Covid-19 Heroes

Genia Cabalona
Director Of Nursing at The Grove of Northbrook sharing the new guidelines for COVID-19 from the Illinois Department of Public Health and the Center of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). She calls her staff her heroes who “cure with hidden
smiles.”.

Paul Ronndolf
Sevilla, BSN, RN
Registered Nurse at Care Advocate Skokie, IL
“Psych nurse who is currently taking care of psych patients in quarantine with possible COVID-19. I work everywhere as an
agency nurse trying to relieve short staff ed facilities especially with the breakout. As for the why, personally I never saw nursing as a calling or whatever, but, I see it as a way of me giving back, to be of service to my community. I never thought of
myself as a frontliner till a few days ago when one of the facilities that I work at had our first few cases of COVID-19, now I feel part of the fight, although not as extensive as the other frontliners, but I’m glad I’m doing my part.”

Baron Lloyd Salvatierra Cabalona
Restorative Nurse Coordinator
Chicago, IL (uptown)

“Our Restorative Team’s goals are to maintain or improve our residents’ activities of daily living. As the pandemic has reached an outbreak in many long term care facilities, it has been a challenge to maintain regular day-to-day along with the current obstacles. Being a co-founder of the Medical/ Dental/ outreach organization, L.O.V.E. (League Of Volunteers for relief Expeditions) established in 2013, my wife and I have come across that adaptability is the best recipe in uncomfortable situations. Despite the current pandemic and being a “kuya” in my Interdisciplinary Team, my Position as manager gives me the opportunity to motivate and give hope and smiles to my colleagues and our staff even with masks on. Currently, my personal goal and advocacy to fellow co-workers is to learn how to smile with your eyes. If you hear someone in the corridors saying “beautiful eyes,”you already know it’s me.”

Giga Yanong, MHSA,
LNHA, CDP
Director of Social Services/Administrator
Chicago, IL

“Managing and overseeing the quality and appropriateness of the Social Services program delivered in a skilled nursing and rehabilitation center, in accordance with state and federal regulations, and corporate policies and procedures. Leading project management to implement process improvements within the departments. Making sure the facility is running well, according to IDPH standards during selected weekends of the month. I am in this supervisory capacity because I enjoy working with people and helping individuals that require assistance with their psychosocial needs as well as support in any way possible in crisis management.”

 

Mary Lou Juachon
Critical Care at Mercy Hospital and Medical Center “Proud to be a critical care nurse, here to serve. Please stay home!!!! Covid 19”

Tina Nonato
Tina is doing homemade facemasks to save lives for free to be given to Seniors in the Chicago Housing in the Southside and
Westside poor community.

Kristin Farrales Distor
Charge RN 4 Medical AMITA
St. Francis Hospita

“I have been a nurse for twenty years. I’m a nurse because I love helping others. It’s a hard and sometimes thankless job but it’s rewarding, too. As a nurse, I care for people when they’re too sick to take care of themselves. It’s a good feeling when they get better and go home. As one of the four charge nurses on my unit, I have many roles. I work with the supervisors to assign admissions to the unit. I assign admissions to nurses based on acuity. I make the assignment for the next shift. I help start IV sites, will pick up medications from pharmacy, drop labs off to the lab, etc. I also take a smaller team of patients so I can help the fl oor. I work with the manager of the unit to distribute information that comes from Administration to staff . I also provide information and feedback from staff to the manager. ”

Melissa Villanueva
Owner of Brewpoint Coffee
Elmhurst, IL

“We went from three coff ee shops, a roastery, and an event space to one cafe pick up window and an online store. We have been able to keep almost all our staff and are building new ways to keep moving through this epidemic while keeping people safe.” Through Brewpoint, Mel and Angelo are able to devote themselves wholeheartedly to their community-focused ideals. The journey began with Melissa uprooting her corporate life to do community work in the Philippines, while Angelo was home in the States pushing her to dream bigger and out of her comfort zone. Not only does Brewpoint Coffee have great quality coff ee, the Brewpoint Coff ee experience comes from a place of authentic and diverse community. All Brewpoint Coffee Care Packages profi ts will go to their Team Emergency Fund. www.brewpointcoffee.com