farmingdale College Foundation, Nassau Community College and the United Way.
While working on homes for paid jobs enables the employees to see what repairs one may need, Alure Home Improvements gained widespread attention when Ferro and his team appeared a few times on the original “Extreme Makeover” series, which aired on ABC from 2003-12. The company’s appearance on the show led to many calling the company asking if Alure Home Improvements could work on their houses.
“It was overwhelming,” Selesnow said. “At least by creating a charity, it gave us somewhere to say, ‘Go fill out an application,’ and we at least have a board that can look at it and vote on those things.”
Selesnow said when the team worked on the episodes of “Extreme Makeover,” Ferro shut down the company and the workers were with the show for at least one week at a time per house. The marketing director added that some even volunteered to work extra hours on the homes. Ferro donated the labor to the show’s projects.
Selesnow said it was no surprise that the workers volunteered for extra time as Alure is a reflection of Ferro’s personality, who he described as “a unique individual” with so much compassion in his heart.
“I never in my life walked into a company like Alure where everybody was just so friendly and family oriented and actually was so helpful,” he said.
He said when he first started with the company he would tell his ex-wife that he couldn’t believe the work environment was real.
“I came to realize this is no accident,” Selesnow said. “This is from top down.”
When Ferro decided to run for town council, Selesnow supported him and was Ferro’s campaign finance chair despite, Selesnow said, the two of them being on different ends of the political spectrum.
“Even though we’re not aligned on some things politically, I do believe that he’s a very unique type of person who can listen to both sides and make a decision based on what makes the most sense and not party lines,” Selesnow said.
Ferro’s fellow councilman-elect, David Bennardo (R), agreed. He said Ferro “brings people together, and he makes them find their commonalities.” When Bennardo decided to run for office, he had a vision of a change regarding traditional party politics, and he said Ferro shared that vision.
“We wanted to demonstrate to people that you can work as ladies and gentlemen in politics, and I think that’s what excited me so much about working with Sal as he is truly a gentleman leader,” Bennardo said.
As a former school principal in the South Huntington school district, Bennardo has known Ferro for 20 years when the latter’s children were in school.
While Bennardo was a principal, he was able to see Ferro in action with his charitable projects, as he turned to him a couple of times to “quietly help out families who were in a jam.” He said each time Ferro responded with no questions asked.
“He feels people’s pain,” Bennardo said. “He really does. He’s got tremendous empathy. In fact, that’s probably his greatest strength.”
Stan Loucks, a lover of the outdoors, kayaking in the Adirondacks. Photo from Ron Carlson
Port Jefferson Village trustee Stan Loucks puts his all into everything he does.
A resident of Belle Terre for more than 40 years, he has been involved with different aspects of the village for nearly a quarter of a century.
Retired after decades in education as the athletic director of the Plainview-Old Bethpage school district, he has now devoted his life now to serving his community in the village as liaison to the country club and village recreation.
But along with his constant community service, he also took on the role as trustee six years ago and was reelected this past summer for another term.
“I’m proud of my accomplishments up at the country club,” he told TBR News Media in May as he began campaigning. “I introduced the bond to build a new maintenance facility up at the country club, we put in a new irrigation system, we created a new fitness center, renovated the locker rooms, increased our membership twofold. Over the years, I just want to continue to improve. I’ve got ideas about going forward with pickleball up at the country club and many more ideas to come down the road.”
With the country club, he has been on the tennis board, the board of governors, as well as on the management advisory committee.
Stan Loucks with other village officials at the Fourth of July parade this year. Photo from Peggy Loucks
Longtime friend and former employee Ron Carlson said that Loucks’ service to the village covers over two decades.
“His service began as a volunteer for the country club management advisory committee,” he said. “He initially served as greens chairman, and several years later was appointed president of the CCMAC.”
Carlson added that after 12 years as a volunteer, he decided to further his commitment to the village, run for trustee, was elected and became appointed as deputy mayor.
In his role as trustee, he is responsible for overseeing the operations of both the recreation department and the country club, including management of all programs, beaches, parks and the operation of the Village Center.
As country club liaison, he oversaw the construction of the new maintenance facility, renovations to the golf pro shop and snack bar, fitness center, card room, golf scoreboard and patio area.
Carlson said that during those builds, he would not give commands — he’d be in the trenches with the contractors doing work.
“It’s not something he takes lightly,” Carlson said. “Nobody has ever gotten involved like he does.”
He added that over the past 20 years, Loucks “has given thousands of hours to the benefit of all village residents. He is well liked and respected by all who know him and is a true leader and gentleman.”
Carlson, who has worked in the village for 50 years, said that he has “never witnessed a trustee more involved and more personally engaged in projects involving the village.”
“He dives right in and does it himself,” he added. “He gets involved personally.”
Mayor Margot Garant, who named him deputy mayor last term, said that he’s personable and an advocate for his community.
“You cannot help but like him,” she said. “He’s a perfect fit for public service.”
Peggy Loucks, his wife, said that since he worked so long in education, he always loved kids and sports — which eventually led him to become involved with the village’s recreation department and its activities.
“When he’s elected or asked to do something, he’s extremely dedicated,” she said. “He’s a really hard worker.”
Stan Loucks during the Village Cup Regatta this summer. Photo from Peggy Loucks
She joked that although he’s been retired, he works so much for his community that she still barely sees him.
“He cannot sit still,” she said with a laugh. “You just can’t stop him from working.”
Peggy Loucks thinks that to him, getting involved is not just a job — it’s a passion that he lives for.
“He feels that people should be giving back to the community,” she said. “We love it here, and he’d give you the shirt off his back.”
Carlson agreed.
“Recognition of his 20-plus years of outstanding community service is long overdue,” he said.
Below, Linda Parlante presents Abel Fernandez with a certificate congratulating him on his nomination of Person of the Year at Mount Sinai High School, Dec. 23. Photo by Julianne Mosher
Think of all the little things that make or break your day.
Were you greeted by a kind man when you came to work that day? Did someone tell you a joke that made you laugh while you whiled away the hours stuck at a desk? Did somebody help you move those boxes when you threw out your back earlier that week? Did somebody help you change your car tire after you got a flat when coming out of the parking lot?
Abel Fernandez, lead custodian at Mount Sinai High School, is the man who makes people’s days, constantly, day after day, month after month, school year after school year. He’s a man who proves that small acts of kindness add up to a mountain of giving, and that is why Fernandez is named a TBR News Media Person of the Year for 2021.
Photo by Julianne Mosher
Linda Parlante, the district secretary to the facilities director, said Fernandez “spends countless hours making sure his building is safe for the students.” Even as a custodian, he makes his love for the school and community known through every action he takes, whether it’s by attending many of the school functions, including being the first to volunteer during the annual Battle of the Educators faculty basketball game, rolling out the red carpet during prom, or always being there to purchase a cupcake or cookie at school bake sales.
