Fenwick Faculty, Staff Receive First Dose of COVID Vaccine!

Some 140 of our “Status 1B Educators” rolled up their sleeves this past weekend.

School Nurse Donna Pape administers the shot to Senior Class Counselor and baseball coach Mr. Pat Jacobsen, who was one of some 140 Fenwick faculty and staff members to get vaccinated on Saturday.

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.”

Praying for Nurses and Medical Professionals with Fenwick Ties

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.)

Nurse Meade

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, MilwaukeeRegistered 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:

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