Warriors on front line of pandemic
As we mourn our BNI Family members who have died from COVID-19, and as we pray for the recovery of those still fighting the virus, we also must recognize and tip our BNI caps to our alumni who have served on the front lines over the past year. We have no way of knowing how many hundreds of graduates have worked devotedly for the health, safety and well-being of their fellow man, often risking their own health and well-being. We can't possibly recognize them all, but following are a number of personal stories we share with the intent of honoring all of our dedicated alums on the front lines. God bless all of you!
Colleen Kearney Rehm, RN, ’14
Colleen Rehm ’14 graduated from nursing school right before the pandemic began. Colleen and her husband, Jacob Rehm ’13, recently welcomed their first child. Collen is an ICU nurse and Jacob is a firefighter. Other first responders in Collen’s family include her brother Michael Kearney ’09, a paramedic, and her cousin Emily Rokosz Gleason ’03, a nurse.
Colleen Rehm ’14 works in the ICU at Saint Mary Medical Center in Hobart, Indiana. She began as a new grad ICU nurse in January 2020, the same month she found out she was pregnant with her first baby and just as COVID was beginning to unfold.
“Working during the pandemic has been exhausting— mentally, emotionally, and physically. Working in the ICU, it’s normal to deal with very critical patients but the heaviness of COVID patients is different and the loss is so much greater. But with the exceptional team of nurses I work with, we are able to lean on each other during this time.
“The biggest challenge I’ve seen is with our mental health. I can’t help but think of the patient who I had to explain the need to be intubated and put on a ventilator to which he replied ‘am I going to die? Will you stay with me?’ as he held my hand … which would end up being his final words. And the family who had to say their final goodbyes to their loved one over a GoogleDuo. There are countless others like fear of infection and bringing the virus home to our families, difficulty communicating with patients in isolation, difficulty communicating with patients' families, and general uncertainty to name a few.
“COVID-19 has dramatically changed how we function and deliver care in the hospital. With an influx of critically ill patients and consequently staffing shortages, it has been difficult to balance. We are fortunate enough to have access to PPE; however, that has been one of the biggest changes. Most of the time pre-COVID, before entering a patient room, you didn’t think twice; but now you question, ‘Do I have my goggles on?’ ‘Do I have my shield?’ ‘Do I have my N95?’ ‘Do I have my surgical mask?’ ‘Do I have my gown’ ‘Do I have my scrub cap?’ There used to be a time when we didn’t have to ask ‘has the patient been tested for COVID?’ or have our temperatures taken before walking into our shift. I have to say, though, at the end of the day, we as nurses haven’t changed; we are still our patients’ advocate and caring for them holistically.
“Bishop Noll’s mantra has always stuck with me - ‘shaping students Mind, Body, and Soul.’ I think I heard this at least once every day while I was in high school. This has carried into my profession now where I care for my patients’ minds, bodies and souls. A large part of my faith foundation was shaped at Bishop Noll and is now helping me to get through this difficult time.
“We as healthcare workers will continue to fight every day to take care of you, but we also need you to take care of us. Please continue to social distance, wear masks, and stay home when you can. To aspiring nurses, we need you now more than ever. I can promise that becoming a nurse will be one of the most humbling and rewarding experiences.”
Brian Florek '03, firefighter/paramedic
Brian Florek ’03 has taken on a special role within the Chicago Fire Department's Infection Control Team. This team is responsible for the development and implementation of COVID-19 mitigation strategies, monitoring and reporting of department COVID-19 statistics, as well as contact tracing between firefighters, paramedics and the public. Florek also performs COVID-19 testing and vaccination of department members.
“As firefighters and paramedics we work in dangerous conditions, acknowledging that many times the dangers we face cannot be detected by our human senses. We rely on our faith, education and technology to keep us safe so that we may continue to serve the public that has entrusted so much to us.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has changed much of the way we look at infection control within the world of public safety. We have implemented changes to patient care protocols and engineering controls to increase care provider safety. We have learned new methods of data analytics that has enabled us to predict trends in infection rates in the public and in our firehouses. Through the relentless efforts of the Infection Control Team, we have been able to prevent multiple outbreaks of COVID-19 infections within our membership and the public.”
Florek is a firefighter/paramedic and has been with the Chicago Fire Department for 7 years, with a total of more than 16 years of experience in emergency services. He has a bachelor's degree in fire service management and a master's degree in public safety management, both from Southern Illinois University Carbondale.
Victoria Johnson ’16, RN
Victoria Johnson ’16 is a cardiac nurse in Indianapolis. She graduated from Ball State University in 2020 with a degree in nursing and had to learn quickly in the field.
“There are good days and there are bad days but every day I am learning something new. I've had to test my prioritization and critical thinking in ways I never thought I'd have to. Luckily, my coworkers are helpful and encouraging and I've always felt I could handle any situation with them behind me.