Scott Reh, the district director of buildings and grounds, said all the students know him for constantly being there for them.
“The kids love him,” Reh said. “He’s a fixture in the school and in students’ daily routines. The kids see him, and he interacts with them in a positive manner. He’s a role model.”
Fernandez also serves as the Spanish language interpreter for the district, and even there he goes above and beyond. He’s been known to go to students parents’ homes alongside high school principal, Peter Pramataris, to communicate with them directly about what’s happening in a student’s life or how they can participate in district elections. Reh said that Fernandez has a way about him that “when he [talks to students and parents], it’s in a manner in which they feel comfortable. He’s a soothing presence.”
Nothing takes away Fernandez’s attention from his school work, not even recent personal tragedy. After his brother was involved in a severe car accident, Parlante said the lead custodian has been attending to his brother’s needs, driving him back and forth from the hospital, as well as managing his brother’s barbershop. Even with all this extra work, Mount Sinai school officials said Fernandez has never missed a beat in the district, and that he still comes to work wanting to give 100% of his care to the student body and school grounds.
Photo by Julianne Mosher
“He has been the first on scene for accidents on district property as well as the first in line when an issue arises that needs security,” Parlante said. “If anyone in the building ever needs anything, whether it be boxes moved, a car jumped, a tire changed or help at their house, he is always available and never says ‘no.’ He has created lifelong friends from his work here and everyone would agree that Abel would give the shirt off his back to anyone who needed it.”
Pramataris has known Fernandez for well over a decade, having especially come to rely on him since he moved up from middle school principal to high school after the untimely passing of former principal Rob Grable in 2019. Pramataris said Grable had elevated Fernandez to the head custodian position “just because he also saw the potential in him.”
Fernandez is in charge of four custodians at the high school, and the principal said he always leads by example and “he’s always the first one to climb the ladder and do whatever needs to be done.”
What gives Fernandez his can-do attitude? Pramataris said it’s likely his familial bonds that, growing up, taught him the value of hard work. His mother, Angela, is a custodian for the Comsewogue School District.
“His personality is just pleasant, and as someone who’s been knocked down a few times, he could have probably given up, but it’s the last thing that he’ll do,” Pramataris said. “He’s just the type of guy that you want to help and support, and he does the same for you.”
George Hoffman, right, moved to the Three Village area after meeting his wife, Maria Hoffman. File photo from Maria Hoffman
George Hoffman is a familiar face from Setauket Harbor to Brookhaven Town Hall. Intending to make a difference in the Three Village area each day, he revitalized the civic association, co-founded the Setauket Harbor Task Force, helped head up the Route 25A Citizen Advisory Committee and more.
For someone who has such a presence in the community, people are surprised to hear that he hasn’t lived here for decades. Hoffman moved to East Setauket after he met his wife, Maria Hoffman, former chief of staff for state Assemblyman Steve Englebright (D-Setauket).
In a 2019 TBR News Media interview, the Hoffmans said they married in 2009 in Frank Melville Memorial Park. A couple of years before they tied the knot, the two met through Englebright’s office. George Hoffman, who had a career in the political field for 35 years, was living on the South Shore working with former county Legislator Wayne Prospect (D-Dix Hills) when he first met Englebright. One day when he saw Maria at the office, she asked him to take a walk in the park and soon after they started dating.
Charles Lefkowitz, president of the Three Village Chamber of Commerce, met Hoffman more than 20 years ago when both of them held government jobs. The chamber president said Hoffman’s passion for the Three Village community combined with his experience in politics, drive to protect the environment and also understanding the importance of economic viability are fitting for the area.
“He has the ability to work with town, county, state and federal officials,” Lefkowitz said. “George understands how government works to the benefit of the not-for-profits he’s involved in. His biggest attribute is his ability to work in a bipartisan manner for the benefit of the community.”
Laurie Vetere, one of the co-founders of the harbor task force, has known Hoffman since they both started in the civic association and calls him a driving force.
She said he steps up where needed and is always dependable, adding he attends town board meetings and coordinates meetings with the county and Department of Environmental Conservation to speak about the health of local harbors on behalf of the task force.
Hoffman lowering a Sonde sensor to collect water depth, temperature and salinity readings before taking water samples for alkalinity. File photo from Maria Hoffman
“He’s always pretty much prepared with everything he does,” she said. “He puts the time and effort in, because he really wants to do good work, and he just values being proficient at what he does.”
Vetere added that Hoffman has learned environmental science and marine science information that he applies to the organization’s water testing activities that the task force does for Save the Sound and a sugar kelp project with the Moore foundation
“We have a great group of volunteers on our board, but George has really taken up the whole heavy load, and he’s learned so much science,” she said.
Lefkowitz counts Hoffman being one of the founding members of the Setauket Harbor Task Force and implementing a water quality testing program among his greatest achievements.
“Becoming a steward of Setauket Harbor, I think that’s one of his greatest accomplishments as well as the revitalization of the civic association,” Lefkowitz said.
Hoffman became president of the civics earlier this year, taking over for Jonathan Kornreich who was elected as Brookhaven councilman (D-Stony Brook) and stepped down as civic president. Both Lefkowitz and Herb Mones, a former civic president, credit Hoffman along with Kornreich with revitalizing the civic association as members began to age out about a decade ago. Lefkowitz said Hoffman always works with the business community, which is important because years ago the chamber and civic organizations were at odds with each other.
“George was one of the individuals that extended the olive branch and built that bridge,” Lefkowitz said.
Mones said soon after Hoffman moved to Setauket “he immediately wanted to be involved in the issues that were going on inside the community.” Mones described his fellow civic member as “an active advocate for the community over and over again.”
With Hoffman’s former role in government, Mones said he knows all the elected officials and how to the system works.
“He can give insight as to how to best navigate the desirable outcome for the community with some of the different issues that occur,” Mones said.
Kornreich agreed and said Hoffman’s unique skill set makes him effective on the civic and a “fierce advocate for the environment.”
“He’s been successful in getting literally hundreds of thousands of dollars directed toward environmental conservation, environmental remediation and protection,” Kornreich said.
The councilman added in addition to being a passionate activist, Hoffman is “also a clear-eyed realist.”
Mones also credits Hoffman for heading up the Route 25A revitalization committee with Jane Taylor, executive director of the chamber, and added it was a difficult project.
“It’s such a complex issue trying to bring everybody together and plan the future with so many different interests and so many different voices,” Mones said. “It’s certainly not an enviable task. But, you know, he accepted that responsibility and has made it so that at least there’s an idea as to what we see is the best buildout along 25A as opposed to just kind of randomly allowing spot development wherever it occurs.”
