More unsung COVID fighters: Meet five additional ‘Football Fan Heroes’ from our region
Here are five other finalists, in no particular order, from our Kansas City Star “Football Fan Heroes” contest seeking to highlight front-line workers’ efforts to help their neighbors during the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
The words about each are excerpted from the individual nominations received on their behalf at Kansascity.com:
Mary Henry, nurse
“Mary, a mother of three, left the KC area to work at a skilled nursing facility in Harlem for six weeks. Her amazing kids have supported her while she works on the front lines of this epidemic. Living in a Times Square hotel dedicated to other nurses, she has worked the night shift caring for some of the sickest individuals. And she is working seven days a week.”
Melissa Lackey, disability services
“She is a DPS, a person who you don’t hear about on TV, you don’t see in commercials, but every day (and night) they provide care and training and friendship to the people that most of us are uncomfortable to be around: the very mentally and physically handicapped. ... But since the DPS community is not recognized in the way other service organizations are these days, they have difficulty getting masks, gloves, hand sanitizer, etc. She does a job I could not do, and most of us could not do. She does it purely because of her loving and caring heart.”
Marci Starzl, nurse
“She works many hours in the ER in Nebraska and risks her life daily as she is saving lives. Not only is she a front-line worker, her husband was just diagnosed with frontal lobe dementia at the age of 56. Mark is unable to work and Marci is the the only income they have now. Marci is a mother of four children and has eight grandchildren. During this time, she hasn’t been able to see her kids or grand-babies because of the COVID exposure.”
Michael Morriss, nurse
“Michael is a nurse in the Saint Luke’s Hospital in Kansas City. He worked ... not only his three shifts but was picking up two extra per week for a four- to five-week period. He was a new dad and had to isolate at home away from his wife, daughter and new baby, who was born during the pandemic.”
Caroline Reitz, nurse practitioner
“She is currently working 10-hour shifts. She is a 48-year-old single mother of an 8-year old adopted son. She homeschools him on days she doesn’t work. Her parents, who are 80 and 75, homeschool him three days. She and her son were quarantined early when one of her patients tested positive for COVID-19 and her son developed symptoms. After the quarantine expired, she went right back to work because of her dedication to her patients and the fact that her area was short of staff.”