One Sunday in March, in the boardroom of Memorial Hospital East in Shiloh, the facility’s president, Mike McManus, sat next to nurse Terri Halloran. He had a big ask in mind: He wanted Halloran, the hospital’s chief nursing officer, to run point on the COVID-19 response. But he didn’t have to ask. Halloran offered to do it.
“She’s been going full tilt,” says McManus. “She’s easily been putting in the most hours.”
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Drawing on decades of experience, Halloran now spends her days, nights, and weekends ensuring, among other things, that colleagues at both Memorial East and Memorial Hospital Belleville are using personal protective equipment correctly and sparingly—not an easy task when staff anxiety is high.
“I’ve come to appreciate that no matter how many facts you have, if people are consumed with fear and anxiety, they can’t hear it,” says Halloran, “so we need to give people time and support to work through their own emotions.”
She heaps praise on her fellow nurses and the staff of the emergency departments and intensive care units. “That’s who I would want taking care of me if I were sick,” she says.
She’s also leading by example, McManus observes. One recent weekend, Halloran took on the tedious task of counting items in the PPE inventory.
Concludes McManus: “She doesn’t ask anybody to do anything she wouldn’t do herself.”