The civic member also credits Hoffman not only for taking on Brookhaven issues, but also helping to join forces with Smithtown residents over the potential development of the Gyrodyne property in St. James. Mones said Hoffman was the first one to bring to the Town of Brookhaven’s attention how the buildout of the property, with a proposed sewage treatment plant, would affect the local area.
Mones said Hoffman has been the ideal choice to step in as president of the civic association.
“He enjoys the responsibility and the opportunity to give leadership on the different issues,” he said. “I have to commend him that he’s very affable in handling the different concerns and complaints and issues that come before him.”
Maurizio Del Poeta, right, with his wife, Chiara Luberto, in front of the pizza oven that he built himself at his Mount Sinai home. Photo by TBR News Media
He’s a scientist, dedicated father and husband, businessman, mentor, collaborator, accomplished cook and gracious host. It seems fitting that Dr. Maurizio Del Poeta, a distinguished professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology and someone several people described as a Renaissance man, would work at the Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University.
A fungal researcher who is working to find treatments and vaccines for fungal infections that kill over 1.3 million people annually, Del Poeta turned his talents to the study of COVID-19 this year.
Teaming up with researchers at The University of Arizona and Wake Forest School of Medicine in North Carolina, Del Poeta and his collaborators worked with an enzyme also found in rattlesnake venom that may provide a target for diagnostics and therapeutic intervention for COVID-19.
TBR News Media is pleased to recognize the research efforts of Del Poeta, who represents one of several scientists throughout Long Island and around the world working to find ways to improve human health and reduce the life-altering effects of the pandemic.
In a paper published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, the research team found that an enzyme called secreted phospholipase A2 group IIA, or sPLA2-IIA, is in higher concentrations in well over half the people with the most severe forms of the disease.
“This is certainly an exciting discovery in terms of a marker [that might] provide a mechanistic understanding of severe cases of COVID,” said David Thanassi, Zhang family endowed professor and chair of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the Renaissance School of Medicine. “It’s hard to know exactly how this is going to play out” in terms of a therapy or a cure, he said, but it offers hope in terms of a way to diagnose or treat COVID.
Dr. Yusuf Hannun, director of the SBU Cancer Center who contributed to this research effort, described the work as a “major discovery” that could provide a “novel key player in the development of the COVID-19 illness.”
Hannun, who has known Del Poeta for 25 years, suggested that his colleague’s success stems from his commitment to his work.
Del Poeta’s “energy and passion are very observable in his academic life,” Hannun said. “His research team is energized by his enthusiasm and good instinct for important problems.”
Indeed, the members of his lab appreciate his commitment to making scientific discoveries and to providing considerable personal and professional support for them.
Antonella Rella worked in Del Poeta’s labs from 2010 through 2017. When she arrived in the United States, Rella joined Del Poeta’s lab at the Medical University of South Carolina.
Maurizio Del Poeta. File photo from SBU
While Rella appreciated all the scientific support she received over the years, including after she moved with him to Stony Brook in 2012, she was especially grateful for the first impression he made when she arrived at the airport.
On her trip from Italy, her flight was delayed and she had to stay overnight in Atlanta. When she landed in South Carolina, Del Poeta not only met her at the airport, but he also greeted her with his wife Chiara Luberto and their first child.
“I thought nobody would be at the airport,” said Rella, who is now a senior scientist with Estée Lauder. “When you meet your boss, you are not feeling very comfortable. Instead, I was very happy and relieved and felt welcomed.”
Rella said Del Poeta and Luberto, who is research associate professor in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics at Stony Brook, have treated other members of his lab the same way, especially when they come from abroad.
Rella said she and her lab mates were thrilled when Del Poeta and Luberto hosted them at their house in Mount Sinai.
“We were super happy whenever we were invited” to their home, Rella said. “We knew the food would be super amazing” because he cooked pizza at a brick oven he designed and built himself. He also made considerable effort to prepare food like tagliatelle.
“There is heart in everything he does,” Rella said.
That includes his dedication and focus on research. In addition to making scientific discoveries, Del Poeta, who earned his medical degree from the University of Ancona, Italy, is eager to apply those findings to the medical field.
The co-founder of MicroRid Technologies, Del Poeta and MicroRid are working to develop small-molecule anti-fungal drugs. Last year, the company received a five-year, $4 million award administered by the Department of Defense.
As for his COVID research, Del Poeta explained that the use of an existing drug for snake venom would involve a different preparation to treat people battling against the coronavirus.
In addition to the work he does in the lab, Del Poeta contributes to SBU and to the Department of Microbiology and Immunology.
Up until the pandemic, Del Poeta and Luberto hosted prospective graduate students in his department at their house. The gatherings highlighted the camaraderie in the department, Thanassi said.
He appreciates Del Poeta’s commitment to mentoring and training, which helps attract and retain students.
“He brings a really nice recognition to the department” through the results of his research and his funding, Thanassi added.
Hannun is confident in his colleague’s success. He said his first impression of Del Poeta was that he was a capable and committed scientist who was aspiring to go after big questions.
Fairfield at St. James residents wanted to help the Smithtown community by gathering and donating tons of groceries to those suffering from food insecurity. Photo from Nicole Garguilo
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, everyday people felt that it was their civic duties to step up and make a difference. Some made masks, some drove around supplies, others gathered food for those who were hungry.
Many of these people had jobs, families and their own struggles at home, but they knew they wanted to be a part of something bigger. They chose early on what side of history they were going to be on, the side that helped others and made a difference.
“The sacrifice everyone made was apparent,” Carmela Newman with Operation Headband, said. “I grew tenfold from working with such amazing people.”
Operation Headband started out when Newman’s friends at local hospitals said their ears were red and raw from wearing uncomfortable masks all day. An avid sewer, she would volunteer and help sew costumes for local theater productions before the pandemic.
“Me and my sewing buddy Bernice Daly put buttons on headbands and attached the elastic from the face masks, so it was off their ears,” she said.
Then it took off. Her nurse friends began requesting them, first at Mather Hospital in Port Jefferson and then at Stony Brook University Hospital. Quickly, hospitals and facilities across Long Island were reaching out to Newman and her sewing friends in hopes they could get these comfortable accessories. The demand became so high that they ended up making a Facebook group and recruited other volunteers.
The Ronkonkoma native said she couldn’t have done this alone. Newman credits Terry Ginzberg, Peter Graber, Teresa Mattison and Jeffrey Sanzel for being part of the team.
“It was a fabrication of everyone coming together,” she said, the pun being intentional. “Everyone jumped on board to help. We became fast friends and family.”
