Nurses adapt to COVID with compassion and teamwork

Holly Statler and Christina Armour began working at Rolla Presbyterian Manor during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The main focus was protection from the spread of the virus,” said Holly, the minimum data set coordinator and assistant director of nursing.

Staff worked together to set up COVID wings. Designated for residents who tested positive, COVID wings ensured that residents received quality care in isolation from the rest of the community.

The staff also focused on residents’ emotional needs.

“Nurses increased our listening, we increased one-on-one time, because we were going home to our families. They were not,” Holly said.

Both Holly and Christina, the medical records coordinator, said a lot of the residents discussed past experiences with outbreaks with similarities to COVID-19.

“They had the ability to basically educate us and help us as we were helping them,” Holly said.

Holly and Christina said they prayed during their morning meetings two or three times a week.

“We prayed for our community, for our staff and for everything,” Holly said. “We really feel that has helped.”

Now that vaccines have been rolling out, Presbyterian Manor is opening up for visitors.

“That could not happen until all of our residents got vaccines,” Christina said. “When we opened that up, we can really truly see how wonderful it is for everyone being able to see their family.”

Holly and Christina said they are happy they work at Presbyterian Manor, even through the hard times.

“I’m proud to be an employee at Presbyterian Manor,” Christina said. “I’m proud of the way we handled COVID. We were a team.”

Adapted from a story by Kaitlin Brothers, staff writer for the Phelps County Focus.