Two hundred years ago today, on May 12, 1820, Florence Nightingale, known as “the mother of nursing,” was born in Florence, Italy. She made her mark on the health care profession by improving unsanitary conditions at a British Hospital during the Crimean war, reducing the death count by two-thirds. In honor of her 200th birthday, the World Health Organization designated 2020 as Year of the Nurse, to highlight the extraordinary contributions nurses make to healthcare every day.

“In light of these unprecedented times, it’s clear just how fitting this designation is,” said Maureen Scanlan, MSN, RN, NEA-BC, Vice President of Nursing and Patient Care Services at Montefiore Health System.

Despite COVID-19 causing this year’s plan for week-long celebrations across the Montefiore network to be put on hold, the nurses are being recognized as heroes in real time as they work alongside their fellow clinicians on the front lines of COVID-19.

In a congratulatory message sent to the estimated 5,600 registered nurses, licensed practical nurses, nurse practitioners, and nursing assistants, who work across the Montefiore Health system, with about 3,400 nursing staff at Moses, Weiler and Wakefield hospitals, Ms. Scanlan’s words rings true.

“Your contributions to battling this pandemic have been monumental and your care, kindness and grace everyday truly improve the health of all,” she wrote.

During the height of the COVID-19 epidemic, most Montefiore nurses were redeployed to unfamiliar territory.  Still, they helped provide exceptional care in these challenging situations.

“Medicine is all about teamwork and the nurses are key members of the team,” said Yaron Tomer, MD, FACP, Chair of the Department of Medicine. “This was especially evident during the COVID-19 crisis, when our nurses worked tirelessly and selflessly with courage and dedication. They played a key role in our ability to provide compassionate outstanding care while facing unprecedented challenges.”

Michelle Gong, MD, MS, Division Chief, Critical Care Medicine and Pulmonary Medicine, attributes much of Montefiore’s success during the COVID-19 pandemic to the hard work, dedication and compassion of the nurses in the ICU and on the critical care floors. 

“They were stretched beyond anybody’s imagination,” Dr. Gong said. “Not only were they taking care of severely sick patients, but at the worst of the pandemic, the nurses took excellent care of each patient, even when they were tested with limited resources.”

Elodia Mercier, RNC BSN, MS, a Nursing Director at Moses, said she had never seen this level of camaraderie in her 36 years working at Montefiore.

“It was a very emotional experience for many of the nurses,” said Ms. Mercier, whose own mom was admitted to Montefiore with COVID-19, and is now doing well. “Despite not knowing what the next day would bring, they all stepped up to the challenge, and did this while maintaining a caring hand toward the patients, many of whom lost physical contact with their families.”

One of the most memorable moments, she noted, was witnessing a group of nursing staff gathered in a prayer huddle before the first patient was brought into Grand Hall. The conference room and event hall was converted into a COVID-19 unit in order to increase the number of beds throughout the hospital system and free up beds in the ICUs and Med Surg units. The Tischman Learning Center and Grand Hall were transformed in less than one week, a feat that Ms. Mercier described as nothing short of miraculous.

At Weiler Hospital, on the Einstein campus, nearly 1300 nurses rose to this incredible challenge.

“Our nursing teams shined warmth and light when it was very, very dark,” said Linda Berger Spivack, Assistant Vice President of Nursing at the 421-bed hospital on the Einstein campus.  Nurses were battling their own personal and health challenges throughout this crisis, she noted. Many nurses were afraid and lonely, living in isolation in hotels and Airbnbs in order to avoid putting their family members at risk. In the face of these challenges, nurses consistently put their own fears and problems aside, to put their patient’s needs above their own. They are often the first person to interact with patients when they enter the hospital, and in the worst cases the last person to be with them when they die, Ms. Spivack said. Throughout these challenging times nurses continued to provide patients with the most important type of care – the human touch. 

“Our teams brought compassion and comfort into chaotic and tragic situations. I saw bedside nurses interacting with the patients who were scared and alone, nearing the end of their lives away from their families,” Ms. Spivack said. “Nurses providing hope and comfort, helping patients connect with their families over the phone or standing in for family members who could connect or come in person. Those were the moments where nurses shined.”

With the heartache, came moments of joy.

“The nurses celebrated each time a patient was extubated in the intensive care unit. They rejoiced with the patient as they were being discharged. When patients and families contacted us during and after the hospitalization, they would remark about how a nurse would hold their hand or reassure them that they are being taken care of or even just remind them that they will be back to check on them,” noted Dr. Gong. “These simple acts of human connections with the patient when families can’t visit, these words of hope and of reassurance from the nurses were what the patients and their families remember and cling to. Perhaps the greatest contributions from the nurse has been their ability to bring hope and humanity to the patient at the center of the pandemic,” she added.

Ms. Spivack also felt that the most remarkable moments were of the human touch.

“To open the door or look through the window and see a nurse in the ICU touching the patient’s brow was what stands out to me,” she said.  “In those moments, when you’re not 100% comfortable and you have a patient who is scared, to act on the patient’s needs, to provide the emotional and spiritual help them conquer their fears - that is the essence of nursing.”

Ms. Spivack added: “And for me, that’s what Florence Nightingale’s legacy is about.”