Toward the end of the first wave of the pandemic, Newman said Operation Headband created 6,000 headbands and bandanas overall. Over 40 people volunteered to deliver the items while 15 sewers put the pieces together. In a little over four months, the group’s headbands helped health care professionals from the East End to Manhattan, in seven different states and made their way overseas to the U.K. “The group cared so much to be a part of this horrific thing that was out of our control,” she said. “There was no way we weren’t going to do this.”
Volunteers from LIOSMS. Photo from Kassay
Although it seems that everywhere one looks now there are masks, early on they were hard to find. That’s why Port Jefferson resident, one who would later become village trustee, Rebecca Kassay, started up a volunteer group that delivered over 40,000 PPE and comfort-care items to essential workers.
Long Island Open Source Medical Supplies-Nassau and Suffolk County is celebrated for creating a Facebook group of hundreds of volunteers across the Island who gathered, purchased, created, donated and delivered PPE for frontline workers.
“From mid-June through September, we continued to accept donations of PPE from makers, as well as connecting volunteers who want to continue making them to community groups that will get PPE to low-income families and students in school districts, individuals in shelters, Indigenous populations and other at-risk groups,” Kassay said.
More than 300 seamstresses, crafters and makers made and donated more than 15,000 face masks, 2,800 caps, 5,000 face shields, 12,000 ear savers and over 10,000 comfort-care items. Their fleet of 68 volunteer drivers worked hard to deliver the homemade PPE to over 130 facilitiesand collaborated with other volunteer groups by donating and exchanging fabric and materials.
It started when Kassay, with other local volunteers, began to see the demand for PPE and the need for help in hospitals. Her home, The Fox and Owl Inn in Port Jeff, became “the hub” that got things going. She and her fellow volunteers created a group that allowed people to communicate with one another with extraordinary teamwork.
“After about a week it was growing so fast,” she said. “It ended up with 10 administrators managing a couple of hundred volunteers, selling masks, driving around materials, donating 3D-printed face shields, communicating with hospitals. The effort was to make everything much more efficient.”
But she said she truly couldn’t have done it alone.
“Eleni Stamatinos was the mask coordinator and also helped train and coordinate with the other administrators,” Kassay said, adding that Stamatinos would work alongside her for 10-14 hours a day. “She has grown to be a dear friend of mine. While there has been immense tragedy during the pandemic, we have found beauty in the connections that might not have happened otherwise.”
And then there were volunteers she worked with, who spent hours helping out.
“There are also countless Port Jefferson and surrounding area residents who contributed more time, heart and materials than I could’ve ever hoped for,” Kassay said. “We were driven by the satisfaction of bringing comfort to others. Other opportunities and priorities were pushed aside because of the urgency we all felt in the moment, and none of us regret it.”
While masks and other PPE were needed for frontline workers and the rest of the community, other volunteers dedicated their time at home to feed those who are struggling with food insecurity.
Fairfield at St. James residents donated tons of food. Photo from Nicole Garguilo
Nicole Garguilo, public information officer with the Town of Smithtown, said Fairfield at St. James, a senior living community, stepped up to help.
“They knew that they were high risk for the virus, but still wanted to help,” she said. “So, every month they’d get in a car caravan together, loaded up with nonperishables and meet us at the Gyrodyne parking lot.”
The town then delivered the food to Island Harvest of Hauppauge on their behalf.
“It was really something to see our seniors put helping others in need before their own safety,” Garguilo said.
Carol Walsh, an 82-year-old resident at the community, was just one of the dozens of seniors who wanted to help.
“I know there are so many people who are hungry,” she said. “The feeling of isolation is so overwhelming, and people forget that others are out there who want to care and make people feel better. If we can make people smile and provide food it’s worth it.”
Walsh said their food caravans would often have between six and eight cars full of food. In September and October, they donated their collection to Island Harvest, but this month they brought more goods to the Smithtown Emergency Food Pantry.
Denise Tortore & Rosane Ackley at Mather Hospital with Meals on Wheels. Photo from Meals on Wheels
And while these seniors collected nonperishables, the local chapter of Meals on Wheels brought hot and cold meals to those who were unable to leave their homes.
Barbara Siegel said the Three Village Meals on Wheels group consists of about 150 volunteers and has been delivering food to those in need five days a week for 38 years.
Partnering with the kitchens at Port Jefferson’s Mather and St. Charles hospitals and Setauket Village Diner, a cold lunch and a hot dinner are delivered to people who are homebound. Siegel said that other chapters of Meals on Wheels had to temporarily shut down during the pandemic but not the Stony Brook operation, which covers from St. James, across the North Shore into Mount Sinai, down into Coram and toward Lake Grove.
“We got more calls during pandemic,” Siegel said.
And although Siegel thanks and appreciates all the volunteers who gave up their free time to drive around Suffolk County delivering these dishes, she said it wouldn’t have been possible without the office staff coordinating it all: Ruth Spear, Ronnie Kreitzer and Linda Bernstein.
Siegel said Spear is a caring individual, always cheerful when someone calls the office, willing to help them with whatever inquiry they have. Bernstein takes care of the financial side of things, while Kreitzer coordinates the driver routes.
“The three ladies that are in the office are just invaluable — they never stop,” Siegel said. “They go to sleep at night and their heads are still going thinking about tomorrow. They do it from their heart and soul.”
But Spear was modest, saying it was a collaborative team effort.
“It’s just our job,” she said.
Kathleen Weinberger, Aramark Nutrition Services food service director with Kings Park school district, helped feed hundreds of students throughout the pandemic.
Aramark Nutrition Services delivering food. Photo from Weinberger
Weinberger said that at the start of the pandemic, she reacted and considered what the safest way to help families would be during the crisis. Aramark employees worked alongside the school district to incorporate a breakfast and lunch grab-and-go window at the high school. They also incorporated a Meals on Wheels bus delivery system with district bus drivers to those families who had no means of transportation.
From March 16 until June 30, they distributed 28,406 meals, seven days a week.
“There were many special moments from seeing their smiles on their faces and the wonderful handwritten ‘thank you’ notes and pictures drawn by the kids that really warmed my heart,” Weinberger said.
The Kings Park resident said it’s important to consider others, not just during a crisis but every day.
“People should gather together in good times, as well as difficult times, as it makes stronger ties within the community,” she said. “I’m willing to do whatever I can to lend a helping hand.”
Home care aides on Long Island have been essential in helping to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in homes. Photo from Home Helpers of Huntington Facebook page
By Kimberly Brown
Theresponsibilities of home care workers and health aides to support the daily activities of those who are incapable of doing so themselves are always vital. However, since the pandemic began, home care aides on Long Island have become some of the most essential group of workers needed to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 from entering their patients’ homes — all while still performing their normal duties. The work of Long Island home care workers has been noted by not only the companies they work for, but their communities, too. Veronica Stokes from Home Helpers Home Care of Huntington expressed what work has been like since the pandemic started to take hold in March.
