Some 140 of our “Status 1B Educators” rolled up their sleeves this past weekend.
Fenwick teachers, coaches, staff and administrators received their first COVID-19 vaccinations at a Saturday event for Oak Park private schools. “We had a great turn out with approximately 265 Oak Park private school educators and staff,” reports School Nurse Kathleen Monty, RN. “Of that, approximately 140 were Fenwick faculty/staff. The Village of Oak Park and the Oak Park Board of Health were pleased with the turnout ….” Later this month, the faculty/staff will return for shot two.
Ms. Monty adds that she and fellow School Nurse Donna Pape, RN, appreciate everyone’s patience and understanding. “The Fenwick faculty and staff have put up with all our constantly changing rules and have shown up every day since August for our students. We are proud to be part of the Fenwick family!”
Fenwick President Fr. Richard Peddicord, O.P. notes: “Please join me thanking our nurses, Donna Pape and Kitty Monty, for all their great work this year and their heroic efforts to get all of us vaccinated on Saturday. It was truly inspiring to see them in action! The Fenwick community owes them so much. Thanks, too, to Bryan Boehm [Digital Learning Specialist] and Jimmy Sperandio [Class of ’85 and Community Resource Officer] for their good work on Saturday on our behalf.”
The observation of National Nurses Week, celebrated May 6 – May 12, has extra-special meaning this year.
As is the case with many care-givers, the hard work of dedicated nurses often is taken for granted. Sometimes, it takes a health crisis such as the Coronavirus pandemic to bring these medical heroes into the spotlight.
Pictured above is alumna Julianne (Comiskey) Heinimann ’01, who works as a NICU nurse at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago. She is one of at least 34 Friar alumni — women and men — who are registered nurses or nurse practitioners (see list below) across the United States: from Chicago, Oak Park, Downers Grove and Indiana to Washington (DC), Ohio, Arizona and San Francisco. (We know there are many more who are not in our system.)
Kathryn Meade, the mother of Fenwick senior Jack Meade (Lombard, IL), is one of at least nine parents working in the nursing field (see below). ” I had contracted COVID-19 from work,” shares Mrs. Meade, who has been a nurse since 1994, working as a NICU nurse for 22 years until recently becoming a Lactation Consultant. “Thankfully, I am on the mend and am humbled by the outpouring of love and support I received,” she says.
In observance if National Nurses Week, we want to publicly thank these moral servant-leaders for all that they do for their patients – especially by putting themselves and their families at risk during the COVID-19 crisis. You make us all proud to be fellow Friars!
Mary
Berkemeyer
’11
Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Chicago
Emergency Room Registered Nurse
Monica
Bomben
’11
Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Chicago
Registered Nurse, Neuro/Ortho
Allison
Borkovec
’07
Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston
Registered Nurse
Marco
Candido
’03
Independent
Registered Nurse
Katie
Dalton
’06
Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Chicago
Registered Nurse
Jennifer
Dan
’08
Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Chicago
Cardiac Cath Lab Nurse
Lauren
Sarah
Dillon-Ellsworth
Finan
’99
’04
Loyola University Medical Center, Maywood, IL
Lurie Children’s Hospital, Chicago
Nurse
Nurse, neurointestinal and motility
Shannon
Daniela
Flannery
Giacalone
’14
’07
Northwestern Memorial University of Chicago Comer Children’s Hospital
Registered Nurse
Registered Nurse
Margaret
Grace
’13
Rush University Medical Center, Chicago
Registered Nurse
Sharon
Grandy
’01
Presence Health (Arizona)
Emergency Room, RN
Julianne
Michelle
Comiskey-Heinimann
Androwich- Horrigan
’01
’05
Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Chicago Northwestern Memorial
Registered Nurse (Neonatal ICU)
Dana
Jakoubek
’01
UCSF Medical Center, San Francisco
Kidney Transplant Nurse Practitioner
Bridget
Kern
’07
Rush University Medical Center, Chicago
Registered Nurse
Amy
Konopasek
’01
Loyola University Medical Center, Maywood, IL
Registered
Nurse Multidisciplinary Coordinator
Alexis
Grace
Kozyra
Lattner
’12
’15
AMITA Health
Cleveland Clinic
Registered Nurse
Registered Nurse
Robert
Lewis
’71
Emory University Emergency Medicine, Atlanta
Nurse Practitioner
Anne
Loeffler
’06
Rush University Medical Center
Nurse Assistant 2
Mark
Manankil
’86
Advocate Healthcare/Good Samaritan Hospital, Downers Gtove, IL
Nurse/Psychiatry
Madalyn
Molly
Mazur
McHugh
’11
’13
U. of Chicago Hospital – Stem Cell Transplant Unit
MedStar Georgetown University Hospital, Washington, D.C.
Charge Nurse/ Floor Nurse
Registered Nurse
Martin
Mikell
’86
Zablocki VA Medical Center, Milwaukee
Registered Nurse
Elissa
Mikol
’04
Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago
Pediatric Surgery, Nurse Practitioner
Kyle
Nora
Morris
Napleton
’97
’15
Saint Mary’s Medical Center, Chicago Loyola Medical Center, Maywood
Registered Nurse
ICU Nurse
Thomas
Papadakis
’01
Rush Oak Park Hospital
Registered Nurse, Emergency Department
Rachel
Katherine
Koranda-Plant
Racanelli
’00
’08
Loyola Medical Center (Chicago)
AMITA Health Medical Group
Registered Nurse
Family Nurse Practitioner
Terri
Ferrera-Salinas
’09
Magnificat Family Medicine, Indianapolis
Registered Nurse
Pamela
Andrew
Chase-Smith
Straub
’97
’87
Champaign, IL
UnitedHealth Group, Ohio
RN
Nurse Practitioner
Brittney
Woosley
’08
Gottlieb Memorial Hospital, Melrose Park, IL
Permanent Charge Nurse/RN
According to the Fenwick database, another 225 people (including alumni) have listed either “medicine” as their business/industry or “nursing” or “physician” as their profession. They are: