As part of the COVID-19 response, Michael Reesick was redeployed from his regular position as a stores attendant at Misericordia Community Hospital to work as a screener at Grey Nuns. “I was not sure what to expect, but the assignment turned out to be a gift. I believe that we are on this earth to serve. Not to be a servant, not to be enslaved, but to be a caring and giving human doing the good deeds of whoever their God is.
“A group of us began the job of screening hundreds of people a day who came to the hospital. People came to see babies, have babies, see their mother, pick up their dead mother’s effects: every possible scenario for coming to a hospital happened at that front door. We tried to use common sense, professionalism, and the history of how the Sisters before us would have handled the situation. The situation changed. We changed. The protocol changed. We changed. Our goal was to remain fluid, positive, and helpful.
“I was asked by a visitor in the early stages of screening why we were checking so extensively when nowhere else was. I told him it was because we are Covenant Health. He smiled and nodded his head. Covenant Heath lives by a mission, vision and values. The standards they set for themselves are high and ethical.
“The founding Sisters would be very proud of how the tradition is being carried on.”