“It’s very hard to be [emotionally] distanced when working with the elderly,” Stokes said. “I’m learning how to do it. I do everything except sign on their checks to pay the bills. I take [a lady] to get her nails done, shopping, going to the bank, everything. I cook for the weekend, and I put everything in the freezer and label it Saturday, Sunday, lunch, dinner.”
Though activities are already limited for high-risk patients, COVID-19 has further prevented them from partaking in day-to-day affairs. Workers like Stokes put in a valiant effort to ensure her clients feel some sort of normalcy while the pandemic still remains a threat.
“Every day I used to pick sunflowers, and I would get little cups, put ice in them, and put them by everyone’s bedside,” she said. “Even if they can’t see the flowers, they can smell them. Or I would even use jasmine too, so they know someone was here. It’s the little things that help take their mind off what’s going on.”
Many elders, as well as ordinary sick patients, have been unable to see their families due to the new rules that have been implemented at hospitals and health clinics. Home care workers like Pamela Garruppo from Critical Health Care in Port Jefferson shared stories about her patients and what they have been going through as they prepare for important surgeries and medical procedures.
“I have a patient who is waiting for a liver transplant and she can’t see her family,” Garruppo said. “She couldn’t wait anymore because she needed the liver so badly, but couldn’t have any contact with her family since the hospitals shut down. I watched her husband cry because he couldn’t even go in to hold her hand.”
This isn’t Garruppo’s only patient who hasn’t been able to see their family. She describes another instance where a patient of hers, who lost her husband, was only allowed to see him for an hour a day before he passed.
“Only two family members were allowed to see him, so they had to choose between one son or the other to go see their father before he died,” Garruppo said. “But that’s COVID, unfortunately.”
One of the best feelings Garruppo has is when she goes to see her patients and they express to her that they’re feeling better.
“My patients are like my family,” she said.
An outside look at the Town of Huntington Senior Center. Photo from Facebook
The struggles home care workers have faced this year have been strenuous on their mental health and daily life. Despite the obstacles put in their way, Critical Health Care’s Regina Varacchi explained she doesn’t feel like the one who’s suffering the most right now.
“I can’t even say that I’ve struggled so much, it’s really my patients that are struggling,” Varacchi said. “I’m the one who’s getting out of my house, working and seeing people. My struggle is watching what’s going on and seeing the depression. Just thinking about it breaks my heart.”
One of Varacchi’s patients, who she considered to be family, had been fighting cancer for eight years. Then the patient unexpectedly contracted COVID and passed abruptly.
“This guy was the most amazing man ever, and he was a fighter,” she said. “Since he was compromised, they immediately admitted him and I think it was only one day later that they put him on the ventilator, and within two days he was gone. People don’t take it seriously until they lose someone they love.”
One good thing that has come out of the pandemic for Varacchi is that it initiated a reset. Being able to express her creative side by doing crafts and taking part in outdoor activities such as going to the beach, are things she would’ve never done if the pandemic didn’t exist.
“It was a reset in life, and it makes you realize what you took for granted,” Varacchi said.
For other Critical Health Care workers such as Gail Crichlow-Hall, personal health was of the utmost importance when caring for others. Due to her position in working with patients free of COVID-19, she was more concerned about them than her own wellness.
“If I’m ill there is a high possibility that I could pass that on to the patients, and you just don’t want to play that game,” Crichlow-Hall said. “I had to make sure I was healthy and that my household was healthy because ultimately that would affect my job and the patients.”
For Crichlow-Hall, one of the many downfalls COVID-19 has caused is the inability to create a bond with patients. She now has to consistently distance herself and believes social distancing in compromised patients will carry on for many years to come.
“In the office, we used to be able to offer simple things like candy, coffee, things like that,” she said. “We no longer do that because it was in a common space where everyone could go and touch. You can’t get to know your patients or give them a friendly hug during the holiday time.”
Being a person of faith, Crichlow-Hall says the pandemic helped to solidify her beliefs in God. Her experience while working throughout the pandemic has proven to her that there is a higher being.
“And there is no way you can convince me moving forward of anything else,” she said with a laugh.
The Sunshine Prevention Center in Port Jefferson Station has worked to make sure its students had coursework during the pandemic, even driving materials home to students. Photo by Kyle Barr
When the first weeks of the pandemic hit, when everything from restaurants to gyms to playgrounds were being shut down, schools were forced closed as well.
As the many different districts across Long Island scrambled to implement distance learning, a new crisis loomed. For the many men and women who still worked, especially those on the frontlines in hospitals or elder care facilities, they could no longer depend on school districts to take care of their children for most of the day.
George Duffy, the CEO of SCOPE Education Services, was instrumental in providing child care during the pandemic’s early months. Photo from SCOPE
And as parents scrambled to find ways to take care of their children, a few groups stepped up to the plate. Many parents owe a great deal to those organizations that took care of their children during the pandemic’s worst months, many of whom were trailblazers for what kids would come to expect when schools finally reopened in later months.
Organizations from all over kept their child care services going when they were needed most. The Huntington YMCA, while suspending many of its other youth and adult programs, kept running its child care services and food pickups for families. This was even amongst huge economic hardship caused by the loss of membership dues.
Eileen Knauer, senior vice president of operations for YMCA of Long Island, said their child care programs ran for four months out of their Huntington facility as well as a school in the South Huntington school district, up until their summer camp programs started again. While it initially ran free of charge for parents, having been supported by stipends from the school district and Northwell Health, they did end up having to charge parents some cost for the program. For those parents who did not have enough to pay, they fundraised to help support their children.
“The ‘Y’ is here for our community — we respond to what the community tells us we need,” Knauer said.
SCOPE Education Services, a Smithtown-based nonprofit chartered by the New York State Board of Regents, operates child care programs all over Long Island. Though SCOPE normally works with school districts from all over, in March, when districts were mandated to provide child care even while their buildings were closed to normal activity, they turned to SCOPE, according to George Duffy, executive director.
The nonprofit operated 25 locations throughout Long Island to provide that child care, with more than 800 children in total enrolled. From March through August, SCOPE workers kept children in safe spaces, allowing them an opportunity to socialize when many were feeling the emotional constraints of isolation.
Though districts pay a weekly stipend to help run the program, for parents who desperately needed people to take care of their children while working, it was effectively free.
Lori Innella-Venne, a district manager for SCOPE operating in the Huntington area, said it was soon after the closures were coming into effect that she and her workers sat together to come up with a plan, creating something entirely new on the fly, even when restrictions and medical advice seemed to be changing on a daily basis. Despite all that, the program never saw a positive COVID-19 case amongst its children, she said.
