Nurses Brave Snowstorms to Care for Patients
One nurse treks 2 miles through a blizzard to work, another brings snow to patients
By Debra Wood, RN, contributor
A relentless snow whipped around by a fierce wind in late January 2016 forced most people in the New York-Washington, D.C. corridor to stay indoors--but not a couple of nurses who were determined to do their best for patients.
Record amounts of snow fell in New York, Baltimore and other cities during the Blizzard of 2016. Officials imposed travel bans during the weather event. At least 48 people died as a consequence of the storm.
A long trek through the blizzard
Chantelle Diabate, LPN, walked for a couple of hours through a snowstorm to make sure she made it to work to care for her patients at Hebrew Home in the Bronx.
As snow fell at 1 to 3 inches per hour and the wind gusted to 48 miles per hour, Chantelle Diabate, LPN, a night nurse at the Hebrew Home at Riverdale in the Bronx, New York, bundled up in a jacket and boots to walk more than a couple of miles to reach the facility. She trudged through areas that had not been shoveled or plowed. Buses were not running. She left early.
“I didn’t expect it to be so bad, but I forged forward, knowing my patients needed me,” said Diabate, who called the wind the worst part of the trek. “I thought the best way to make it through was a slow and steady pace.”
Diabate described it like walking though the apocalypse. No one else was out.
Having worked in health care for more than 12 years, including seven months at Hebrew Home, Diabate knew she would be needed. She had worked as a certified nurse’s aide before going to nursing school.
She prepared for the rough weather, sending her daughter to the babysitter the day before and asking a friend who lives near the Hebrew Home if she could stay there.
Diabate arrived at work nearly three hours early for her 11 p.m. shift. She greeted everyone and went into the locker room to warm up and gather her thoughts. When administration received word she had arrived, she was sent downstairs.
Chantelle Diabate, LPN, sitting, surrounded by colleagues the night she trudged through the blizzard. From left to right: Jon Kole, VP of administration; Nancy D’Auria, assistant director of nursing; and Mojdeh Rutigliano, VP of nursing at the Hebrew Home at Riverdale.
“I met the director of nursing who was so excited that I made it in,” Diabate recalled. That’s when she learned she was the only nurse who had made it to work. Other nurses stayed and worked a double shift. Even so, Diabate worked alone on her unit that night.
Diabate has no regrets about her walk. Her friends are not surprised at her dedication. Residents expressed surprise she made it in but were grateful. So was the administration.
“I thought it was terrific and inspirational,” said David V. Pomeranz, chief operating officer of the Hebrew Home at Riverdale. “It means a lot to her to be a nurse, and she takes it seriously. She wasn’t going to let weather block her from being what she has become so proud to be: a terrific nurse …When she got in, it was wonderful to see the dedication and that fortitude.”
Diabate’s story has already been widely shared through traditional and social media, but she has taken all of the attention in stride.
“I didn’t think it was a big deal,” she said. “I am so happy I made it in for the patients. They had a regular nurse who knew their needs to take care of them.”
Bringing the snow to patients
Alex Classen, RN, far right, with her NIH Clinical Center colleagues on the day of the big storm.
In Baltimore, Alex Classen, RN, a clinical research nurse at the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center in Baltimore, braved the elements in only her scrubs to bring her patients basins of snow.
“I wanted to make the kids happy,” Classen explained. “I just grabbed a basin and went out in the courtyard to grab some snow.”
Working at a hospital with patients from all over the globe, Classen knew some of her patients had never seen snow, and she wanted to introduce them. Because many of the patients are immunocompromised, Classen did not feel she could take the youngsters out. So she brought the snow to them instead. They had a grand time.
“For some of them, this was a huge experience,” she remarked.
One little girl, fascinated with the movie Frozen, built a snowman and another a snow cone, colored with markers. One of the older children made snowballs and threw them at the nurse, all in fun.
“It was great,” Classen said. “I loved it.”
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