Alumni on the Front Lines | Danielle Markee

Alumna Danielle Markee ’19 worked as an LPN for ten years before getting her Associates of Science in Nursing at Rivier. She is currently enrolled in the Bachelor of Science in Nursing program and works in a telemetry unit at Holy Family Hospital in Methuen, Massachusetts. Patients in the telemetry unit of a hospital are often in critical condition and require constant monitoring and around the clock care. Danielle’s unit is now strictly a telemetry COVID unit and she said her work has been significantly impacted by the pandemic. “We have to learn as we go. The way we nursed before changed once COVID was introduced to our unit. We are no longer just treating cardiac patients, but a large population of patients who are now at the end of their lives. We saw this before, but nothing like we are seeing now.”
Danielle told us that communication with families has become imperative. “I spend more time on the phone with families updating them on the condition of their loved one now more than I ever did. We FaceTime families so patients can see their loved ones and don’t feel isolated in this time of need. I am saddened every day that my patient’s families are unable to be at their bedside. I believe the patients need to see someone that is in their corner fighting for them when they don’t have the strength to fight for themselves.”

Despite the challenges, Danielle said she tries to remain positive every time she walks into a patient’s room. “Every shift I pray that my patients are going to have a good day which means they will be able to breathe on their own or with only a nasal cannula, and not have to be rushed to the ICU. COVID has changed me forever as a nurse. I believe it has made me a better person as well as a better nurse. I love my job and would not change it for all the world.”

Thank you for all you are doing to making patients and their families feel well cared for and connected, Danielle.