“We took one breath when schools closed and we immediately got to work, reimagining how we did everything,” Innella-Venne said.
Over in Rocky Point, the North Shore Youth Council, a nonprofit that services districts from Mount Sinai to Shoreham-Wading River, was also caught up in that first COVID wave that crashed upon Suffolk County. Their summer camp, which featured 100 kids, was so effective in its procedures that it did not see a positive case in the several months the program ran.
NSYC Executive Director Robert Woods said they also had the benefit of good relationships with the Rocky Point school district, and that it was the district’s custodial staff who were “rock stars” in helping to prepare children for these activities.
It was difficult, of course. Children could not even play board games together. Innella-Venne said they had to draw up an entirely new curriculum. Activities had to focus on being spaced apart. Equipment that was once shared now had to be restricted to individuals, and then sanitized after use.
“When we were still waiting for guidelines to come out, we already had a fully realized program, one that we found well within the guidelines and in some cases exceeded them,” she said. “There was fear in the beginning, but also incredible pride for what we were able to accomplish.”
The Huntington YMCA struggled during the pandemic but still offered childcare during the peak months. File photo by Victoria Espinoza
Once school started again, the demand for child care did not relax. The youth council’s afterschool program now follows in the footsteps of the local school districts’ cohort system, following those so that they don’t mix students who may have been kept separate for a significant time. They also developed a kind of study hall for those students in the hybrid model who are studying electronically, allowing parents to work even when their children are not allowed inside schools, according to Cyndi Donaldson, the youth council’s school-age child care program director.
Knauer said the YMCA has also started a program to allow children a place to do their remote work while their parents are at their jobs. Though that program had stalled once students were allowed back in school full time, it will likely start up again after December as the number of COVID cases climb and local districts expect to take a longer-than-normal Christmas break.
“If you’re a working parent, you don’t have the luxury of taking time off,” she said.
There are so many stressors with young people having to deal with so much, whether it was hearing the news and the number of people dying, or it was seeing the anxieties of their parents. It was especially hard on more at-risk kids, the kind of population serviced by The Sunshine Center in Port Jefferson Station. Carol Carter, CEO/co-founder of the organization, said they had to transfer much of their child care services online once the pandemic struck, whether it was live on Facebook or YouTube, or constant calls to catch up with parents and their children on what was happening. They took to driving out to children’s households with homework and activities or even food, trying to keep those participants engaged. The center created a blessing box where needy parents could pick up supplies and food that were donated by the wider community.
“We knew immediately how important support was through this time,” she said. “Our main focus was on positive social skills. People were feeling anxiety and other tough feelings, so developing coping skills, problem-solving skills and communication skills that kids could use during this time was important.”
All program directors agreed that their services provided a kind of stability for children during a tumultuous year.
“A parent said to me the other day that our programs are the only constant in their childs’ lives,” Woods said. “Their children look forward to coming to our programs, they are able to socialize in a different way. They are a thriving testament to what [our organization] does.”
Just like many businesses and other organizations during the pandemic, COVID has hurt their bottom line. Knauer said the YMCA is currently running at 50% below their normal revenue, as membership dues have dropped off significantly. She said anybody looking to start memberships or to donate can contact her through the YMCA at 631-421-4242.
Other programs also operated at a loss.
“SCOPE ended up losing money,” Duffy said. “We thought they were going to be running this for four-to-six weeks. We ended up running it for six months.”
But for the nonprofit service, the point was to provide that niche when it was needed.
NSYC camp councilors stood with 100 young people who participated in this year’s Summer Buddies camp, where there were no reported infections. Photo from NSYC
“We felt it was a valuable service that benefited families and the community,” Duffy said. “We were happy to do it — it kept people employed who would have been forced to do something drastic, like leave their job.”
The child care services were truly the first bulwark of dealing with children and students in a pandemic. Both SCOPE and NSYC officials said school districts reached out to them when coming up with their own procedures when reopening in September.
“A lot of school districts looked at what we did over the summer, asked for our input, and a lot of what they’re doing now is what we did in March,” Duffy said.
The work of these and other groups has been recognized by both school districts and parents. SCOPE has received numerous positive comments from superintendents from Brentwood to Middle Country to Comsewogue. One of the districts SCOPE operated in was Miller Place, where Marianne Cartisano, the MP superintendent, said her district would not have been able to come out of the first-wave months still with their feet under them if it weren’t for Duffy and his program.
“Parents would come back and say, ‘I didn’t worry about my child today,’” Cartisano said.
The Port Jefferson EMS team has been on the front lines of the pandemic since its start. The team covers the Mount Sinai, Port Jeff and Belle Terre communities. Photo from Michael Buckley
By Iryna Shkurhan
The work of first responders is indispensable to communities across the country, but during an exhausting year like 2020, it was even more so. They are the first on the scene of emergencies, and time and again put their lives at risk when they respond to all types of 911 calls. With COVID-19, it meant untold hours of difficulty and hardship, but their work helped secure the safety of thousands.
So, this year gave EMTs, paramedics and firefighters the added challenge of directly responding to the invisible killer, COVID-19, as the pandemic took on communities across Long Island, all while still responding to their usual fires and non-COVID related medical emergencies. Leaders and service members, some paid but mostly volunteers, weathered changes such as increased safety precautions and the rising demand for their assistance.
Wading River Fire Department, made up of about 80 volunteer members, responds to over 1,000 calls every year. When asked if one person stood out this year for their work, Chief Branden Heller agreed that their whole department demonstrated above and beyond work.
“We say the entire department because of all the events that transpired this year,” he said. “Members exposed themselves to more hazardous situations then they were normally used to. Overall, it’s been a very busy year.”
This year his crew of fire and EMS volunteers as well as two paid paramedics overcame a PPE shortage and also dealt with a rise of brush fires, on top of a surge of COVID cases, as emergency calls spiked up in the spring.
Daniel Dongvort, third assistant chief of Smithtown Fire Department, lauded Ann Shumacher, a lieutenant and volunteer EMT for her contributions this year, and throughout her 15-year tenure. She is a mother and full-time nurse, working two jobs, who still found time and energy to devote countless hours to the department whenever she could.
“She was nonstop helping riding ambulances and helping the community all throughout 2020, but what she’s done over her tenure is probably more telling of her personality and her dedication,” Dongvort said. “Her overall enthusiasm, passion and willingness to come out for the next call, time and time again, is something that’s contagious, especially to the younger members.”
Miller Place EMS Capt. Rob Chmiel, far right, leads a team of volunteers during the department’s 10th annual Stuff a Bus event Nov. 20. Photo by Kyle Barr
Rocky Point Fire Department, with over 130 active members, serves the Rocky Point and Shoreham communities. Volunteer members in the department respond to thousands of EMS and fire calls every year. The department’s David Singer was named an EMS firefighter of the year by Suffolk County Legislator Sarah Anker (D-Mount Sinai) in October.