“Working in healthcare during the pandemic has definitely had its challenges. Hospitals are more strained than ever to find placements for sick patients. I work on a progressive unit. However, due to limited beds we have had to keep patients who need intensive care on our floor. This is often stressful trying to manage multiple patients when one or two require much more care. Couple this with the increased patient ratios many nurses face during this time. It makes a stressful and often scary combination. For me, the biggest challenge is seeing others act carelessly while you care for the sick and put yourself under immense mental and physical stress. Healthcare workers are doing everything they can to care for those who need it and it is disheartening to see others making decisions without compassion in mind.
“I want to encourage people to stay strong, wear their masks, avoid unnecessary gathering, and exercise compassion for your fellow man. While you might not be worried about COVID, there are many people who rely on you and your kindness. Stay safe!”

Lisette Herrera ’12, ICU BSN, RN
Lisette Herrera ’12 is an ICU nurse at Franciscan Health in Dyer, Ind.
“I have unfortunately been on both sides of the COVID experience. I have been that exhausted ICU nurse taking care of COVID patients, being there, doing everything I possibly could to keep my patients alive but despite all efforts it was never enough. We would be the last face our patients would see before putting them on the ventilator and the first one to be in the room to make sure they did not die alone. No one should ever die alone and we made sure of that.
“On the other end, I have unfortunately been that family member calling for updates, hoping and praying there was good news about my dad. Unfortunately I lost my dad in September 2020 due to COVID. He got COVID in August and after a week of being at home sick, his respiratory status started to decline and we took him to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago. Unfortunately my dad passed on Sept. 21, 2020. I hoped for good news every day while my dad was in the hospital but because of knowing how crazy this disease affected everyone and what I experience at work, I knew the phone calls were only getting worse.”
Her family and memory of her dad have become her motivations at work.
“Although my dad is gone, the experience I had with my dad is what pushes me to work harder every day. The support I have from my work family is tremendous. I fight and work hard so that no other family has to go through what my family went through. Unfortunately, sometimes even though we work hard, it is not enough. It is the try hard of it all that matters in the end: sweating in an isolation room, dressed in all of our PPE, coding a patient because he’s only in his 30s with no comorbidities. The question doesn’t become why? but how? How does a disease like this break down the body so intensely and so differently for every single patient? No family should ever have to feel that pain.”
Herrera said she was hesitant to work in an ICU following graduation from nursing school in 2017, but she now knows that is where she belongs.

Jazzie Encarnacion ’16, emergency medical scribe, nursing school student
Jazzie Encarnacion ’16 works as an emergency medical scribe for Franciscan Health Munster while attending nursing school virtually. As a scribe, she charts patients for the doctor from the moment they check into the front desk of the emergency department through their exams, procedures, diagnostics, consultations and all the way until they are discharged, admitted or transferred. Encarnacion started nursing school in fall 2020 and it has been an even more difficult road than she imagined.
“Learning how to be a nurse virtually or online is not the most adequate way to learn how to be a nurse. It's made it to be more stressful and really makes me feel less ready to be a future nurse. It's hard to be put into the mindset of a nurse when you're sitting at home on the couch Zooming into classes.
“COVID-19 has really pushed us, both us as scribes and the doctors and nurses I work alongside, as well as us nursing students. It's made me more dedicated at my current job because I'm able to take the pressure off of the doctor I'm working with that day … My job is one that is constantly on the go because you never know what's going to walk through those doors. It's an amazing job, and one that I describe to people as "watching heroes save lives by any means, and being able to write down their legacy.
“As a nursing student, myself as well as all of us are excited and ready to get started, get our hands dirty, and start working alongside these nurses and help take some stress and workload off of them. I think it's one of the reasons I'm so excited for in person clinical to start; it's a chance to take some of the "grunt work" off of the nurses while also learning from them and having an opportunity to practice our skills.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has made everyone, myself included, have to change the way we do things both inside and outside of the hospital. Inside the hospital everyone's wearing multiple masks, N95s, K95s, surgical masks, respirators; it's made it really hard to talk to one another and engage in work relationships. Wearing the masks has also made it really hard to breathe as when you're wearing multiple tight fitting masks for your protection for 12+ hours a day, it really starts to take a toll on your body. Headaches, irritability, frustrations, anxiety, there's so much that goes on. And after work, many of us will sanitize our cars and change our shoes, and change on our cars or garages in order to not bring in our potentially contaminated scribs into our homes. Everyone has become so cautious and the atmosphere of the hospital has become so dreary and just, sad because the normalcy we once had is just a distant memory now.
Encarnacion said nothing in her education has prepared her for this.
“I mean, I've read about "the Black Plague" and the "Spanish Flu" and tuberculosis, but I never thought in a million years I'd be living through - not to mention working on the front lines of - a portion of history. “