Through all this I’ve felt so helpless! As my many friends gear up every single day to battle the frontlines of this pandemic, I sit at home trying to find things to occupy my time. With no booked sessions Ive searched for ways to satisfy my need for being creative. I knew I needed to do something… something that lights my soul on fire. But what?
After weeks of not shooting I woke up on April 2nd 2020 and it HIT ME! My feelings of wanting to help and show appreciation combined with needing an artistic outlet made for the perfect recipe to start the The Frontline Hero Project.
Heroes don’t wear capes… they wear scrubs, uniforms, badges, tools on their belts, and yes even Costco name tags!
I am thankful for all of you out there risking everything. You all are true heroes and I appreciate you!
Thank you now… thank you forever. You guys make the difference!
The Davidson/ Sanchez Family
Charge Nurse at Loma Linda University Children’s Hospital and Surgical Technologist
My name is Kim and I am a Charge Nurse at Loma Linda University Children’s Hospital in The Total Care Birth Center. I help care for a high risk population of pregnant women and since we function like an Emergency Department, they come up to our unit and we screen both the patient and their visitors for symptoms of COVID-19. I worry about many things during this uncertain time. I’m concerned about my nurses safety, my own safety, about keeping up with the ever changing guidelines on what we need to do to protect ourselves and our patients. I worry about contracting the virus and about bringing it home to my family, especially since now I will be performing COVID swab testing on many patients. I’m afraid for the vulnerable people in my life and for my best friends, who are all nurses too. Truth be told, I’ve never been more proud or more afraid to be a nurse.
I’m hopeful that through all the quarantine restrictions we will learn to really appreciate the things we took for granted before. The small things that really aren’t so small after all, like going out to eat at a restaurant or simply hugging your best friend.
I have worked at Loma Linda for over 10 years and it is both my privilege and honor to provide the best care possible to our patients. Please stay home, please cherish the ability to be home where you are safe with your family. We will go to work for your sake, please stay home for ours.
My name is Sonia and I have been a surgical technologist for 5 years. In case you don’t know what we do, we are pretty much a surgeons right hand. My hours are spent on my feet in an operating room where I am constantly in contact with all bodily fluids and airway molecules. Having an operation is very stressful for some, and I like to ease that for my patients, whether it be playing their favorite song, talking to them about their families, or just holding their hand. We are now being asked to step out during intubation and extubation. Although this is safer for us, I struggle with the fact that I am not there for my patient as they go off to sleep. A fear of mine, is that when we have an emergency procedure, we don’t know if this patient we are taking care of is possibly covid positive, but we put that aside to save this patient’s life. I fear that I can bring this home, give it to my family, friends or coworkers, which is something that I can try to prevent with this social distancing and hand washing, and I urge you all to take this seriously and practice it as well. I hope that we all come out of this a stronger nation, and that we learn to pay attention to the smaller things in life. That we take a second to breathe and be thankful that we are able to call our loved ones, hug them, tell them you love them and make sure to enjoy your life to the fullest.
Be sure to meet the other Frontline Families by clicking here: The Frontline Hero Project