This isn’t the first time that Singer has been honored for his service to the community.
As a member of the fire department for over 18 years, he has received his fire company’s Number One Responder Award and the Captain’s Award.
Roselyn Coleman, an EMT for Riverhead Fire Department and volunteer for Miller Place Fire Department was nominated by Larry Fischer, fire commissioner and a retired EMS. “She’s one of our best,” Fischer said. Coleman has devoted her time to the community this year and showed consistent dedication by splitting her time between both departments.
Port Jefferson Volunteer Ambulance Corps provides emergency medical services and EMS protection to thousands of Long Islanders at all hours of the day. During the height of COVID, volunteers at Port Jeff EMS were working close to 180 hours in a two-week period. Many of the volunteers are students at Stony Brook University, who balance their EMT duties with their academic responsibilities. Nestor Kissoon and Adam Jones are two student-volunteer EMTs who were enrolled in SBU this year.
“They did not shy away at all through the pandemic, and increased their hours to help meet the needs of the patients and the community,” said Virginia Ledford, administrative director of Port Jeff EMS. “They went beyond what was asked of them this year, and both always maintain a positive attitude.”
Two full-time paramedics — Rob Stoessel, chief and executive director, and Mike Presta, deputy chief — worked tirelessly this year for their department.
“At the beginning of the pandemic, they stayed at the building for what felt like weeks to make sure everyone was safe, prepared and thatthe needs of the community were being met,” Ledford said.
Miller Place EMS Capt. Rob Chmiel, far right, leads a team of volunteers during the department’s 10th annual Stuff a Bus event Nov. 20. Photo by Kyle Barr
John Quimby, chief of Mount Sinai Fire Department, was commended by his first assistant chief, Randy Nelson. Quimby’s first year as chief came at the same time as COVID, and such a time required making tough but necessary decisions to prioritize the safety of his team. This year was especially difficult for the department after a few members passed away.
“Ensuring that in everything that we do, the members’ safety and health has always been paramount in all the decisions that he’s made,” Nelson said of the chief.
Quimby made the decision to halt volunteer training in April, which Nelson said was crucial to the department, especially to minimize the spread of COVID-19. The chief also made the decision to conduct all meetings virtually.
“It makes me feel a lot better about the work that we do, and a lot more comfortable given the situation,” Nelson said. “It’s an uncomfortable situation to be in, but his decision-making through it all has certainly made it a bit easier to accept.”
Stony Brook Fire Department Chief Pete Leonard was also named an EMS firefighter of the year, this time by county Legislator Kara Hahn (D-Setauket) for her legislative district. Leonard has dedicated his time and energy to the fire department for over 35 years and has been a crucial asset to the Stony Brook community, this year especially.
In addition to his duties as chief, he also works as a full-time paramedic with Stony Brook University Hospital, where he is the first to provide care for critically ill patients being transported to hospitals. He continued to work throughout the pandemic as his department received a massive 10% in calls in the spring.
Leonard described managing both responsibilities as “a delicate balancing act” where he worried about his health and safety on the job as a paramedic, and then came home worrying about the safety of his 75-member department.
“There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for them,” he said. “And there isn’t a thing there they wouldn’t do for their community. Between our volunteer and paid staff, they have been exemplary and beyond words.”
He also described the cooperative relationship between all the fire departments on Long Island as they endured shortages of PPE. If one department was low on supplies, another department would chip in to offer theirs. They reached out to other departments to help out whenever necessary and, because of their cooperation, no department has had to go without PPE this year.
“It was a very cooperative relationship, and really showed the true spirit of what it is to work in this industry, and work together,” Leonard said.
St. Catherine Chief Nursing Officer Mary Jane Finnegan gives a flu shot during a free mobile clinic at the end of September. Photo from St. Catherine hospital
They lost patients, sleep and time with their families and yet, through some of the most difficult conditions in over a century, they persevered, brought together by the shared goal of saving lives threatened by the pandemic.
The Times Beacon Record Newspapers is pleased to honor the health care workers who put themselves in harm’s way to offer comfort, cures and solutions for COVID-19.
State Sen. Jim Gaughran (D-Northport) described health care workers as “heroes beyond belief.” He added, “There are folks who have gotten sick and died, simply because they were just doing their jobs.”
Unusual Requests
Indeed, in some cases, these health care workers took on tasks that aren’t typically a part of their job description or training.
Tricia Coffey on the phone at Huntington Hospital. Photo from Coffey
Take Kristen Thomas, a registered nurse at Mather Hospital in Port Jefferson. A priest came up to her in the halls of the hospital to ask for an unusual favor. A person had died and the family, who couldn’t be by his side, asked for last rites. The priest knew he couldn’t enter the room.
He asked, “Would you mind taking holy water and anointing the patient?”
She approached the patient, made the sign of the cross and prayed, as the priest stood outside the door.
“A moment like that, you never really plan to do that,” Thomas said. “We tried to give the family a little bit of closure. They didn’t get to attend the normal [rituals].”
For the community and health care workers, normal took on new meaning, especially in the first few months of the pandemic, when Suffolk County became an epicenter of the virus.
With family unable to sit by the bedside, nurses often stepped up, holding up iPad and phones so the family could spend time together virtually.
Marilin Dilone, Emergency Department nurse at Stony Brook University Hospital, called the young family of one of her patients.
Marilin Dilone, emergency department nurse at SBUH decked in full PPE gear. Photo from SBUH
His wife “put the baby on the phone — the baby looked like he was maybe 10 months old. The baby was making noises. I swear [the patient] opened his eyes. The wife is crying. Such a moment, we take for granted. He could hear her say, ‘I love you.’ To be able to provide that was very humbling for me.”
Like Dilone and so many other nurses, Robert Collins, a nurse at Mather Hospital ,shared how he held an iPad up to patients whose conditions were deteriorating so they could say goodbye to their families.
He had to stay in the room because some of the patients couldn’t hold the iPad.
“You do that once or twice, it kind of sticks with you,” Collins said.
Deep Connections
The connections the medical staff made to the families of patients extended well beyond the typical interactions.
“We had patients for an extended period of time,” said Patricia Coffey, nurse manager of the Critical Care Unit at Huntington Hospital.
Coffey, who spent 11 weeks actively caring for patients as her managerial duties “went to the wayside,” said the staff talked to families for extended periods of time. She spoke with some families daily, spending as much as two-and-a-half hours each day on the phone.
The nurses felt like members of the family because the normal support system couldn’t provide bedside support.
“You were channeling the family to the patient,” Coffey said. The nurses were “rooting so hard” for the patients.
