Ivy Moses (2016) and Shanice Laurent (2017) Share Their Stories
Ivy Moses is no stranger to crises. As an advanced heart failure nurse working at Piedmont Atlanta Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia, she cares for patients experiencing life-threatening crises every day. So, when the Coronavirus began to spread across the U.S., Moses was as prepared as one can be. She happened to be home in the Virgin Islands in mid-March when she received a notice from work asking her to return that evening. She flew to Atlanta that day and learned the following morning that her unit would be transitioned into a unit for COVID-19 patients. Since then, she has been dedicated to the care of patients suffering from the virus in Atlanta and in Miami, where she was temporarily stationed as a COVID crisis nurse.
One of the toughest moments for Moses during the crisis took place when she was working in the emergency room. She typically does not have much contact with patients’ family members, but in the ER she had to tell family members they could not come in to be with their loved ones for their own safety and for the safety of hospital workers. “Seeing the anxiety of family members who didn’t know what was going on and having to tell them you can’t be with a loved one – I don’t think I’ll ever forget that,” said Moses.
Working on the frontlines, Moses too had to isolate herself from family and friends. Her son moved in with her sister and she was only been able to visit him from a distance. Moses spends her downtime sewing to keep her mind off the stresses of work. “In order to take care of other people, you have to be able to take care of yourself,” she said. However, Moses’ hobby is not purely a personal pursuit –she sews cloth masks and has donated 100 of them to first responders, essential workers and senior citizens on St. John.
Becoming a nurse was not a lifelong dream for Moses, although she certainly has a long history of caring for others. She founded and ran H.O.P.E. Inc. (Helping Others in a Positive Environment), a clinic in the Virgin Islands that counseled people on HIV, diabetes, and hypertension, and provided testing and other services to the community. After 17 years, she closed the clinic to dedicate herself fully to caring for her own father. Throughout those experiences, Moses decided to study nursing and enrolled in UVI’s School of Nursing. She graduated in 2016. “Nursing school is tough, and not for the weak at heart or of mind,” she cautioned. “When you graduate from Nursing, you must be able to save lives. That is exactly what UVI trained us to do — to be able to care for folks regardless of the situation.” She said the UVI School of Nursing program prepared “the best of the best,” noting “everyone from my class passed the board exams.” Her message to Virgin Islanders is to take COVID-19 seriously. “When you don’t see the impact of the virus firsthand, you don’t understand it,” she warned, adding “we’re going to have to take precautions for a long time.”
Shanice Laurent graduated from UVI’s School of Nursing in May 2017. She joined Roy Lester Schneider Medical Center in November of that year in the aftermath of Hurricanes Irma and Maria. “Growing up as a young Caribbean woman, dealing with hurricanes and now COVID-19, has helped me build resilience,” she said. “You learn to keep calm, to work as a team and use the resources you have to get the job done.”
Based in the hospital’s surgical unit, Laurent has encountered several COVID-19 patients. “It has been a learning experience, not just for me but for the medical community in general,” she said. “I learned about testing, how to protect myself properly, and observed how the intensive care nurses took care of COVID-19 patients,” she explained. When it came time for Laurent to directly care for a sick patient, she was careful and nervous, but up to the task.
“No one was prepared for COVID-19, but the UVI program prepared me to become a nurse,” she said. “The UVI Nursing Program was rigorous. We learned a lot and it brought me to where I am today.” She reminds members of the community to continue to practice good hand hygiene and take the virus seriously.