When one of those patients who was in the hospital died after a long battle, she said it was “unbelievably heartbreaking — you felt like one of your own family members had died.”
She still keeps in touch with family members.
Mather Nurse Robert Collins. Photo from Mather
Coffey said one of her neighbors was admitted to the hospital with COVID and was on her floor. Coffey’s children and her neighbor’s children grew up together and their daughters were friends.
She not only spoke with his wife every day during her 60-hour weeks, but she also called her coworkers over the weekend to ask how he was doing.
The conversations with the neighbor’s wife were “a little hard. I wanted to be honest with her. He was very critical. At the same time, I was trying to be hopeful. It was a hard balance.”
Coffey said he was “one of the lucky ones who survived.”
Dilone of SBUH described how the work was more physically demanding.
She would “try not to ask for people” as she didn’t want to expose others if it wasn’t necessary. “You are taking care of patients more by yourself, turning them and doing chest PT [physiotherapy] — it was physically more demanding,” Dilone said.
Dark Moments
Watching patients who died took its toll, even on people who have been in the medical profession for decades.
MaryJane Finnegan, chief nursing officer at St. Catherine of Siena Medical Center in Smithtown, described the unusually high number of people dying from the virus. The hospital was running out of space for the dead. The morgue was filled and an additional refrigeration truck outside also filled quickly.
Mather Nurse Kristen Thomas. Photo from Mather
“One day, eight people died — usually in a week, you can have eight people die, but not eight in a day,” Finnegan said.
Nikki Fiore-Lopez, chief nursing officer at St. Charles Hospital in Port Jefferson said a nurse was present for the death of her mentor. Watching her die was “one of the darkest moments” for the nurse, Fiore-Lopez said.
Many medical professionals encouraged their patients to fight through the worst of the virus.
Stony Brook’s Dilone stayed with a patient whose blood oxygen level kept dropping. She wouldn’t let him fall asleep because she was worried he’d get intubated. She reminded him of his family and that he needed to help himself.
“I felt like Nurse Ratched,” Dilone said, referring to the dreaded nurse from the movie “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.”
Dilone spent hours with this patient. Later, a doctor told her keeping the man awake prevented him from getting intubated.
Unexpected Challenges
With a virus no one had battled before, health care workers had to be flexible, learning about everything from new protocols for admitting patients to the latest and best treatments.
Chief Nursing Officer at St. Charles hospital Nikki Fiore-Lopez delivers flowers to patients at Christmas with Foundation Board Chair member Doug Casimir in 2019. Photo from St. Charles
The staff had to confront the “speed with which everything changed,” said Dr. Eric Morley, associate professor and clinical director in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Stony Brook University’s Renaissance School of Medicine. “Every day, there were new protocols, new ways to deal with things.”
Hospitals had to create a forward triage system to deal with the flood of COVID patients amid all the other potential emergencies hospitals routinely have.
These efforts required hundreds of employees to “get on the same people to sort people out,” Morley said. Training staff to manage the flow of patients required constant communication.
Even some of the smaller elements of managing the crisis took Morley’s time, such as getting new traffic signs to direct people to an alternate site.
Hospital managers were continually confronted with numerous unexpected challenges.
Ken Roberts, president of Mather Hospital, said the hospital had to ensure the PPE was hospital grade and not counterfeit.
“There were a lot of suspicious and unscrupulous suppliers when supply and demand was unbalanced, and everyone was in crisis,” he explained in an email.
Health care workers tapped into their personal skills to connect with patients.
Angel Figueroa, a registered respiratory therapist at SBUH who grew up in New York City and learned Spanish thanks to his Puerto Rican heritage, walked into some rooms and spoke Spanish to patients.
When he greeted patients in Spanish, “I would see their eyes open up [and think], ‘Somebody understands me.’”
They would ask him numerous questions, particularly because the medical information came at them so quickly.
Mather’s Collins described how the routine changed so dramatically the moment he arrived at work.
Mather President Ken Roberts holds a sign thanking health care workers. Photo from Mather
“Rapid response bells were going off as soon as you walked in,” he said. “You didn’t take your coat off” before patients needed attention. “People were not doing well. That was happening more frequently than before. That was an adjustment.”
On the other side of the struggle, health care workers felt a tremendous sense of relief when patients continued their recoveries at home.
“When people were discharged, the staff was thrilled,” St. Catherine’s Finnegan said. “We’d play the [Beatles] song, ‘Here Comes the Sun.’ A lot of hospitals did that. People would gather as many as possible to wish the person well as they were wheeled out.”
Teamwork
Through the difficulties, though, Morley appreciated the support from the community and the families, along with the teamwork and camaraderie from so many departments and staff that all pulled together.
Roberts expressed similar sentiments.
“I was extremely pleased at the teamwork displayed by all hospital staff during the height of the pandemic,” he said.
The Mather president was also grateful for the letters, cards, donated meals, handmade masks and donated PPE.
“The local communities we serve gave us and continue to give us tremendous support and encouragement,” Roberts said. “That has meant so much to the staff to know that the community was supporting them and recognizing their efforts.”
Stony Brook Respiratory Therapist Angel Figueroa wearing mask and shield. Photo from SBUH
Coffey, from Huntington Hospital, was impressed with how, even amid such extraordinary and challenging times, numerous groups collaborated.
“In many ways there were positive things — the community, the team, everyone working together,” she said. “Parts of it were so uplifting. As hard and as difficult and sad and heart wrenching [as it was], so many other parts, you just saw such humanity. It was amazing.”
Lasting Thoughts
Finnegan said the staff was incredibly appreciative of all the food local restaurants donated.
In fact, some of them joke that they gained the “COVID-19,” referring to the weight they put on while they were working numerous shifts and benefiting from all the donated food.
Morley “rediscovered” Twinkies during COVID in the break room. He has since been able to lose the weight the snack cakes added.
While gyms were closed, Collins relieved stress by buying a 400-pound tractor-trailer tire that he flipped up and down along his driveway. He also took a sledgehammer and “beat on it.”
The exertion would make him tired enough that the stress would dissipate for the day.
Dr. Eric Morley from SBU participates in COVID testing. Photo from SBU
Ultimately, what made an ever-expanding job — that affected so many aspects of health care workers’ personal and professional lives — manageable was the shared sense of purpose and the inspiration people drew from each other.
“The fact that the staff was out there doing it” helped give her energy, St. Charles’ Fiore-Lopez said. “We had patients to care for, we had shifts. We had days and weeks and months to get through. They put one foot in front of the other and I needed to do the same.”
Morley appreciated the way the Stony Brook staff pulled together during an intense and challenging time.
“Although it was grueling, it was a special thing to go through with that group of people,” he said.
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